VIENNA, BRUSSELS and VALLETTA, Malta, January 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Ongoing study
on migration reporting in Euro-Mediterranean region
identifies major challenges / New media award to
promote evidence-based journalism on
migration
Media in many countries on both sides of the Mediterranean face
major challenges when it comes to telling the migration story in
context. This is the key finding of the ongoing study "How do media
on both sides of the Mediterranean report on migration?" whose
preliminary results will be presented in a multi-stakeholder event
today in Brussels.
Euromed Migration IV, funded by the Directorate General
Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the EU, commissioned
the Ethical Journalism Network to conduct this study for which
writers from 17 countries are examining the quality of migration
media coverage in 2015/16 from a national perspective. The study
covers 9 EU countries and 8 countries in the south of the
Mediterranean: Austria,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta,
Spain, Sweden as well as Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia.
The work in progress finds that journalists are often uninformed
about the complex nature of the migration narrative; newsrooms are
vulnerable to pressure and manipulation by voices of hate, whether
from political elites or social networks. At the same time, the
authors identify highlights and inspirational examples of
journalism at its best -resourceful, painstaking, and marked by
careful, sensitive and humanitarian reporting. A set of draft
recommendations including a call for training, the funding of media
action and other activities to support and foster more balanced and
evidence-based journalism on migration are also part of the
study.
One such activity is the EU-funded Migration Media Award for
which several partners have come together on the initiative of the
International Centre for Migration Policy Development ICMPD; it
will be announced on 25 January under the auspices of Malta's EU presidency. The award competition
is a collaboration of the EU-funded projects Euromed Migration IV
and the Open Media Hub, in partnership with the European Asylum
Support Office and Malta's
Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Further information and contacts
Find a preliminary version of the study's summary and
recommendations at http://www.icmpd.org/EMM4migration_narrative
The Migration Media Award will go online on 25 January at
http://www.migration-media-award.eu
On 25 January a high-level panel from 9.00 to 10.30 and a press
briefing from 10.30 to 11.00 will be webstreamed at
http://www.livestream.com/brusselspressclub
In Brussels / Valletta: Sören Bauer: Soeren.Bauer@icmpd.org;
+356 991 25 201
In Vienna: Bernhard Schragl, Bernhard.Schragl@icmpd.org,
+43 676 714 7002