The Media Reception of the Refugee Wave in the European Countries Outside the Schengen Area

  • Abstract:

    The phenomenological research of the media reception of migrants is an interesting challenge in itself, especially when it is limited to the area that brings its own specificities. Relating to the not so distant experience of the war on its own territory with numbers of its own refuges and relatively short-term membership in the European Union (while still outside the Schengen borders), the media reception becomes a key to the creation of a media audiences’ attitude. The Croatian survey results regarding the various reporting methods on refugee problem and their influence on diverse perception of refugees, can help to understand the polarization of attitudes about the perhaps most problematic issue of the European Union; a question of inclusion and exclusion of immigrants into European society. The research was conducted over the most visited Internet pages on the Croatian speaking area, which provided information on immigrant issues and report. Particular attention was pursued on readers’ comments, but the essential goal was to examine various ways of media presentation on refugee issues. The research results indicate that objective, professional journalism can contribute to understanding the “refugee issue” in Europe, but unfortunately, it is a more common practice to target the media coverage polarization, which is then mapped to the attitudes of society as a whole.