News consumption habits have changed, largely due to digital and social media. The result of these changes is a much more fragmented media landscape. People still rely on the media to make sense of key issues like migration, however, so the implications of migration misinformation, spread virally through the media, are severe. Factually flawed, one-dimensional or biased media coverage can erode public goodwill or support for migrants and migration, turning them into cultural scapegoats, and can lead to integration challenges (Berry, Garcia-Blanco and Moore, 2015).
It can be difficult for government officials to know exactly how much and what information has been shared or released for public consumption, particularly on sensitive topics. For this reason, how migrants and migration are represented and described by politicians in the media matters. Indeed, migration reporting often relies on the voices that dominate the political landscape. Two-way channels of communication between the government and the media are time intensive but very effective. Such channels can include making press releases, producing background reports and giving media interviews.