Shaping Politics and Migration Narratives

Governments and politicians, through their policies and discourse, set the tone for public debate. But politicians are not the only ones shaping the narrative and they do not operate in a vacuum. Developing a better and more nuanced understanding of the process by which public opinion is formed around immigration will allow us to challenge hostility and the tensions that this can provoke. Traditional and social media are a powerful force in shaping migration narratives, but they may equally convey messages that are not based on evidence and that enable negative stereotypes about migrants to prevail. This exchange aims to engage multiple stakeholders to try and unwrap ways in which political and media narratives and public opinion are shaped and interact with each other.

The event will bring together approximately twenty experts from different fields working on issues of migration and diversity. These include journalists, editors, national civil society representatives, migrant activists, international organization representatives, members of Parliament, academics, policy advisers and communicators.

Each participant will be guiding the discussion at various stages of the workshop. The questions to be unravelled include:

• How are narratives about migration – and people who migrate – constructed?
• Who has power in constructing the narrative?
• Who benefits from the dominant narrative and who is negatively affected by it?
• What is the role of political rhetoric?
• Which stakeholders have power to create change and which are rarely identified?
• What does responsible leadership on migration look like and how can we support it?

The outcome of the meeting will inform ODIHR’s work on migration.