Presentation of Refugees on the News Web Portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

In this work we analyze ways in which the refugees from Syria are represented on web portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We conducted a research concerning the scope of attention devoted to refugees’ problems by four of the most visited web portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results have shown the existence of four interpretative frameworks in reporting about the refugees: representation of refugees as violent, representation of refugees as a danger for subsistence of the European Union, linking refugees to political career of the German chancellor Angela Merkel and displaying personal stories from Syrian refugees. The media repeat stereotypes about refugees which can be noticed on covers, in the words used in association with them, metaphors and photographs. Observed media mostly convey same information about latest events related to refugees. This information is most frequently taken over from foreign news agencies, the data about the number of casualties is sometimes not equable or not even accurately stated, and in photographs the people who suffer the most in this story are rarely seen.