Table Of ContentMedia and Public Attitudes
Toward Migration in Europe
This comparative volume provides a comprehensive cross- national account of
media coverage and public attitudes toward migration both within and into the
European Union.
Using empirical research from across Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain,
Sweden, and the United Kingdom, Media and Public Attitudes Toward Migration
in Europe offers an in-d epth exploration of one of the most prominent social and
political topics of the decade in Europe. Drawing on a large scale, cross-n ational
panel survey, experiments, and media content analysis of migration discourse in
both traditional news media and social media, expert contributors from across the
continent investigate topics such as the linguistic features of migration coverage,
the public perception of migrants, and the effects of journalistic communication
strategies. Other topics addressed include a discussion of news framing effects
of migration coverage and politicians’ postings on social media coverage about
the issue.
This is a valuable resource for academics, students, and policymakers interested
in media coverage of migration, news framing effects, and public attitudes to
migration generally.
Jesper Strömbäck is Professor of Journalism and Political Communication
at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of
Gothenburg. His research focuses on political communication, political news
journalism, and opinion formation.
Christine E. Meltzer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of
Communication, University of Mainz. She does research in the field of political
communication, with a focus on migration, violence, and gendered aspects of
media representation.
Jakob- Moritz Eberl is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of
Communication, University of Vienna. He does research in the field of political
communication, with a focus on media bias, electoral research, and media effects.
Christian Schemer is Professor of Communication at the Department of
Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. His
research interests include political communication and political media effects.
Hajo G. Boomgaarden is Professor of Empirical Social Science Methods with
a focus on text analysis at the Department of Communication, University of
Vienna. His research looks at various aspects of political communication and
media effects, applying and evaluating advanced computational methods.
Media and Public Attitudes
Toward Migration in Europe
A Comparative Approach
Edited by
Jesper Strömbäck, Christine E. Meltzer,
Jakob-M oritz Eberl, Christian Schemer,
and Hajo G. Boomgaarden
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Jesper Strömbäck, Christine E. Meltzer,
Jakob- Moritz Eberl, Christian Schemer, and Hajo G. Boomgaarden;
individual chapters, the contributors.
The right of Jesper Strömbäck, Christine E. Meltzer, Jakob- Moritz Eberl,
Christian Schemer and Hajo G. Boomgaarden to be identified as the authors
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
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hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Strömbäck, Jesper, author. | Meltzer, Christine E., author. |
Eberl, Jakob-Moritz, author. | Schemer, Christian, author. |
Boomgaarden, Hajo G., author.
Title: Media and public attitudes toward migration in Europe: a comparative
approach / Jesper Strömbäck, Christine E. Meltzer, Jakob-Moritz Eberl,
Christian Schemer, and Hajo G. Boomgaarden.
Description: London; New York: Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020054087 | ISBN 9780367857820 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781003015055 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: European Union countries–Emigration
and immigration–Press coverage. | European Union countries–
Emigration and immigration–Public opinion. |
Public opinion–European Union countries. |
Mass media and public opinion–European Union countries. |
Mass media–Political aspects–European Union countries. |
Social media–Political aspects–European Union countries.
Classification: LCC PN5110.5.E45 S77 2021 |
DDC 070.4/493253412422–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054087
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 85782- 0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 00554- 6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 01505- 5 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents
List of illustrations vii
List of contributors ix
Acknowledgements xi
PART I
Introduction 1
1 Setting the stage: Understanding media discourses about and
public attitudes toward migration in Europe 3
JESPER STRÖMBÄCK, CHRISTINE E. MELTZER, JAKOB- MORITZ EBERL,
CHRISTIAN SCHEMER, AND HAJO G. BOOMGAARDEN
2 How to investigate media discourse about and public
attitudes toward migration in Europe: Our approach 28
FABIENNE LIND AND TOBIAS HEIDENREICH
PART II
Public attitudes toward migration within and into Europe 45
3 Mapping public attitudes toward immigration within and
into Europe 47
HAJO G. BOOMGAARDEN AND CHRISTINE E. MELTZER
4 The influence of self- interested and sociotropic perceptions
on immigration attitudes 69
CHRISTINE E. MELTZER
5 Mobile in Europe: Effects of mobility attitudes and
experiences on attitudes toward freedom of movement 84
FABIENNE LIND AND CHRISTINE E. MELTZER
vi Contents
PART III
Media discourse about migration within and into Europe 103
6 Mapping media coverage of migration within and into Europe 105
JAKOB- MORITZ EBERL AND SEBASTIAN GALYGA
7 Linguistic features of migration coverage in European mass
media 123
SEBASTIAN GALYGA AND FABIENNE LIND
8 Political elites’ migration discourses on social media 140
TOBIAS HEIDENREICH AND JAKOB- MORITZ EBERL
PART IV
Media effects on public attitudes toward migration within
and into Europe 157
9 Media effects on attitudes toward immigration: Political
sophistication as a shield 159
JAKOB- MORITZ EBERL AND CHRISTINE E. MELTZER
10 Miscounting the others: Media effects on perceptions of the
immigrant population size 174
CHRISTINE E. MELTZER AND CHRISTIAN SCHEMER
11 How news frames affect immigration attitudes: Perceptions
and emotions as underpinning mechanisms? 190
NORA THEORIN
PART V
Conclusions 209
12 Summary and conclusions: Media discourses about and
public attitudes toward migration within and into Europe 211
JESPER STRÖMBÄCK, CHRISTINE E. MELTZER, JAKOB- MORITZ EBERL,
HAJO G. BOOMGAARDEN, AND CHRISTIAN SCHEMER
Index 230
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Residents born in another EU country or outside the EU as share
of the total population (%) 9
3.1 Perceptions by groups of immigrants in wave 3 59
3.2 Attitudes toward different types of migration, wave 3 60
3.3 Group- specific temporal trends in immigration attitudes 61
3.4 Attitudes toward both African and Middle Eastern immigrants
combined 62
4.1 Impact perceptions of migrants for the personal and national
economic and safety situation 77
4.2 Effects of economic personal and national immigration impact
perceptions on immigration policy preferences 78
4.3 Effects of safety personal and national immigration impact
perceptions on immigration policy preferences 79
5.1 Outward and inward freedom of movement support in six countries 94
5.2 Effect of immigration and emigration attitude on freedom of
movement support 95
5.3a Predicted values for outward free movement support for the
lowest (1) and highest (10) openness to move abroad across
countries 96
5.3b Predicted values for outward free movement support for the most
negative (1) and most positive (5) emigration attitude across
countries 97
6.1 Relative media salience of migration 111
6.2 Relative media salience of migration within Europe 112
6.3 Media framing of migration into Europe (top) and migration
within Europe (bottom) 114
6.4 Media bias in framing of migration into Europe (top) and
migration within Europe (bottom) 116
7.1 Top ten most common modifiers for all RASIM terms per
country, relative frequency 131
7.2 Top ten most common modifiers of migrants per country, relative
frequency 133
viii Illustrations
7.3 Top ten most common modifiers of refugees per country, relative
frequency 134
8.1 Migration salience across countries and political ideology on
Facebook (top) and Twitter (bottom) 148
8.2 Visibility of frames across countries and political ideology on
Facebook (top) and Twitter (bottom) 149
8.3 Interactions with framed messages across countries and political
ideology on Facebook (top) and Twitter (bottom) 150
9.1 Average immigration attitudes within the sample 166
9.2 The moderating effect of political sophistication on migration
media sentiment 169
10.1 Mean estimates of immigrant population size in European
countries (rounded % in panel wave 1) 181
10.2 Change in the estimates of immigrant population size in
European countries over time (%) 182
11.1 Model over expected effects of frames on emotions, perceptions
and attitudes toward immigration 195
11.2 Fictional articles (English examples) 199
Tables
1.1 Total number of asylum applications and applications per
million inhabitants 12
2.1 Methodological repertoire of Chapters 3 to 11 29
2.2 Media sources and number of articles per country 33
2.3 Number of participants by country sample and wave 35
3.1 List of survey items 54
3.2 Summary of factor analyses 56
4.1 Mean immigration policy preferences per country 78
8.1 Examples of social media messages employing frames 147
9.1 Media salience and media sentiment in respondents’ media diets 167
9.2 Linear regression for media effects on immigration attitudes
with country- fixed effects 168
10.1 Overestimation of immigrant population size as a function of
news media diet 183
11.1 Indirect effects of news frames on attitudes toward immigration
via emotions and perceptions 201
11.2 Indirect effects of news frames on attitudes toward immigration
via emotions and perceptions in different countries 202
Contributors
Hajo G. Boomgaarden is Professor of Empirical Social Science Methods with
a focus on text analysis at the Department of Communication, University of
Vienna. His research looks at various aspects of political communication and
media effects, applying and evaluating advanced computational methods.
Jakob- Moritz Eberl is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of
Communication, University of Vienna. He does research in the field of polit-
ical communication, with a focus on media bias, electoral research, and media
effects.
Sebastian Galyga is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Communication,
University of Vienna. His interests are in the field of political communica-
tion, with a focus on disinformation, experimental designs, and linguistic
approaches to migration discourses.
Tobias Heidenreich is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Communication,
University of Vienna. He does research in the field of political communication,
with a focus on political social media discourses, and automated approaches
to content analysis.
Fabienne Lind is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Communication,
University of Vienna. She does research in the field of political communi-
cation, with a focus on media representations of migration, media- induced
knowledge gaps, and automated approaches to multilingual content analysis.
Christine E. Meltzer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of
Communication, University of Mainz. She does research in the field of pol-
itical communication, with a focus on migration, violence, and gendered
aspects of media representation.
Christian Schemer is Professor of Communication at the Department of
Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. His
research interests include political communication and political media effects.
Jesper Strömbäck is Professor of Journalism and Political Communication at
the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of
