Grassroots voices in the media

If refugees are, by and large, denied a voice in mainstream news reporting, then digital media platforms and technologies create opportunities—albeit highly constrained—through which they can assert themselves as active participants.

For individuals inside camps and detention centres, mobile phones allow them to document everyday life, expose human rights violations, and to connect with networks of support on the outside. Through such acts of ‘self-representation’ they can amplify the voices of refugees and thereby challenge dominant media representations that underpin Europe’s increasingly hostile, often violent border and asylum regimes.

However, their reach is often very limited, confined to small circles of online audiences. Thus, while such ‘bottom-up’ media practices constitute “an inherently powerful form of communication” (Rae et al., 2018), are they really able to disrupt the ‘top-down’ narratives produced by large media organisations?

Watch the video above about the Europe Must Act campaign to find out how grassroots volunteers are working with refugees trapped in camps on the Greek islands to change the public conversation and some of the challenges they encounter.

• What potential do campaigns like Europe Must Act’s #RaisingVoices and acts of ‘self-representation’ practices by refugees have for challenging dominant media narratives? What obstacles do they face?

• Do you think such grassroots attempts can change the way people think about refugees and migration more generally?

Share your views on these questions below.

For more examples of the creative uses of digital media by refugees and grassroots civil society organisations in Greece see:

• #RaisingVoices
• REFOCUS Media Labs
• 12 Mirrors

Questions:

• What potential do campaigns like Europe Must Act’s #RaisingVoices and acts of ‘self-representation’ practices by refugees have for challenging dominant media narratives? What obstacles do they face?

• Do you think such grassroots attempts can change the way people think about refugees and migration more generally?

References:

Rae, M., Holman, R. & Nethery, A. (2018). Self-represented witnessing: The use of social media by asylum seekers in Australia’s offshore immigration detention centres. Media, Culture & Society, 40(4), 479–495.