Heroes or criminals? The legitimacy of humanitarian organizations rescuing lives in the Central Mediterranean Sea after 2017

IF 0.2 0 FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION

Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies Pub Date : 2022-01-01 DOI:10.1386/jicms_00101_1

Maria Catena Mancuso, V. Signorelli

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Since late 2016, NGOs operating in the Mediterranean have been at the centre of a campaign of delegitimization and criminalization culminating with former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s 2018 NGO ban, which de facto erased the presence of humanitarian search and rescue operations and left the national coastguards to deal with an unprecedented migration crisis. Drawing upon discourse analysis of Italian and international news media articles and informed by semi-structured interviews with NGO representatives, this study investigates the implications of such media-driven public hostility. The results are threefold: first, the climate of suspicion surrounding NGOs has damaged them profoundly and led to a dramatic increase in deaths. Consequently, second, NGO’s ability to present themselves publicly as legitimate has been heavily limited. Last, it is fundamental to investigate the range of legitimation strategies all organizations can use when victims of a media-led scandal or a smear campaign are legitimized by political institutions.

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自2016年底以来，在地中海开展活动的非政府组织一直处于非法化和定罪运动的中心，意大利前内政部长马泰奥·萨尔维尼(Matteo Salvini)于2018年颁布了非政府组织禁令，这一禁令实际上消除了人道主义搜救行动的存在，并让国家海岸警卫队应对前所未有的移民危机。通过对意大利和国际新闻媒体文章的话语分析，以及对非政府组织代表的半结构化采访，本研究调查了这种媒体驱动的公众敌意的含义。其结果是三重的:首先，围绕非政府组织的怀疑气氛深刻地损害了它们，并导致死亡人数急剧增加。因此，第二，非政府组织以合法身份公开展示自己的能力受到严重限制。最后，当媒体主导的丑闻或诽谤运动的受害者被政治机构合法化时，调查所有组织可以使用的合法化策略的范围是至关重要的。

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来源期刊

Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

50.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies is an English-language forum for theoretical, methodological and critical debate on Italian film and media production, reception and consumption. It provides a platform for dialogue between academics, filmmakers, cinema and media professionals. This peer-reviewed journal invites submissions of scholarly articles relating to the artistic features, cultural themes, international influence and history of Italian film and media. Furthermore, the journal intends to revive a critical discussion on the auteurs, revisit the historiography of Italian cinema and celebrate the dynamic role played by new directors. The journal includes a book and film review section as well as notes on Italian film festivals abroad and international conference reports. The profound transformation undergone by the rapidly expanding media environment under the impact of digital technology, has lead scholars in the field of media studies to elaborate new theoretical paradigms and methodological approaches to account for the complexities of a changing landscape of convergence and hybridization. The boundaries between cinema and media as art forms and fields of inquiry are increasingly hybridized too. Taking into account this evolving scenario, the JICMS provides an international arena for critical engagement with a wider range of issues related to the current media environment. The journal welcomes in particular contributions that discuss any aspects of Italian media production, distribution and consumption within national and transnational, social, political, economic and historical contexts.