South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF)

Media in Europe: Ready for crisis reporting?

Media business today in the context of international crises and
conflicts
International Conference, 21-22 November 2016, Belgrade
Panel I:
The refugee crisis as a touch-stone for professional journalism
How well are media in South East and Central Europe informing about
migration?
Panellist: Dragan Sekulovski,
Executive Director of Association of Journalists of Macedonia (www.znm.org.mk)

The messages in the media in Macedonia regarding the refugee crisis were
mainly polarized and this largely depended of the inclination of the media
producing and publishing the contents. The media inclined towards the
Government had dominantly selective approach in the treatment of the topics,
while at the same time in many cases stereotypes were imposed when
portraying the refugees. Actually, this approach in the treatment of the issue led
to the production of biased news, which to a great extent showed favouring or
supporting of the governmental policies about this problem. On the other hand,
there have been some media criticizing the governmental policies and they have
been making efforts to present the human angle in the stories on the refugee
crisis. They have been using this narrative in order to increase the awareness
among the public about the real reasons for the presence of the refugees on the
borders of Macedonia. In another way, media have been focusing on topics that
scopes the suffering of the victims, consequences for the individual, their
surrounding, the society, while at the same time they were making efforts to
deeply explore the issue and bring it into the context of the wider dimensions of
the crisis, not just in Macedonia, but also in the region.
How media in Macedonia reported? I have divided on negative vs.
positive aspects and I personally regret to admit that there are more
negative examples than positive.
Negative context:
1) Selection of media stories that matched the state policy on the
issue. Obvious media patterns can be identified, which clearly showed
that the media inclined towards the Government have been promoting
their measures such as: refugees are now safely transferred with buses
or trains, they have sufficient health care provided, the conditions in
the camps are good, there is no excessive force used by the authorities
in order to stabilize the crowds and bring them into order, etc. On
many occasions media did not offer the entire story which led to the
conclusion that selective aspects of the problem are presented to the
public.

2) Stereotyping in the portrayal of the refugeesthey were often

depicted as smugglers, people with diseases or who might spread
diseases, people who may commit crime to the local citizens, although
they have been facing different problems in the reality such as paying
big amounts for their basic needs food, water, bicycles and even for
services such as charging on their mobile phones.
3) Media stories were selected from other countries in a biased
way in order to glorify the efforts of the Government in the
country such as media reports about excessive use of force by police
in another countries just to emphasize that this is not a case in
Macedonia or that less force has been used in certain circumstances to
prevent bigger problems. This was done with a tendency to avoid
presenting the conditions on the borders, in the camps or in the
manners of transiting the country as seriously negative, instead they
tried to present Macedonia as a more friendly country regarding this
problem than some other countries in the region. Actually, it is
paradoxical that in some of the media Macedonias treatment of this
problem has been even presented as positive one.
4) Lack of investigative journalism and lack of media coverage of
the death of refugees under suspicious circumstances - In the
period between November 2014 and April 2015 28 refugees in total
lost their lives on the rail tracks on the territory of Macedonia out of
whom there were 14 victims in only one single day. Even though it was
difficult for media to investigate this, and despite the few positive
media attempts, the public still has no relevant information for the
reasons of the death of 28 refugees. In fact in almost all stories it was
presented as an accident.
Positive:
1. Human angle presented in part of the media reports some
media stories were emphasizing the individual story of a person or a
family filmed on the field which contributed in increasing the
awareness about their necessity to flee out of their countries. The main
narrative was that refugees arrived, they wait on the border to pass it
and there is an option to either transfer themselves to the northern
border, or the state should transport them or somebody else smuggle
them illegally. However, in the end they want to transit through the
country and should not represent a threat to anybody. This kind of
media reporting was important since it helped to sensitize the problem
of the refugees and encourage local people in helping individuals and
groups. Human dimension reporting actually led to a wider mobilization
of the population to help these individuals/groups on the way to the
borders.
2. Professional reporting was present despite of all negative
aspects, there are many examples of professional media
reporting but mainly present in less influential media such as
daily newspapers, radios or smaller TVs broadcasters. These
stories couldnt find their way to the wider population.
3. Professional photos made by local photographs surrounded the
world most of the photographers from Macedonia followed the route
of the refugees and reported about their experience through photos

that were published also in many global media. Numerous photo

reporters lived with the problem for a longer period of time, stayed in
the camps, tried to deeply understand the issue and present it through
the eye of the camera.
At the end, I want to point out that for the professional reporting on this
subject the Association of Journalists of Macedonia in cooperation with the
local UN office and other partners recently granted 9 awards to journalists for
demonstrating ethics and professionalism. I would also like to emphasize that
this issue is still alive and it deserves a proper treatment in the media, even
though the crisis is no longer present in these dimensions. Lots of mistakes
have been done, both in the media portrayal of these groups and in the
perceptions of the local population with the selective, biased and negative
reporting of this issue. Instead of using the power of media as an instrument
to awake the institutions and raise the most important issues, many of the
media misused their role to polarize the people and build wrong perceptions
about the problem.