Public trust and accountability

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.

Policy Approaches
Increasing public trust and media accountability
  • Understanding the media landscape allows government to develop strong communication strategies.
  • Mapping media outlets in the country and building partnerships at institutional and individual levels improves the government’s ability to communicate widely and effectively.
  • Offering training for media agencies, journalists and editors builds relationships and strengthens media accountability.
  • Thematic briefings on migration issues as well as one-on-one interactions are valuable tools for transparency and partnership to improve media coverage.
  • Timely, accurate and contextualized information in quick and easily digestible formats enables stretched journalists to provide both background and analysis in their reports, widening the lens on migration coverage.
  • Giving journalists access to refugee camps and the like allows the media to obtain on-the-ground information, providing human angles and migrant voices in stories. It promotes balanced, less government-centric and more holistic reporting.
Good Practice
Harnessing political leadership and public trust in New Zealand

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern demonstrated the power of political leadership to build inclusive societies when she spoke to the media after xenophobic terrorist attacks in two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019, in which 49 persons died, including children and entire families.

The Prime Minister identified the event as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” She spoke about the victims and their families, saying: “They have chosen to make New Zealand their home. And it is their home. They are us. The person who perpetuated this violence against us, is not.” Her statement repudiated the sense of “others” who do not belong. She set the inclusive tone and frame for public and political reaction and discourse in the aftermath.

Source

The Guardian, 15 March 2019.

Communicating facts

Accurate information may be the single most important policy tool in all societies faced with increasing diversity (IOM, 2011). Evidence-based policymaking is needed to support a variety of communication projects for a variety of target audiences. At the same time, however, reporting numbers and statistics without context can make people feel besieged and can undermine public empathy.

Stand-alone data can sensationalize, politicize or stereotype, and so it should be provided as part of a holistic package of information. For instance, considerations should be given to the difference between migration “stock” versus “flow,” while allowing the former to be reported rather than the latter . “Net” versus “gross” migration, as well as “total” versus “rate” can also be confused. As a result, people often hear “the number of immigrants went up by x” rather than “the immigration rate fell from x immigrants per 1,000 population to x" (see Data, research and analysis for policymaking).

Image / Video

Source

IOM, 2013.

When communicating on migration’s effect on the economy, for example, data on migrants’ net fiscal impact can be included with facts on labour market conditions, needs and skill gaps; with the contribution of skilled migration to job creation and economic growth; and with demographic trends, and the impact of labour shortages on economic development and public services.

When communicating crime rates, question what narrative is being conveyed. Some media have begun to omit ethnic origin or nationality on crime stories unless it is relevant, as in xenophobic attacks or hate crimes. This responds to a greater understanding of the link between news coverage and stereotyping. When false claims of migrants as the main perpetrators of crime appear in the media, proactive government communication of official data should rebut such misinformation via traditional and digital means. Accompanying factual information on crime against migrants, which is either unreported or under-reported, should also be provided.

Policy Approaches
Five-point media guidelines for reporting on migration

Guidelines created by the Ethical Journalism Network apply to anyone communicating on migration:

  1. Facts, not bias: Media should always strive for accuracy. Providing fact-based information helps people better understand the world around them.
  2. Know the law (including terminology): Media need to provide precise information. Journalists covering migration stories should have specific training on the subject.
  3. Show humanity: Media should always be fair. Migration is only a category, established to govern the phenomenon of moving across borders; the people who are actually on the move are first of all human beings, just like everybody else.
  4. Speak for all: Stories always have more than one side. Media should make sure to cover the stories from all these different angles.
  5. Challenge hate: Hate speech is a crime. All media should always challenge hate, no matter what story they are telling their audience.
People-centred communication

Presenting only the facts, such as data and statistics on migration, impersonalizes or dehumanizes migrants by rendering them anonymous and androgynous. It reinforces the sense of the Other among receiving communities, with detrimental effect.

Providing additional human-interest information in different formats to illustrate data findings can help journalists put a human face on the story. Helping journalists to easily access migrants and their stories can have the same effect. A people-centred approach conveys information and messages more deeply and seamlessly to wider, less specialized audiences. Such an approach also concretely demonstrate migrants’ contribution to the receiving country, makes them more relatable to receiving communities, and can change attitudes. Images are a powerful tool for multi-layered messaging that can help change perceptions of migrants. For example, images of migrants in first responder situations like health, law enforcement and emergencies, or in crucial sectors such as technology, education, agriculture or business, are a subtle demonstration of migrants integrated into society, contributing to its social and economic development. A showing and telling approach using personal testimonies is particularly effective for relatability and empathy.

Good Practice
Encouraging migrants as their own messengers

Media can be helped to gain first-hand access to migrants to provide authentic, lived-experience perspectives on a migration story. In the UK, entities such as Migrant Voice, IMiX, NEON and OnRoad connect migrants with media. They empower migrants to be their own spokespeople, to shape migration narratives and to contribute to the public discourse. The development of migrants’ and diasporas’ own media should be encouraged, as it is an effective way to both more positively integrate migrants in their new places and contribute to intercultural dialogue in societies (Lobera, Arco and Giménez, 2017).

Key messages
  • Joint thematic briefings by representatives from different ministries provide balanced, whole-of-government information, build media expertise and improve overall reporting. Content, frequency and tone of government communication and media reporting all influence public attitudes.
  • Specialized training for the media on principles for migration reporting, particularly at frontline local level, demonstrates government’s commitment to fair and accurate journalism.
  • Transparent communication concerning both the positive and negative aspects of migration is essential for public and media trust and government accountability.
  • Different government agencies should work together when communicating facts and figures to ensure consistency and credibility while reducing possibilities for ill-informed policymaking.
  • Connecting media with migrant and community associations promotes a culture of balanced media reporting through the inclusion of diverse voices.