During this panel moderated by Metin Çorabatır, president of the Research Center on Asylum and Migration (IGAM), journalists and media experts from Turkey and Europe discussed the dimensions of discrimination and hate speech towards refugees in the media and their experiences of struggle.

Video of the panel

The panel began with an opening speech by Gamze Tosun from Hrant Dink Foundation, on Foundation’s work on media monitoring of hate speech and discriminatory discourse against Syrian refugees. Afterwards, Mike Jempson, founder and director of The MediaWise Trust, stressed the importance of creating spaces where refugee journalists’ voices can be heard, as well as shared the experience of Exiled Journalists Network. He also mentioned the need for highlighting the obligations of States rather than presenting refugees as a burden, in addition to fight against misinformation.

Our second presenter, Nadia Bellardi, project manager of Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE), talked about the experience of a Swiss radio channel, which she is also a part of, broadcasting in 20 different languages, where refugees can present their own shows in their own languages. She stressed the importance of usage of correct wording by journalists, and stated that refugeeness is not a ‘crisis’ but rather a solution to crisis such as war and natural disasters.  Finally, Nadia Bellardi provided information on how concepts of freedom of speech and hate speech are defined by the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

The last presenter of the panel Ekin Karaca, co-editor of bianet, stressed the similarities between the news covers on Syrian refugees of different media outlets from different political views. She also highlighted the most common mistakes such as associating refugees with concepts of fugitive or illegal, as well as their victimization.