rampages.usrampages.us/.../uploads/sites/11866/2016/12/UNIV200-Pa…  · Web viewThe fifth picture explains how more media should focus on the refugees themselves than the damage

The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Wild Myth or a Scary Truth

By: Sandya Mylvaganam

University 200

Professor Hall

December 15, 2016

Multimodal Rationale:

The first picture explains how the Syrian refugees are displaced in different countries.

This picture was placed to show that there are more people being affected by this situation than

the media covers. There should more coverage on the overall countries affected in this crisis

rather than only based in Syria. The next picture explains how the media, whether it being the

news or social media influences the public and stays in each and everyone’s brain. Thus what

they report does actually matter to the public, because we get affected by all kinds of media. The

third picture explains that political figures have an influence in media even though the things

they say might not be true, people are influenced by it by the amount of retweets and likes it has.

The fourth picture explains that the media does hide or not disclose specific information to the

public for its own benefit of the report being done.

The fifth picture explains how more media should focus on the refugees themselves than

the damage done in Syria, it shows that this specific media source focuses on the refugees

finding asylum in a different country. The sixth picture shows how multiple news sources cover

the same story, with the same facts and even same picture, it does not focus on a different idea

that could have been said or reported. The last picture explains how the media should focus on

the Syrian refugee’s struggles in this crisis rather than what the politics may be, thus showing the

public how they are truly affected in this crisis and giving the public a sense of what they go

through on a daily basis.

APA Abstract:

The Syrian refugee crisis is an ongoing world problem, and in my opinion I felt that it

was not getting enough attention from the world in order for the problem fully dissolve or even

lessen. Throughout the five years the withstanding war in Syria has caused its civilians to be

displaced thus causing a lot of people looking for asylum. The media is currently the only way to

obtain more knowledge about the whole crisis. The media outlets that report on this issue are the

world’s current outlet to information about this devastating global problem. Thus the media

should be able to report properly on the issue, on the refugees involved and try to truthfully

educate the public of this issue.

Media outlets around the world that misrepresent the struggling refugees, do not seem to

understand how their specific reports based on the refugees and the way they report it, affect the

public’s overall view on the whole situation. The media outlets that do unjust by misrepresenting

the refugees should be able to fix their ways of reporting the problem, so the world can fully

understand the crisis. The reports need to be able to explain the current situation in Syria but also

explain how the refugees are affected, what other countries are doing and even possible solutions

that could solve this terrible dilemma. I urge the media to change their ways of reporting on the

Syrian refugee crisis, in order to allow the world to comprehend the situation fully and

eventually be more helpful towards the situation and more importantly the refugees.

Have you ever rushed out of your room in fear of your life ending because a bomb

exploded somewhere in your own neighborhood? Fortunately, most U.S citizens do not have to

experience this, even though this is the dangerous reality of people living in Syria. For nearly 5

years, there has been an ongoing civil war between protestors against the Syrian government and

supporters of the Syrian government that started March 2011. The situation has worsened to such

an extent that a Free Syrian Army has been created, which civilians have joined and taken up

arms in order to go against the opposition. Since the war has begun, there have been roughly

250,000 civilians killed and around 11 million Syrian refugees displaced from their homes.

There are currently 22 million people in need of severe humanitarian services that live in Syria,

with such tallies rising as the days pass. Most Syrian refugees have fled to other countries like

Jordan and Lebanon but most are struggling with the aspect of getting out of Syria and being

successfully accepted in other countries.

At this time, the only way people in different countries other than Syria get their

information about the Syrian refugee crisis is through the media and their reports. In this case,

the media should represent the Syrians well, so others around the world get informed about this

significant horrific issue properly. Due to the media’s shady and misleading tactics, coverage and

the amount of background information presented to the public about the Syrian refugee crisis

however, the media outlets fail to represent the Syrian refugees properly, at the expense of the

Syrians' lives.

Depiction is Key to Proper Representation

The refugees, as of right now, are most prominently represented in media. The media has

only a single most important duty to fulfill--tell the whole story and make sure the people they

are reporting on have their voices heard. When reading reports on the Syrian Refugee Crisis

however, some media outlets refer to the refugees incorrectly with certain specific word usage in

their reports. In these articles, the media does not correctly depict the refugees during their

struggle, an action that has misinformed many members of the public about this highly sensitive

topic. In fact, “Role of the Media in Europe’s Refugee Crisis” author Lauren Pascu. She has

completed her masters in international relations and is a current research and professional

communications advisor, expresses “reports from The Daily Mail, the Sun and The Daily

Mirror" received backlash because the words used to describe refugees, were inhumane and

degrading. For example when talking about Syrians being forced to evacuate Aleppo, most

media outlets referred to them as refugees but the media outlets listed referred to them as

"migrants” (Pascu, 2015). When the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Daily Mirror media outlets use

the word migrant rather than refugee, they know that they are supposed to describe the civilians

in danger trying to leave the country to be safe from the harms happening in Syria. The word

migrant however, means someone looking for a job who goes to a different country to do so. The

two words could not be more different--the people rushing out of Syria are doing so because they

are scared for their life, not necessarily looking for a job, but an asylum that accepts them. As

certain media outlets use the word migrant than the word refugees to describe the Syrians it

provides open misperceptions for the public to assume wrongly of Syrian refugees, people who

are in need of so much help. Pascu also expresses in “The role of the Media in Europe’s Refugee

that “with the privileged place the media has in the lives of the public, it has to give unbiased

information. Not doing so can cause a serious consequence, which affects the true blocked

feelings of the people and could harm the chances of the public even thinking of the Syrian

refugees", explaining why the media should not depict the refugees in a wrong way by using

completely different words to describe them (Pascu, 2015). The media can not only manipulate

the public in such ways just by the words they use however, they can also do so when greater

forces influence what the media publish to the masses.

One author expresses this idea, noting

that some media tend to misrepresent the Syrian refugees because of the influence they receive

from greater forces like certain governments or significant political figures. Lisa De Bode, author

of Al Jazeera America’s report “Watchdog slams U.S. Media for Coverage of Refugee crisis,

Immigration”, is a European and American journalist who has reported on the refugee crisis,

foreign fighters in Syria and even the Paris Terror. De Bode expresses that “there was an

overload of focus on Donald Trump’s context when talking about immigration and the Syrian

refugee crisis even though what he said was not fact checked” ( De Bode, 2015 ). The media

outlets that continuously reported on what Trump said wanted him to be of importance because

at the time, he was running for President. When the media focuses on political figures and what

they say about specific problems like the Syrian Refugee Crisis, the media should have double

checked if what was said was correct or not, rather than assume the figure says truth.

If the media reports are not double checked, then reporting what politicians say word for

word leads to significant misrepresentation of the Syrian refugees due to reports containing

factually incorrect pieces. There was actually one other example of the media not double

checking their information from specific sources like well-known sources. This occurred in the

Boston Globe by award winning author and foreign correspondent of over 50 countries, Stephen

Kinzer. He noted that the “Washington Post’s narrative reported that Aleppo has been a

“liberated zone” for a couple of years but now in real trouble”, which is the opposite of what is

actually happening (Kinzer, 2016). This affects the public's opinion of the refugees  because now

the American people think Aleppo is not safe anymore all of a sudden, even though the area has

been trying to be a safe zone for its people. That particular media outlet has been known to

sometimes report incorrect statements due to financial pressure and the outlet being based in

Washington DC than in Syria or in neighboring countries. Due to the media being very

prominent in today’s world, all media outlets have a major impact on people’s opinion,

particularly since news is such a necessity in this day and age. The idea of media reports being

the sole source of information for the non-Syrian public along with the fact that they represent

the refugees shows the role media has in news reaching the ears and eyes of the rest of the world.

The Jomec article “British media coverage of refugee and migrant crisis is the most

polarized and aggressive in Europe” by Dr. Mike Berry, supports the idea of how media

reporting on the crisis depicts the refugees incorrectly through the words used and outside

political influence. Berry, who has his doctorate from Cardiff University in journalism, media

and cultural studies points out “that countries like Germany and Sweden have more than 50 % of

their media outlets using the correct term of refugees to refer to the Syrians and that other

countries like Britain and Italy use the word migrant to describe the refugees less than or equal to

50 %.”(Berry, 2016). It does not seem so pertinent in Britain and Italy but, because the idea of

referring to the refugees as migrants even after four years of suffering as this war continues to

drag on, makes the media seem they want to influence the people in a certain way. Berry also

emphasizes that the “ government and political figures affect what the media has to say

pertaining to the Syrian refugee crisis in Sweden, Italy and even the United Kingdom because

most influence came from right wing parties.” (Berry, 2016) This article went further and

expressed that British media were highly aggressive towards the refugees in describing them,

noting how right wing press kept insisting on anti-refugee measures. When the media focuses on

what the politicians or government has to say about the crisis rather than the actual facts of the

Syrian refugee crisis, the people will believe the reports' words and hidden bias is correct.

Additionally, when the media depicts the refugees some do it with very inhumane words that

degrade the refugees further instead of displaying the situation they are in. These different

variations of depiction among the media grossly misrepresent the Syrian refugees when they

need help from all countries. To obtain the help they need, their stories need to make it to the

public without being altered maliciously in order to pander to others or sensationalize them. One

last way the Syrian refugees are wronged by the media is the amount of coverage that can be too

much and too little at the same time, affecting the international portrayal of Syrian refugees.

Amount of Coverage Done

Media outlets have the opportunity to report on whatever major or minor events happen

all throughout the world. But the real question is, when they choose a topic that is a global issue,

would it be better to cover more or less of the situation? The amount of coverage done on the

Syrian refugee crisis has shown such a dilemma, as coverage amount has a clear effect on how

the public views the crisis and the refugees themselves. Joseph Erbentraut, a senior editor of 8

years for the Huffington post explains in “How the Media are Reporting on Europe’s refugee

crisis” the significant issue looming overhead. He provides “that there is a very big abundance of

coverage on the crisis, in fact it might be too much because now the refugees are not really seen

as people in need of help but just another statistic people overlook”, (Erbentraut, 2015). This

reduces the level of importance the disaster in Syria should be getting to the equivalent of a

pamphlet you are handed on the streets about surveys. When the Syrian refugee crisis is covered

too often with the same facts and areas being affected being mentioned time and time again, the

refugees are embodied incorrectly as a dilemma that will never change, even though the issue is

constantly changing and new facts are surfacing. If there is a big news update even, it is

disregarded due to the staggering amount of mass reports on old information. This makes the

public feel like nothing can be done further for Syria and they then stop keeping interest.

Erbentraut emphasizes that the amount of coverage on the Syrian refugee crisis is too

much and is not efficient, exclaiming “an idea that has been overlooked throughout the reports

on the Syrian refugee crisis, is how other countries outside of Syria are dealing with this crisis”

(Erbentraut, 2015). This is a part of the story that as a whole, gets ignored or labeled as irrelevant

information by the mass media. When the media excludes certain parts like this on serious

issues, the public is not fully informed and does not get the whole story, even though such cut

portions can be important to know due to the length of the Syrians' suffering.

In general, not knowing the whole situation

of any issue can give a wrong impression about someone, whether it be good or bad. Erbentraut

thus urges the coverage of this particular topic to be reduced, due to the vast abundance of the

reports, stating that it’s important to focus on obtaining multiple aspect of the whole story rather

than repeating the same parts of the Syrian refugee crisis to the public.

Contrary to half of Erbentraut beliefs, David Gross, a photojournalist of thirty plus years

who specializes in war, human rights, abuse and disasters thinks there should be more coverage

of the Syrian Refugee crisis. He proves this view by expressing that “even though the Syrian

refugee crisis is the largest refugee crisis ever, the world has not been really supportive...when

reporting on specific issues journalism is supposed to make the people care and the situation

better, for the case of the Syrian refugee crisis, it does not seem that way because no help is not

present and the money to help the refugees has not shown itself” (Gross, 2013). Through such a

statement, he is expressing that even though that this crisis has been ongoing for the past five

years it has not been even close to getting resolved. Gross, author of “What I learned about

media after photographing Syrian refugee children”, expresses that even though all these media

sources are reporting on the Syrian refugee crisis, it has not gotten better or received the funds it

needs in order to be fully dissolved. That reason is why Gross decided to do a photography

project instead of another article, as he wanted to cover the Syrian refugee crisis more in a

different way, catching the public’s eye. Gross wants media outlets changing their focus on the

damages and distress of the Syrian refugee crisis to one more about the refugees themselves.

This is explained when he expresses “ reporting on the

Syrian refugee crisis might be better for the refugees especially through photography of the

individual, making the public care shifting their emotions from sympathy to empathy”

(Gross,2013). Hopefully having a new way to present the refugees, the public will think in a

different way. This type of coverage is more focused on the individuals involved in the Syrian

refugee crisis, thus making the readers understand who is truly affected by this long war and

actually embody the refugees well.

In accordance to Erbentraut's plea of coverage on the Syrian refugee crisis to be fully

present and widely representative of the refugees, author Katie Nguyen, a Thomson Reuters

Foundation correspondent, expresses that the coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis should be

whole stories rather than a few parts. Nguyen, author of “Bigotry, panic reflected in media

coverage of migrants and refugees”, expressed that “Starting in Bulgaria to Brazil (worldwide)

journalists fail to express the full story of the idea or topic they are reporting on. A recent study

of media coverage of 14 different countries expressed little resources was the cause for why

media outlets could not provide full stories and emotional reports  related to the Syrian refugee

crisis” (Nguyen, 2015). This proves that many media outlets forgo information, not knowing if it

is important or not. Leaving out facts and not telling the whole story due to their lack of

knowledge can easily lead to false accusations and false ideas about specific individuals, their

situation and even their race. Thus when the media continues this form of reporting, they affect

the public’s perception of the refugees based on the information that is being covered. One last

way the media changes the public’s idea of what and who the refugees truly are is through their

specific coverage, only focusing on the background information of this unfolding refugee crisis.

Background Information, does it have relevance?

Most of the public that reads the news every day, will know what the Syrian refugee

crisis is or at least how it all happened because the media continues to provide background

information on the issue. Yet sometimes certain media outlets repeat what other media outlets

say and it just becomes old news that is just repetitive. This is one way where the media gets

away with providing a story to the public that does not have much information because most of it

is the same compared to other news outlets. In the article “How Can NGOS keep Syria’s

refugees in the news? Guest Columnist; an Action Aid communicative executive tells of the

intractable struggle” by Jo Harrison, they note that the media should focus on more than the

background information. Jo Harrison is a communications advisor for ActionAid Arab Region

Initiative and Palestine and is also a freelance television journalist for several UK based

broadcasters. Harrison notes that background information presented on the Syrian refugee crisis

is helpful but media outlets should focus on the suffering of the Syrian people and more uprising

facts that are new than the old facts. This is voiced by her saying “The United Nations can now

announce that over 4 million refugees are displaced outside of Syria. There are currently 1.8

million Syrians in Lebanon, while turkey has 1.7 million, as Jordan shelters 627 Syrian refugees.

This refugee crisis is the worst one ever to occur since World War II. For example the Syrian

refugees are exhausted from the media constantly trying to understand or hear their misery and

mostly upset for no real change of this crisis for the past four years” (Harrison, 2015). If the

media reported more on the refugees themselves then the background information, the public

will understand better what the refugees really need in this tough situation. This excerpt gives the

readers facts about the Syrian refugee crisis but also calls the media out on how they cover the

crisis yet nothing significant has really changed and the Syrians refugees are getting tired of the

media just interviewing them for a story. In Harrison’s opinion, it is actually quite hard for the

media to present the Syrian refugee crisis to the public due to the over-repetition and recurrence

of large amounts of media covering the same facts,

stating that “As the media outlets report

constantly about the Syrian refugee crisis, they now face a fatigued audience, who think the

crisis in the Middle East has no hope to get better or even improve in any way…” (Harrison,

2015). She is reporting that because of the repetition of the same facts in different media outlets

the audience has gotten tired of hearing the same thing, so maybe talking about different or new

facts that happen would make the audience more interested in the Syrian refugee crisis.

Lastly, to support the fact that Harrison thinks that the media does not do a good job of

covering the facts well of the continuing situation in Syria, she expresses that “ due to certain

facts not getting enough media coverage the Syrian refugees look like they are coping with this

whole crisis…” (Harrison, 2015).  Once again, the Syrian refugee crisis and the refugees are not

illustrated by the media correctly due to the lack of facts covered, especially by not focusing on

the developing facts. She uses the word coping to infer that due to the presence of old facts that

are being provided by the media, the refugees appear to be doing just fine, a thought which is

disastrously incorrect. Harrison expresses that the media should place their attention and efforts

on covering the true suffering of the Syrian refugees rather than the facts that give background

information, because by this time many reports have been published giving information on the

background information. She says “That Action Aid tries to find the newest and most impressive

statistic to make their next story title. They have brought many celebrities, political figures and

even journalists to tell new and emotional stories of the refugees… The power to change the

crisis at hand only happens when the public sees how tragic this crisis truly is, as they get

updated. So it is her job (Harrison) to enter refugee communities and truly observe and

understand on how it affects the people” (Harrison, 2015). The focus of the media reports should

be new facts about the people that continuously suffer with this crisis as the year passes by.

The idea of focusing on something other than the background facts of the Syrian refugee

crisis is also conveyed in the CNN article “To prevent millions fleeing conflict, we must give

peace its chance” by Neal Keny- Guyer; who has been CEO of Mercy Corps since 1994 and is

also chairman of the board of Inter-Action, the biggest alliance of United States based

international NGOS. He notes that the media should focus more on resolution and global conflict

with the crisis than the background information by mentioning that “The U.N Secretary General

and President Obama have had high-level summits to entice the public about solutions. The

focus on solutions is reasonable and efficient but not enough to actually have the situation

dissolve… the problem of 65 million people fleeing for their lives is not necessarily the media

coverage of the facts from multiple of media sources, it is conflict, specifically global conflict”

(Guyer, 2016). He thus provides that the focus of the media should be on the possibility of

resolution. This displays the fact that the focus of the media currently based on the Syrian

refugee crisis is not efficient because it revolves around a bigger problem that if solved, will help

solve similar problems like the Syrian refugee crisis in the future if they are ever fixed.

In order for the public to believe that the main resolution the US and other countries

should try to achieve, Guyer provides examples where resolution of global conflict has actually

worked in civil wars like the civil war in the Central African Republic “the Mercy Corps worked

with the community leaders and the younger people of each side to establish peace building

skills and provide connection between the biggest cities which ended up resulting in 200 militia

fighters becoming disarmed” (Guyer,2016 ). This excerpt gives hope that if the media focused

more on the possibility of a solution and even look back on past problems related to the Syrian

refugee crisis, then there is a chance of the whole crisis getting resolved. The example provided

proves that when the media and the people focused more on the bigger problem which Guyer

expresses is global conflict, then it is possible that the Syrian refugee crisis will actually be

diminished or at least move in a positive direction with less suffering and less people having to

flee for their life.  Guyer emphasizes the idea that to focus more on global conflict by

“peacebuilding and conflict confrontation actually gives results. It is truly worth the expense.

The knowledge and amount we can handle is provided so why are we not trying to give peace its

true chance” (Guyer 2016). He is stating that there is a solution of peace that has been ignored

due to over coverage of background facts and old facts. Peace building is one possible solution

that has not been given much thought due to the over coverage of old facts and no fixation on the

people being truly affected in this situation, the Syrian refugees.

Conclusion

The representation of the Syrian refugee crisis and its refugees is covered from head to

toe by multiple of media outlets and news stations, yet almost half of the world has no coherent

idea that this crisis is still continuing and that too many people are still pleading for help without

much hope. It should be the media’s objective to cover the Syrian refugee crisis fully and

truthfully, to provide more coverage focusing on the refugees and possible solutions.

This global issue should

matter to the world because too many people continue to suffer. The media can help make this

crisis get the right attention it so dearly needs to reduce or even fully dissolve the suffering of the

Syrian refugee crisis. The media plays the important role of informing the public and embodying

the refugees as they are currently suffering and emphasize what the world could do to truly help

the Syrian refugees when they are in the time of need. Due to the significant roles the media play

in providing information about the Syrian refugee crisis, they need to be able to represent the

Syrian refugees properly and accurately. Without such coverage, the suffering human beings of

Syria that need the world to turn its head and care will be let down and will lose their lives in the

process.

Work cited

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