Mediatization, politicization, and (de-)legitimization of immigration in Europe

Abstract

The papers in this panel analyze and discuss contemporary developments in the mediatization and politicization of immigration, particularly in the news-framed narrative content that circulates within a range of public deliberation fora. The panel incorporates four academic contributions that address the hybridly mediatized dynamics of collective knowledge-production and media entrepreneurship with a particular focus on the spread of misinformation and disinformation across one or more of the three distinct analytical dimensions. Firstly, the actor dimension examines the roles adopted and the dynamics manifesting between key actors within a range of political and civic mobilizations, offline and online. These involve right-wing populist, radical right and far right actors, both within the grass-roots level and among the formal and informal leadership of these mobilizations. The pertinent actors to be studied can also include other types of civic activists, including solidarity activists and produsers (Bruns 2008) of “alternative knowledge” who engage in various ways in public debate on global migration. Secondly, the arena dimension, explores the sites that produce, curate, package, and sell news-framed narratives both in the administrative and political spheres and within the hybrid media system (Chadwick 2013), spanning from established mainstream media outlets to social media fora and the countermedia. Finally, the policy dimension entails analyses of the range of existing and proposed (self-)regulatory measures for the management and control that are aimed at facilitating the spread of evidence-based narratives on global migration and at limiting the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation. Informed by the interplay between these three analytical dimensions, the panel is set out to address the developments in mediatization and politicization of immigration from a comparative perspective. This entails comparison of features that arguably constitute European convergences and divergences, on the one hand, and identification of local adaptations or domestications (Alasuutari 2009) of European trends or models, on the other hand.

Title	Details
Discontentment trumps Euphoria: Interacting with European Political Elites’ Migration-Related Messages on Social Media	View Paper Details
Hybrid mediation of ‘the refugee crisis’ by radical nationalist groups Suomi Ensin and Rajat kiinni!	View Paper Details
Shedding Light on People's Social Media Concerns through Political Party Preference, Media Trust, and Immigration Attitudes	View Paper Details
Explicating the role of facts and narratives in the contemporary migration management: global and European efforts	View Paper Details
Anti-racism in the hybrid media system: Why the Baltic herring movement failed to consolidate a front against racism	View Paper Details