Abstract
Media coverage can affect audiences’ perceptions of immigrants, and can play a role in determining the content of public policy agendas, the formation of prejudices, and the prevalence of negative stereotyping. This study investigated the way in which immigrants are represented in the Danish media, which terms are used, what issues related to immigrants and immigration are discussed and how they are described, and whose voices are heard. The data consisted of media articles published in the two most widely read Danish newspapers in 2019. Inductive qualitative content analysis was conducted. The portrayal of immigrants was generally negative. Overall, immigrants were portrayed as economic, cultural and security threats to the country. The most salient immigrant groups mentioned in the media were non-Westerners, Muslims, and people ‘on tolerated stay’. Integration, xenophobia and racial discrimination were the three immigrant-related issues most frequently presented by the media. The media gave voice mainly to politicians and immigrant women. The material showed that Danes have a strong affinity for ‘Danishness’, which the papers explained as a major barrier to the integration and acceptance of immigrants in Denmark.
Highlights
Metro and Politiken referred to migrants in terms of their geographical origin, ethnicity, religion, or legal status and tended to focus on non-Western, Muslim, and Eastern European immigrants as well as on people in the country ‘on tolerated stay’
This study examined the ways in which Danish media portrays the immigrants living in Denmark and explored both issues around immigrants and immigration and whose voices were heard in the media
The media texts referred to immigrants in terms of their geographical origin, ethnicity, religion, or legal status, and labelled them as economic, cultural and security threats
Summary
International migration is on the rise. In Denmark, the percentage of immigrants of the total population rose from 6.9% to 11.5% between 2000 and 2017 [1]. Existing research shows that immigrants in Denmark are perceived as exploiting welfare benefits more than natives do, making the former a burden on the Danish economy [2]. In terms of Nordic and European media representation, most often, immigrants are depicted in a negative way and as a burden to society [3–5]. Despite the various similarities that Denmark, Norway and Sweden appear to have in terms of culture, mass-media, political system and immigration histories, studies have shown that there are evident differences between the subjects discussed by media in the three countries. While the Danish media are strongly threat-focused (and discuss topics like integration policy, social/health care/welfare state issues, family and social customs, and immigration as a partisan-political issue) [6], Swedish media focus on the humanitarian aspects of immigration, and discuss issues like racism, multiculturalism, and immigrants’ political and civil rights [6,7]. In a study analysing press coverage on the refugee crisis in Germany, Sweden, UK, Spain, and Italy, Swedish press was found to be the most positive towards refugees and migrants [8]
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