Images of (in)security: visualizing borders, migrants and control in Serbia’s news media
Abstract
Media images of borders and control have been one of the most dominant frames in reporting on migrant crisis in European media and negative coverage of migrants as threat to security and public health dominates media narratives around the world. This paper examines how the concept of border has been used as a powerful visual narrative in the media representation of the relationship between security and human rights in the context of migration throughout Serbia, a transit country alongside the Western Balkans migration corridor. The mixed method analysis is based on 300 images published in relevant national and regional print media and their online versions from 2015 until 2020. The results show that the visual depiction of walls, wires, control, law and order, modern technological equipment, security providers and important political authorities have been often intensified with sensational headlines and tabloid, fake news coverage and with images framing migrants as violent and deviant and as a threat to borders, people and security.
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