Visual representations of (Syrian) refugees in European newspapers

Newspapers importantly shape our constructed realities. Based on this assumption, I analysed if and how (Syrian) refugees were represented on 1180 front pages of European newspapers in the period June – October 2015. There were significant differences among the various newspapers in their selection of articles, their pictures and their perspectives. I explained these differences by looking in which country a newspaper was published and whether it was a sensationalist or serious newspapers. Most attention was paid, however, on visual themes that were common to all of them. My research was informed by Grounded Theory and I used other theories from media and communication studies and Communication for Development (ComDev) for the analysis. I related my findings about the reporting on refugees to previous discussions on NGO reporting. I argued that, even though both NGOs and newspapers report about similar issues, there has been a surprising lack of reflection on representations in newspapers. Furthermore, the discussions that emerged in the ComDev-discourse did not seem to have affected newspapers much. Given that newspapers potentially influence many more people, I sought to connect ComDev-discussions to traditional media, which might be a starting point for a more ethic journalism