Debating immigrants and refugees in Central Europe

Abstract

This presentation focuses on the politicisation and framing of immigrants in the media and political arena of two countries, Czechia and Slovakia, in the period surrounding the so-called ‛refugee crisis’ in Europe. Although immigration was minimally visible in the media and political debates in these countries prior to 2015, its salience and politicisation increased significantly thereafter. After conducting quantitative content analysis and regressions of over 8,000 media items and 60,000 plenary speeches, Kovář finds that the framing of immigration has been generally negative and dominated by security, cultural and administrative aspects, while humanitarian perspectives were much less visible. However, categorisations remain important, as individuals originating from different regions, with different religious backgrounds or legal statuses have been politicised and framed in a different manner.