Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.46640/imr.10.19.10
From Words to Wire: Targeting Migrants as Sources and Carriers of COVID-19 Virus infection
Amela Delić
orcid.org/0000-0001-6622-2966
; University of Tuzla
Selma Begić
orcid.org/0000-0003-2538-0196
; Faculty of Philosophy Tuzla
Abstract
The pandemic of COVID-19 virus has reminded the public around the world that mass media are vulnerable to manipulation, especially in crisis situations.
Except fake news, conspiracy theories and mass hysteria spreading in media discourse, especially migrants and refugees around the world have been targeted by media accusations and suspicions. Prejudice, stereotypes and generally very rigid and intolerant models of opinion have been transparented in relation to citizens of Asian descent, Muslims, Jews. Migrants and refugees, citizens whose “bare life” (Agamben) was placed outside the legal framework, and thus outside the framework of journalistic professionalism, were particularly negatively portrayed in the Bosnian media.
Many anti-immigrant web portals In Bosnia were launched, an anti-immigrant campaign was conducted through articles that, through metaphors, bias, and logical errors, imposed desirable views of undesirable „others.” In this paper, we have analyzed fake news created about migrants and refugees as dangerous transmitters of infection, texts about migrants and refugees on portals oriented towards writing anti-migrant texts, articles of the mainstream portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina about people on the move. We used critical analysis of media discourse, analyzed metaphors which were used, logical errors and other techniques of partisan reporting.
To set up the theoretical framework, we used the works of Teun van Dijk on critical discourse analysis, Georgio Agamben on sacred life and the thin line between life outside of law and death, Predrag Stojadinović’s analysis of logical errors, biased reporting techniques explained by Najil Kurtić.
Keywords
pandemic; COVID-19 virus; migrants; refugees; media; mass media; fake news; vectors of infection
Hrčak ID:
262474
URI
Publication date:
15.9.2021.
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