Page 67 - Tallinn University

HARIDUSTEADUSED Tallinna Ülikooli üliõpilaste 2015/2016. õppeaasta PARIMAD TEADUSTÖÖD / Artiklite kogumik
framing THe european
REFUgEE CRISIS
in esTonian online news meDia
EUROOPA PÕGENIKEKRIISI RAAMISTAMINE EESTI UUDISTEPORTAALIDES
II koht magistritööde kategoorias
DoRIS-MARII konDRAT
intrOductiOn
e European Union has been challenged with a massive rush of refugees due to the insurgency of Islamic State, also known as Daesh, in the Middle East. As a consequence, the second emergency mechanism of European Agenda on Migration (the rst one was introduced in May 2015) was intro- duced to relocate the refugees who have already arrived in Europe.
It could be suggested that the reaction of the Estonian public to the implementation plan has been controversial due to the more focused and heightened media coverage, which in return has created polarizing opinions and a sense of fear. e arrival of refugees has been associated with a number of risks, and in some cases those notions are ampli ed by media. ose attitudes and positions to risky actions are formulated based on second-hand information, which is commonly provided by media (Renn, 2008; 98).
Furthermore, the agenda of online news media di ers from tradional mass media as it o ers more information on one topic, and journalists use framing to attract readers. It could be suggested that the local online news media has used certain frames to make people think in particular ways about the refugees. According to Entman (1993), frames determine how people form an understanding of a problem as well as what is their judgement and how they will act upon the issue. Framing could be linked to the construction of social reality of news followers. Berger and Luckmann (1981) discuss the interrelation of social interactions and the creation of human knowledge of the world in-depth.
In compliance with these reasons, the study concentrates on the coverage of the European refugee cri- sis in online news media and how the online articles covering this political issue construct the social realities of Estonian news followers. e research is aimed to identify the frames journalists use in on- line articles, whether readers recognize these frames, and whether their understanding of the refugee crisis is in correlation with the most used frames.
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