From The Guardian:
“A study of media coverage, released today, looked at how migrant voices and experiences were framed in the run-up to last year’s election and came up with findings that, even if not entirely new, cast yet more light on a subject of continuing public interest.
Their overarching concern is about the lack of migrant voices in stories. Though the report doesn’t put it like this, it is clear from the research that they are, too often, “the disappeared.”
The researchers found that migrants were referenced in only 15% of newspaper articles on migration and that 85% of articles did not have a migrant perspective.
They also found evidence that migrant voices were more likely to be included in stories which tended to be more positive and sympathetic towards migrants. Most of these presented the migrant as a victim in need of sympathy and support.
By contrast, migrant voices were less likely to be present in stories that were negative about migration and migrants.
The authors argue that presenting migrants as victims was doubly problematic: it failed to reflect the varied lives of most migrants; and victimhood tended to reinforce stereotypes “that are not helpful in the longer term.”