Nationality-Based Representation of Migrants in the Italian Media : The Case of Rainews

This degree project aims to examine how the representation of migrants in Italian media differs according to their nationality. The new migration from Ukraine raised the problem of their different representations; a difference that existed before but now the media classification of migrants in first- and second-class is more evident and frequent. I engaged in a comparative content analysis of Italy’s state online journal that examines both the representation of migrants from Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa and Southern Asia arriving through the Mediterranean routes and that of Ukrainian migrants. Through the notions of representation of otherness (the other as a foreigner to strengthen our identity) and of voice as a process (claiming the importance for the disadvantaged to express their needs), the representation of the two groups will be analysed. Critically, this analysis will find that according to the media perception, migrants arriving through the Mediterranean routes are viewed as outcasts and their voice is also underrepresented compared to migrants from Ukraine