Abstract
Over recent decades, because of its geographic position, Italy has experienced a large-scale migration, particularly from Northern African countries, the majority of migrants being from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and Gambia. The year 2016 was the deadliest year for refugees trying to reach Europe through the central Mediterranean route. In the same year, Italy counted 171,000 asylum seekers reaching Italian shores by boat, the highest record compared to previous years (Kingsley, The Guardian, 2016). The number of migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean in search of protection and better life conditions is growing, as well as the anti-immigration rhetoric of conservative right-wing parties, episodes of xenophobic violence, hate speech, Islamophobia and racist backlash. This chapter first analyses the politics of representation of migration in Italian media and discusses the ways in which the latter legitimate anti-immigration hostility. Second, it analyses studies that have assessed Italians’ public perceptions of migrants and “the Other”, and discusses whether there are concurrent themes and tensions between the information disseminated by the media and Italians’ beliefs and attitudes.
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Notes
- 1.
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- 2.
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de Haas, H. 2008, ‘The Myth of Invasion: The inconvenient realities of African migration to Europe’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 1305–1322.
- 6.
National Statistics Institute (Istat) 2016, Demographic Indicators, http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/180494.
- 7.
IDOS, 2016, Dossier Statistico Immigrazione. http://www.meltingpot.org/IMG/pdf/scheda_dossier_2016_1_.pdf.
- 8.
Ceyhan, A. & Tsoukala, A. 2002, ‘The Securization of Migration in Western Societies: Ambivalent Discourses and Politics’, Alternatives: Global, Political, Local, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 21–39.
- 9.
Calvanese, E. 2011, Media e immigrazione tra stereotipi e pregiudizi. La rappresentazione dello straniero nel racconto giornalistico. Franco Angeli, Milano.
- 10.
Ligas, A. 2011, Immigrazione, mass media e deontologia giornalistica, Carta di Roma, http://www.cartadiroma.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Tesi-completa-.pdf.
- 11.
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- 13.
UFTDU 2016, Observations on the 19th–20th periodic reports of Italy to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, http://www.unionedirittiumani.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/CERD-UFTDU-Alternative-report-2016-Nineteen-to-Twentieth-Italian-periodic-reports.pdf.
- 14.
Il Messaggero 2014, ‘La Russa choc in diretta alla Zanzara: I Rom sono culturalmente ladri’, Il Messaggero, http://www.ilmessaggero.it/PRIMOPIANO/CRONACA/la_russa_choc_zanzara_rom_ladri/notizie/1043161.shtml.
- 15.
La7Attualità, 2015. Buonanno (Lega Nord): ‘I Rom sono la feccia della società’. [online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKflxaLbMO4.
- 16.
Vox Institute of Human Rights 2016, “Map of Intollerance-Racism”, http://www.voxdiritti.it/razzismo-migranti-e-rom-i-piu-colpiti/.
- 17.
Marinaro, I.C. & Walston, J. 2010, ‘Italy’s Second Generations’: The Sons and Daughters of Migrants’, Bulletin of Italian Politics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 5–19, http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_165443_en.pdf.
- 18.
Ipsos MORI 2015, Ignorance Index, https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3664/perils-of-perception-2015.aspx.
- 19.
ISMU 2016, Immigrati e religioni in Italia: gli ortodossi sono più numerosi dei musulmani, http://www.ismu.org/2016/07/in-italia-ortodossi-piu-numerosi-dei-musulmani/.
- 20.
Open Migration 2015, Come smentire la bufala dell’invasione musulmana in Italia, https://openmigration.org/fact-checking/la-bufala-dellinvasione-musulmana-in-italia/.
- 21.
Wike, R, Stokes, B, & Simmons, K 2016, Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs, http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2016/07/Pew-Research-Center-EU-Refugees-and-National-Identity-Report-FINAL-July-11-2016.pdf.
- 22.
Comunità di Sant’Egidio 2016, Rom e sinti: Alcuni dati e qualche riflessione, http://www.santegidio.org/pageID/854/langID/it/Rom-e-sinti-Alcuni-dati-e-qualche-riflessione.html.
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European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) 2016, Report on Italy (fifth monitoring cycle), Council of Europe.
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Gabai, S. (2019). The Politics of Representation of Migrants in Italian Media. In: Shaw, I.S., Selvarajah, S. (eds) Reporting Human Rights, Conflicts, and Peacebuilding. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10719-2_8
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