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Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention Over Refugees in Europe Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention over Refugees in Europe This book examines the ‘European refugee crisis’,offering an in-depth comparative analysis of how public attitudes towards refugees and humanitarian dispositions are shaped by political news coverage. An international team of authors address the role of the media in contesting solidarity towards refugees from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on the public sphere, the book follows the assumption that solidarity is a social value, political con- cept and legal principle that is discursively constructed in public contentions. The ana- lysis refers systematically and comparatively to eight European countries, namely, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Treatment of data is also original in the way it deals with variations of public spheres by combining a news media claims-making analysis with a social media reception analysis. In particular, the book highlights the prominent role of the mass media in shaping national and transnational solidarity, while exploring the readiness of the mass media to extend thick conceptions of solidarity to non-members. It proposes a research design for the comparative analysis of online news reception and considers the innovative potential of this method in relation to established public opinion research. The book is of particular interest for scholars who are interested in the fields of Eur- opean solidarity, migration and refugees, contentious politics, while providing an approach that talks to scholars of journalism and political communication studies, as well as digital journalism and online news reception. Manlio Cinalli holds a Chair of Sociology at the University of Milan and is Associate Research Director at CEVIPOF (CNRS – UMR 7048), Sciences Po Paris. He is the author of Political Integration of Muslims in France (Palgrave, 2017), and has published widely on citizenship in international journals. Hans-Jörg Trenz is Professor at the Department of Communication at the University of Copenhagen and at ARENA – Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo. His main field of interests are European media and the public sphere, migration and ethnic minorities, cultural and political sociology. Verena K. Brändle is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna and recipient of an International Postdoctoral Grant by the Inde- pendent Research Fund Denmark. Her main research interests focus on critical migration studies and political communication. Olga Eisele is a postdoctoral researcher at Vienna University. In her work, she focusses on media discourses, the European Union, crisis communication and the relationship and mutual influence of media and politics. Christian Lahusen holds a Chair of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts at Siegen University, Germany. His research interests include social theories, political sociology and the sociology of European societies and European integration. Routledge Studies in Media, Communication, and Politics Digitizing Democracy Edited by Aljosha Karim Schapals, Axel Bruns, and Brian McNair Communicating Populism Comparing Actor Perceptions, Media Coverage, and Effects on Citizens in Europe Edited by Carsten Reinemann, James Stanyer, Toril Aalberg, Frank Esser, and Claes H. de Vreese Human Rights, Iranian Migrants, and State Media From Media Portrayal to Civil Reality Shabnam Moinipour Threat Communication and the US Order after 9/11 Medial Reflections Edited by Vanessa Ossa, David Scheu and Lukas R.A. Wilde Rhetoric, Fantasy, and the War on Terror Vaheed Ramazani Generational Gaps in Political Information Use and Civic Engagement From Baby Boomers to Generation Z Kim Andersen, Jakob Ohme, Camilla Bjarnøe, Mats Joe Bordacconi, Erik Albæk, and Claes de Vreese Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention over Refugees in Europe Edited by Manlio Cinalli, Hans-Joerg Trenz, Verena Brändle, Olga Eisele and Christian Lahusen Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention over Refugees in Europe Manlio Cinalli, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Verena K. Brändle, Olga Eisele and Christian Lahusen First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Manlio Cinalli, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Verena Brändle, Olga Eisele and Christian Lahusen The right of Manlio Cinalli, Hans-Joerg Trenz, Verena Brändle, Olga Eisele and Christian Lahusen to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Cinalli, Manlio, author. | Trenz, Hans-Jörg, author. | Brändle, Verena K., author. | Eisele, Olga, author. | Lahusen, Christian, author. Title: Solidarity in the media and public contention over refugees in Europe / Manlio Cinalli, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Verena K. Brandle, Olga Eisele, Christian Lahusen. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge studies in media, communication and politics | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020047345 (print) | LCCN 2020047346 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367419950 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367817169 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Mass media and immigrants–Europe. | Refugees–Europe– Public opinion. | Refugees–Press coverage–Europe. | Solidarity–Europe. Classification: LCC P94.5.I482 C56 2021 (print) | LCC P94.5.I482 (ebook) | DDC 302.23086/912–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047345 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047346 ISBN: 978-0-367-41995-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-75322-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-81716-9 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Taylor & Francis Books Contents List of illustrations vii List of contributors ix Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction: A divided Europe? Solidarity contestation in the 1 public domain PART I 11 2 Debating solidarity across borders: The public sphere and role of the media 13 3 Claims-making analysis and its applications in media and communication studies 32 4 Solidarity under siege: The ‘refugee crisis’ in the news media 61 5 Bottom-up solidarity contestation through social media: How 84 Facebook users respond to political news PART II 105 6 Solidarity contestation in Switzerland – fragmented news, fragmented solidarity? 107 7 Solidarity contestation in Germany –‘Can we really do it?’: Refugee solidarity in the German context 113 8 Solidarity contestation in Denmark: A national escape from transnational crisis 121 9 Solidarity contestation in France: Bottom-up polarisation and segmentation 128 vi Contents 10 Solidarity contestation in Greece: Standing on the verge of emergency 135 11 Solidarity contestation in Italy: A dual debate between regulatory and confrontational discussions 143 12 Solidarity contestation in Poland: The categorical denial of responsibility 151 13 Solidarity contestation in the UK: Reluctance during political uncertainty 158 Conclusion: The divided Europe of solidarity contestation 165 References 177 Index 199 Illustrations Figures 4.1 Total number of articles over sample time period 66 4.2 Total number of claims over sample time period 67 4.3 Number of first time asylum applicants during the ‘refugee crisis’ 68 4.4 Average positions (-1 negative to 1 positive) across countries and actor types 75 4.5 Justifications in claims by country 77 4.6 Average tone of claims and solidarity justifications across broadsheet/tabloid newspapers 79 4.7 Average position of actors by scope across all countries over time 80 4.8 Average positioning of claimants by country/scope 81 5.1 Average tone of claims regarding solidarity with refugees in articles posted on Facebook 90 5.2 Overview of user engagement across countries and reactions (types of comments in frequencies) 91 5.3 Overview of issues discussed in articles posted on Facebook 92 5.4 Average stance towards refugees in comments 96 5.5 Justification versus no justification in comments with tonality toward refugees (in %) 98 5.6 Justifications of solidarity of negative and positive comments compared 99 5.7 Average position in broadsheets and tabloids in relation to justifications 100 Tables 3.1 Examples for coding of claims-making 48 3.2 Claims sample size across countries and newspapers 52 3.3 Comment sample size across countries and Facebook pages of newspapers 58 4.1 Actors of claims by country 69 4.2 Issues of claims about the ‘refugee crisis’ by country (percentages) 71 viii List of illustrations 4.3 Position across countries (distribution in % and average -1 to 1) 72 4.4 Pairwise comparison of claimants’ positions across countries 74 4.5 Five most frequent claims based on actor–issue–position combinations 76 4.6 Percentages of justifications (n= 5948) in all claims by position and claimant 78 5.1 The type of comment by position of commenter towards the issue/ claim in the posted article (frequencies in brackets)2 91 5.2 Cross-country distribution of issues in comments 92
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