Image by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay
When writing about migration and especially refugees, newsrooms are known to exploit these topics in a sensational way, trying to make a big headline. Many reports are unconstructive, which leads to several negatives consequences. Media are incredibly powerful in shaping the public opinion. So how does sensationalist journalism distort the debate and how can we fix that with a construction-orientation?
First up, sensationalist journalism is a style of writing which has the tendency to report events in a dramatic and exaggerated way, in order to get attention. The effects of this journalism will be explored later in the article.
Case Study: Cologne New Year‘s Eve 2015
One striking example of sensational media coverage is the New Year‘s Eve in Cologne in 2015. During that night, over 500 women reported sexually assaults by men, most of them described as North African or Syrian. Instead of finding real solutions, biased and unconstructive articles lead to political overreactions like the symbolic thighening of laws or a loss of trust in media and democracy. Migration was framed as a “crisis“ rather than a social and political reality. Many articles left the impression that all north-african and arab men are a threat to german women.
You may wonder what could have been done better. For example avoiding alarmist terms like “migrant wave“ would help not to escalate the situation. The biggest boulevard newspaper in Germany, the Bild Zeitung published a texts titled “Sex-Mob on New Years Eve“ or “New Years Eve disgrace of Cologne: Minister lists all Sex-attacks“. Their reports were heavily criticized for reproducing stereotypes and discribing the offenders as homogeneos group of male refugees. The way the offenders were described and the amount of attacks that were published by Bild were later withdrawn by police and authorities, but many people had already read the news and did not care about the actual facts.
The problem with this kind of reporting is that they exploit groups of people that are written about. Most articles about the New Years Eve in Cologne did not contain interviews with the men they always wrote about and did not try to present their perspective on the topic.
The Impact of Sensationalist Reporting
One effect of this is the spread of misinformation due to a lack of context and accuracy, which has even more consequences like a dying trust in the media. In this example, journalists did not explore systemic failures by the police and social causes. The consequences of this are wide-spread. If people are under the impression that the news they are consuming are not well researched, their trust in the media dies. The problem with such sensational and negative articles is that negativity hits the brain harder. In the long term, more people experience “news fatigue“, which is a healthy reaction to stress, but also a problem. In order to be a part of a democratic system, you have to know what is happening around you.
This form of unconstructive, populist “journalism“ developed, because it became profitable for newsrooms. While everyone is in constant competition for attention and sales figures, it is easy to forget how to provide quality. And it is no surprise that the Bild is the most popular newspaper in Germany, because their headlines raise attention. Many people disguise their publications, but the numbers talk for their success. This developement is pushed by digitalisation. Especially printed newspapers have to reach more people than ever before, because they are in competition with digital formats. While newspapers are busy with structural and technological aspects, if they are broadening their offer by uploading updates on instagram and starting digital editions of their paper, many forget about the quality of their work.
How to do it better
A positive example of a constructive article about the night is called “Why we‘re running stories on Cologne four months after the fact“ published by “De correspondent“ a crowdfunded website that focuses on deeper analysis of events, written by specific correspondents. The article starts with a fact-based reconstruction of the night, the investigation shows coordination failures among police, systemic problems and social dynamics like alcohol or crowd behavior, rather than portraying migrants as a cultural threat. The article also showed the victims‘ perspectives, through careful interviews. A reflection on media is also part of the text. It is examined how journalism shaped public perception, which usually is not part of journalistic texts.
Why Constructive Journalism matters
Constructive journalism is shaped by different elements: Showing as many perspectives as possible is vital, because it allows the reader to understand a complex situation better. Giving background information and context is a big cornerstone of quality journalism. If readers don‘t know everything that happened, how are they supposed to build a well-founded opinion? Journalists also have to reflect on the influence of their work and the power they have in opinion-making. False information have to be debunked and prejudice has to be prevented. This kind of journalism puts peoples need in the centre by giving rich perspektives and fostering a constructive dialogue. If more journalists had applied these elements into their work, writing about the New Years Eve in Cologne of 2015, it wouldn’t have been so easy for right-wing actors to instrumentalize the topic. If journalists write sensational, populist actors are supported and their opinions are shared in mainstream media. If we want a constructive dialogue, we have to start writing more careful about sensitive topics.
