Bartoszewicz Monika Gabriela, Eibl Otto
Department of Technology and Safety, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Department of Political Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Humanit Soc Sci Commun. 2022;9(1):230. doi: 10.1057/s41599-022-01240-2. Epub 2022 Jul 6.
This paper focuses on migrants and migration in the context of the Czech Republic, an ethnically and nationally homogeneous country without significant migration experience. Despite this fact, the issue of migration became very prominent in 2015 and has been an integral part of Czech political and public discourse since then. Although the topic has attracted scholarly interest, but the reflection on migrant images held by citizens has been omitted. To fill this gap, first, we conducted a quantitative computer-assisted content analysis of the main Czech media (2015-2018) to investigate how important the issue of migration was and in what context migrants and migration were discussed in the media. We then conducted a series of focus groups with Czech citizens to answer not only how they perceived migrants and migration in general, but also how they perceived the (quality of) media coverage of this issue. The findings offer insight into patterns of media consumption: Our respondents were well aware that media representation of the topic is exaggerated and does not include all possible points of view. The prevailing perception was that the mostly negative media representation was fixated on the image of a migrant coming from the Middle East, most likely to be a terrorist who is not going to adapt to a "normal" life in the Czech Republic. Indeed, the very term migrant is mainly associated with someone who, according to the mental projections of the respondents, is "different" at first sight, fails to fit in and integrate into the majority society, does not look for work thus becoming dependent on the social system of the host country. In other words, for Czechs, people who come to settle and work are excluded from the socially constructed category of migrants.
本文聚焦于捷克共和国背景下的移民与移民问题，该国在种族和民族上较为单一，此前并无显著的移民经历。尽管如此，移民问题在2015年变得极为突出，自那时起便一直是捷克政治和公共话语的一部分。虽然这一话题已引发学术关注，但公民对移民形象的看法却被忽视。为填补这一空白，首先，我们对捷克主要媒体（2015 - 2018年）进行了定量的计算机辅助内容分析，以探究移民问题的重要程度，以及媒体在何种背景下讨论移民与移民问题。随后，我们与捷克公民开展了一系列焦点小组讨论，不仅旨在了解他们对移民及移民问题的总体看法，还包括他们对该问题媒体报道（质量）的看法。研究结果揭示了媒体消费模式：我们的受访者清楚地意识到媒体对该话题的呈现有所夸大，且未涵盖所有可能的观点。普遍的看法是，媒体大多负面的报道聚焦于来自中东的移民形象，极有可能是不会适应捷克共和国“正常”生活的恐怖分子。事实上，“移民”这个词主要与这样一类人相关联，在受访者的心理预期中，这类人乍一看就是“异类”，无法融入主流社会，不找工作，从而依赖东道国的社会体系。换句话说，对捷克人而言，前来定居和工作的人被排除在社会建构的移民类别之外。
