Data Journalism Project

With support by:

In partnership with:

Data Journalism Migration Coverage Project

Goals:- Assess which migration related issues are discussed and when

these come about;

- Gain insight into how a given national and/or regional media landscape characteristically frames migration;

- Generate numerical values to describe topics discussed, framing and the possible overall tone or opinion expressed;

- Enable multi-national comparative perspective based on standardized methodological approach.

During this presentation

- Methodology explained

- Migration topics and types

- Country-by-country results

- Comparative results across countries

- Overall conclusions

- Further research

Methodology

- Time frame and source selection

- Initial data collection

- Data analysis• Article tone with reference to the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights• Thematic coding along topic and type of

migration• Migration types and topics

Migration Topics

1. Culture & Religion2. Citizenship & Political Life3. Education & Leadership4. Employment & Entrepreneurship5. Housing6. Health7. Law & Policy8. Refugees Asylum9. Human Rights10.Arts, Entertainment and Sports

Migration Types

1. Asylum-seekers2. Diaspora3. Documented/regular migrant (alien, foreigner, non-national)4. Economic migrant (labor migrant)5. Internally displaced person (IDP)6. Irregular migrant (illegal, irregular, undocumented alien)7. Minority 8. Refugee9. Skilled migrant10.Temporary migrant worker (itinerant worker, seasonal

worker)11. Naturalized citizen with migration background

Institut National de l’Audiovisuel

Covering migration in French media

In France the presidential election was held on 22 April 2012 along with a second round held on 6 May 2012.

Time frame selection: 8 april 2012 to 6 may 2012 focusing thereof on the first round of the election.

Migration topics eyed during election period: French corpus making of

Pick of 58 articles among over 300.

We aimed to respect media diversity and pluralism:

- political and cultural pluralism,

- a variety of news sources,

- balanced types of media (web, print, online only sources).

Media Diversity

• Web : 38• TV : 3• Radio : 0• Print media : 17

Web

TV

Print

Pluralism: Diversity of viewpoints

Migration topics during French presidential poll

Migration types during French presidential poll

Migration topics eyed during election period: Overall position related to the UDHR

Fully supportive: 36%

In part supportive: 38%

Neutral: 19%

In part adversarial: 7%

Fully adversarial: 0%

Tone is sometime very difficult to annotate.

Mainstream conformism in mainstream media: Difficulty to find non supportive sources besides far-right blogs.

74%

Migration topics eyed during election period: Diversity of viewpoints?

Selection bias in data when the selection is not sufficiently random to draw a general conclusion.

Use of biased studies or partial studies to support a particular point of view.

Use of selective quote to express an opinion and thus appear unbiased.

Also, some quotes are filtered:

Migration topics eyed during election period: Diversity of viewpoints?

University of King’s College

Studying migrations in Canada

The election to find a premier for the province of Quebec took place on September 4, 2012.

We looked at the coverage of migration issues a week before and three weeks after the election in the province.

Sources

We looked at six news organizations in our research:

- Three English and three French newspapers- Found 67 articles focused on migration - All of the sources we looked at were

newspapers, with online websites- Difficulty looking at other types of sources (TV

websites, online only publications) because they weren’t properly indexed

Types of articles

More than half of the articles we found were opinion pieces (op-eds, columns and editorials).

columnnewsop-edprofile

Migration topics covered

- Most of the articles in our research centered around the same issue: The Parti Quebecois’ proposed policy of “Quebec” citizenship.

Tone in English versus French media

12345

English

12345

French

Article excerpts

The only openly anti-migrant sentiment that we were able to find in the French press, was found in Le Journal.

Let’s be realistic, this Islamism, this fundamentalist and conquering Islam that swallows all in its path, makes the idea of a charter of secularism popular. Only Islamism rejects local values to better the societies in which it implants itself. Not the Buddhists, not the Hindus, not Opus Dei.  

Article excerpts

But if Pauline Marois wins, not only will there be a tidal wave of businesses heading to safe economic ground, the PQ's loathing of immigrants —no religious symbols except the Christian cross to be worn by public servants, etc. — will hardly be confused as a welcome mat. Fascist is difficult to misconstrue. – Toronto Sun

In the name of creating a supposedly secular state, the Parti Québécois has pursued hostile policies, proposing a ban on non-Christian religious symbols from public institutions and two-tier citizenship based on ability to speak French – a position that softened under harsh criticism. – Globe and Mail

Deutsche Welle Akademie

Media and Migration: Results from Germany

Federal Republic of Germany: 16 federal statesPopulation: 81,8 millionMigrants: 10,7 million from 194 countries

Research Object: Elections in NRW

NRW Elections: 13 May 2012Sample period: 30 April – 27 May 2012 North Rhine-Westfalia: Germany‘s most populated state Population: 17.841.956 Citizens of foreign origin: 1.908.121 (10,7%)

Prior Research in Germany

1971 Delgado: Little everyday life, focus on sensationalism (e.g., crimes, illegality).

1987 Ruhmann and Kollmer: National coverage: 2/3 articles about crime.Local coverage: more positive information about migrants (e.g., festivals, celebrations).

2009 Gräf: Thuringian press 1995-2005. Tendencies: in 2005 less emphasis on crime than in 1995, but more on terrorism. Politically relevant topics.

2012 Eckardt: Generally more positive coverage in 2009 comparing to 1999. Still more negative than positive articles about Muslims.

Research Sources

Title Type/Periodicity Average number of sold copies (per issue)

National/Weekly 960.000 copies

National/Daily 354.000 copies

National/Daily 245.000 copies (Die Welt + Welt Kompakt)

National/Daily 436.000 copies

Local/Daily 700.000 copies (Neue Ruhr Zeitung/Neue Rhein Zeitung, Westfälische Rundschau, Westfalenpost)

Local/Daily 320.000 copies (Kölner Stadtanzeiger + Kölnische Rundschau )

Research Sources

• Online and print versions of newspapers and magazines.

• The electronic archive of the Deutsche Welle was used for print media.

• Articles were selected if they:

- contained more than one word from the UNAOC glossary;

- showed strong relevance to the topic;

- covered the situation in Germany, not abroad.

Search Principle

• The definitions from the UNAOC glossary were translated into the German language. More than one variant of translation was possible in some cases.

• An asterisk (*) was used to find words with a variety of different endings and derivatives. However, the websites of some newspapers do not support this function (e.g.,http://www.ksta.de/).

Asyl* Exil*

Diaspora

Migra*Aufenthalts*Aussiedl*

*Ausländ*, *Fremd*

Zuwander* Nomad*Einwander* Auswander*

Heimatlos*, Vertrieben*, Vertreib*, Verschlepp*

Minderheit*

Flüchtling*

Gastarbeit*´, Wanderarbeit*Saisonarbeit*

Einbürg* Eingebürg*National* Integrat* Assimil*

Asylum-seekers

Diaspora

Documented/regular migrant

Irregular migrant

Economic migrant

Skilled migrant

Internally displacedperson

Minority

Refugee

Temporary migrant worker

Naturalized citizen with migration background

Frequency of Articles

Migration Topics

Migration Types

Overall Tone

Examples of Coverage

18-year-old Arzu Özmen from Detmold (NRW, Germany) was found dead in January 2012. She was kidnapped and killed by her siblings because of the relationship with a 23-year-old German boyfriend. The family, originally from the Kurdish region in eastern Turkey, could not accept that Arzu was with a man from outside the community. 02.05.2012 „Tödliche Familienbande“ („Fatal family bonds”).

The family‘s last name is not mentioned, details of the story are neutrally reported.

21.05.2012 „Der ehrlose Vater“ („The dishonored father”).

Negative attitude to the murder, background information on honour killings from the

perspective of the German law.

11.05.2012 „Auf der Flucht vor der eigenen Familie“

(„Running away from their own family”). Comparison of Arzu‘s story to a Lebanese-

German couple who have to hide themselves in fear of the girl‘s family.

16.05.2012 „Ein kurzes deutsches Leben“ („A short German

life”). Feature-style reporting (focus on details, use of adjecties, description of the

atmosphere), reporting from the court.

3. neutral

5. fully supportive of UDHR

4. in part supportive of UDHR

4. in part supportive of UDHR

Christelijke Hogeschool Ede

Media Coverage of Migration in The Netherlands

• National elections: 12th of September 2012

• Sample period: 29th of August – 26th of September 2012

Dutch Media Diversity: used sources

52 articles from:- 5 national

newspapers- 1 national

magazine- 1 news

website

10

4

4

317

3

11

SourcesTrouw

Telegraaf

Volkskrant

NRC Handelsblad

Algemeen Dagblad

Elsevier

NU.nl

Migration Topics eyed during the Election Period

Culture & Religion

Citizenship & Political Life

Education & Leadership

Employment & Entrepreneurship

Housing

Health

Law & Policy

Refugees Asylum

Human Rights

Arts, Entertainment and Sports

0 5 1015202530354045

6

11

2

11

9

6

42

9

7

0

Migration Types in Election Time

asylum-seekers

diaspora

documented/regular migrant (alien, foreigner, non-national)

economic migrant (labor migrant)

internally displaced person (IDP)

irregular migrant (illegal, irregular, undocumented alien)

minority (only if explicitly named as such)

refugee

skilled migrant

temporary migrant worker (itinerant worker, seasonal worker)

naturalized citizen with migration background

19

0

28

12

2

20

0

13

0

2

5

News report tone, related to the UDHR

12%

62%

27%

Tone

in part adversarial to UDHR

neutral

in part supportive of UDHR

Example 1: Adversial to UDHR

‘’Burgermeester Broertjes van de tv-stad, volstrekt onervaren in het openbaar bestuur, wordt geconfronteerd in het uitgaanscentrum van zijn gemeente met zwaar fysiek geweld van allochtoon tuig tegen onschuldige burgers’’

‘Heavy violence from ‘foreign scum against ‘innocent citizens’.

Source: De Telegraaf (Daily Telegraph), the news report fits in their political view.

Presented as a normal news fact, written as a blog.

Example 2: Supportive of UDHR

‘Marokkaanse Nederlanders moeten woensdag naar de stembus gaan om de ‘wraakideologie’ van de PVV uit de regering te houden. Die oproep doet de directeur van het Samerwerkingsverband Marokkaanse Nederlanders’

- Moroccan Dutch people (Dutch people with a Moroccan background)- They must give their vote to prevent the ‘revenge ideology’ by the PVV taking them from participation in the government.- Only one side: The CEO of the Dutch - Moroccan Cooperation Association.

Source: Elsevier, a national liberal opinion magazine

A one-sided article, fully focused in both subject and in language use to promote tolerance of Dutch Moroccans. However it remains implicit.

Example 3: Paradoxal picture

‘Opeens is het stil rond de allochtonen. Integratie- en islamdebat door de economische crisis van tafel geveegd’

Article referring to immigrants with ‘irregular ***-Moroccans, street terrorists and ‘headscarves’

BUT: also it emphasizes the longing of migrants for an open and fair discussion about the essence of their problems.

The news article slowly moves from negative to positive, reaching a wider audience.

Evaluation I

• During the election period of 2012, migration was no issue, probably because of political framing. The previous election period, only two years earlier, showed the opposite picture. The media seem to follow the ‘mood of the moment’.

•  In Dutch civil society the migration topic has been an important issue during the last ten years, causing a lot of tensions in society as well as in politics. The background is the decreasing of mutual trust in society. The media seem to show a limited picture of reality.

• With regard to migration, the media produced only a few news reports of their own during the 2012 election period. Press agencies provided for the majority of the news reports. For this reason the news reports were in general neutral.

Evaluation II

• The media showed little diversity regarding the quoted or interviewed organizations. Also the number of research based news reports were very limited.

•  According to a journalism trends study report published in 2011, key themes that will give extra value to quality journalism in the future are relevance, analysis, reliability and legitimation. If we consider our media coverage research as a representative case study, Dutch journalism deserves some quality improvement.

University of Missouri

Data Collection

• Election held on Nov. 6, 2012

• Analysis time frame: Oct.23 – Nov.20

• Chose three national and three regional newspapers

Data Collection

• National newspapers: New York Times (50), Washington Post (76), USA Today (34)

• Regional Newspapers: LA Times (79), Chicago Tribune (37), Dallas Morning News (59)

• 335 articles total

Migration in the U.S.

• 12 percent of US population is foreign-born; about 17 percent of the US population is Latino

• Migration issues are mentioned mostly as “immigration”• “Immigration reform” is a hot-button political issue

Context

Primary Findings

Migration usually discussed in political context:

• Latino voting power

• “Immigration reform”

• Dream Act

Primary Findings

• 71 percent of all articles were neutral in tone

• Majority of “fully supportive” articles are opinion pieces

• No adversarial articles in our sample – not even opinion columns

Primary Findings

Spike in articles on migration immediately after election

Primary Findings

Election did not significantly affect tone

Conclusion

• Politics and migration coverage go hand in hand• Tone is neutral throughout

• “Horse race” coverage • American media emphasized “balanced”

coverage

European Journalism Centre

Type of Migration across countries

Type of Migration per country

Topic of Migration across countries

Topic of Migration per country

Migration Topic and Type Co-occurrence

Topic and Type Co-occurrence Top 10

Migration coverage: Average tone per country

Observations

- Mainstream media (in the 5 countries) make a conscious effort to cover migration largely in compliance with the UDHR;

- Comparison shows that migration is framed through a national lens;

- The perception of migrants is dominated by a focus on identity issues.

Future research

- Further development of methodology;

- Better representation of migration movements;

- Representation of the countries of origin;

- Research into cross-cultural similarities of countries.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies

Common TrendsMigration in the Media is a:

• Political phenomena• Context specific• Often emotive• Generally negative (especially at National level)• Overall position related to the UDHR: quite

supportive • Focus of Newspaper coverage: Mainly Law &

Policy (criminalisation of migration) and Culture & Religion (Islamophobia)

What is in a name?The challenge of the terminology

In the eyes of much of the public the terms

‘refugee’, ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘illegal migrant’

have become largely interchangeable. This is far

from the truth (and far from helpful) but it is true that

understanding such a complex issue can be a

headache.

Terminology

“ (…) there’s a constituency advocating for the language on

migration in the media to change.”

“(…) This is new, they have been ‘the other.’ they haven’t

had a voice.”

“(…) I’m acutely aware of this issue, and my purpose is to

tell stories in a way that everyone can hear them”*

* Julia Preston, New York Times Reporter

UN General Assembly Resolution (1975)

“Requests the United Nations organs and the specialized

agencies concerned to utilize in all official documents the

term 'non-documented or irregular migrant workers' to

define those workers that illegally and/or surreptitiously

enter another country to obtain work” (para. 3449, 2)

Conclusions

• The media can change perceptions of migrants;

• There is a need to focus on the human story rather than faceless statistics and look for more positive content;

• Terminology is important; we need to get it right. Journalists need a working knowledge of the topic, (i.e. media-friendly glossary on appropriate and clear terminology);

• Involving migrants in migration coverage;

• Media actions, including encouraging timely publication of accurate data and use of data;

• Linking government and civil society actions (i.e. formal and informal inks between journalists, migrants and other partners).

Institut National de l’Audiovisuel

Dr. Marie-Luce Viaud — Research Team Leader at the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel

Lucien Castex — Research Associate at the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel

Deutsche Welle Akademie

Prof. Dr. Christoph Schmidt — Head of the International Media Studies Programme at the Deutsche Welle Akademie

Katsiaryna Kryzhanouskaya — Junior Researcher at the Deutsche Welle Akademie

Tilman Wagner — Master Student at the Deutsche Welle Akademie

Natalia Lazareva — Master Student at the Deutsche Welle Akademie

The University of King’s College

Fred Vallance-Jones — Award-winning data journalist, author and assistant professor at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Barrett Limoges — Fourth year student in the Bachelor of Journalism programme at King’s

Melissa Mancini — Master of Investigative Journalism student at King’s

Christelijke Hogeschool Ede

Drs. Ton Veen — International Course Coordinator at the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede

Huub Floor — Journalism Student at the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede

Frank van Wijhe — Journalism student at the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede

University of Missouri

Fritz Cropp — Associate Professor and Director of International Programs at the University of Missouri

Maoling Xiong — University of Missouri

Fedor Zarkhin — Journalism Grad Student at the University of Missouri

UNAOC and IFRC

Anne Grobet — Migration and Integration Programme Manager at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

Stéphanie Durand — Strategic Media Partnerships Manager at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

Sue Le Mesurier — Senior Policy Officer, Migration, at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

EJC

Martine Rouweler — Reseacher at the European Journalism Centre

Ivan Picart — System Administrator / Web-developer at the European Journalism Centre

Eric Karstens — Business Developer and Research Coordinator at the European Journalism Centre

Arne Grauls — Web Project Manager at the European Journalism Centre

Liliana Bounegru — Project Manager on Data Journalism, Editor of DataDrivenJournalism.net at the European Journalism Centre