Routledge Refugee News, Refugee Politics: Journalism, Public Opinion and Policymaking in Europe

The unprecedented arrival of more than a million refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants – plus the political, public, and policy reactions to it – is redefining Europe. The repercussions will last for generations on such central issues as security, national identity, human rights, and the very structure of liberal democracies. What is the role of the news media in telling the story of the 2010s refugee crisis at a time of deepening crisis for journalism, as “fake news” ran rampant amid an increasingly distrustful public? This volume offers students, scholars, and the general reader original research and candid frontline insights to understand the intersecting influences of journalistic practices, news discourses, public opinion, and policymaking on one of the most polarizing issues of our time. Focusing on current events in Greece, Austria, and Germany – critical entry and destination countries – it introduces a groundbreaking dialogue between elite national and international media, academic institutions, and civil society organizations, revealing the complex impacts of the news media on the thorny sociopolitical dilemmas raised by the integration of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in EU countries. Review 'Refugee News, Refugee Politics is an important analysis of one of the most urgent political and social issues of recent years. Combining first hand journalistic experience, academic analysis and contributions from civil society organisations, this book provides rich and much needed insight into the refugee and migrant crisis and provides excellent advice on best practice for journalists, academics and NGOs.'―Richard Sambrook, Cardiff University, UK 'The European refugee crisis has become a litmus test for EU politics and European humanitarianism. Born out of a productive collaboration between academics and journalists, this book presents unmatched first-hand insight into the way the news media are shaping public opinion and migration policy.'―Thomas Hanitzsch, LMU Munich, Germany 'At a time when local, national and international communities debate how to respond to global migration phenomena, Refugee News, Refugee Politics provides a rare and valuable combination of perspectives from journalism practitioners and media scholars. The volume will undoubtedly become a seminal reference for scholars, students and general readers about how to understand the news media’s relationship to public opinion, policy makers and migration.'―Celeste González de Bustamante, University of Arizona, USA About the Author Giovanna Dell’Orto is Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and affiliated faculty at the Center for German and European Studies and Department of Political Science. A former journalist with The Associated Press (AP), she is the author of four books on journalism and international affairs, most recently AP Foreign Correspondents in Action and American Journalism and International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2015 and 2013), and coeditor of Reporting at the Southern Borders (Routledge, 2013). Irmgard Wetzstein is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, former Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota, and trained mediator. She received her PhD in media communications in 2010 and has been working in social research and teaching since 2006, focusing on journalism and conflict communication, social media, strategic and visual communication. Before that, she worked at the Austrian news magazine profil and the Austrian Insurance Association’s PR division.