Refugee crisis reflected in Romanian online media in the second half of 2015: three perspectives
Refugee crisis reflected in Romanian online media in the second half of 2015: three perspectives

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyse the refugee crisis during the second half of the year 2015 in terms of media messages promoted in Romania by various politicians and journalists. The assumptions of this analysis are as follows: the online publications are promoting fear and intolerance using unconfirmed information; when referring to the refugees, the online environment is used by some leaders to win capital image by appealing to nationalism, while a part of public opinion is not favourable receiving refugees by Romania; the political opposition uses the online media in order to capture the support of those unhappy with the official policy on immigrants, as promoted by the president and the government / European leaders. To prove the first hypothesis, we chose to analyse the articles published on websites like aflasitu.ro, infoalert.ro and inliniedreapta. net because they are a model of incorrect journalistic practices based on incomplete, unverified information, thus encouraging xenophobia and fear of the Muslim community. In the case of the second hypothesis, we will consider the interventions in the online media of two Romanian journalists, Lucian Mindruţă and Robert Turcescu, because they are two of the most active public figures during September-November 2015, regarding the topic of this paper. The last hypothesis refers to two other opinion makers, but this time involving political leaders of opposition parties. The examples we have chosen are those of Bogdan Diaconu, the United Romania Party (Partidul Romania Unită) chairman and Traian Băsescu, Romania’s former president and current leader of the People’s Movement (Mişcarea Populară).

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