Reporting on Migrants and Refugees: Handbook for Journalism Educators

"Matters of migrants, refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) are the challenge of our century."

This handbook provides journalism educators with a curriculum for training journalism students to report accurately and sensitively on matters related to migration and forced displacement. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) stresses that matters of migration and forced displacement are about human beings and therefore require knowledge and awareness of accurate facts, reliable sources, ethical reporting, and good practices. The ultimate goal of this curriculum is to foster more comprehensive coverage of migrant and refugee matters in countries of origin, transit, and destination, as well as a more balanced and informed public debate across countries and cultures.

As explained in the foreword by Prof. Guy Berger, "People are on the move on a massive scale and for a myriad of reasons, making the complexity hard to grasp - and even harder for journalists to cover. News media cover the story when something dramatic happens or when the matter becomes a political issue. But to improve public understanding, there is a lot more that journalists and journalism educators can do."

Developed by an international and cross-cultural group of media researchers, media educators, and media practitioners, the curriculum covers various aspects needed to train students in analysis, research, presentation, marketing, and ethics of migration coverage. The handbook can be used by journalism educators to jump-start a new curriculum, as well as by experienced journalists who can benefit from using the volume as a self-learning tool. Media development organisations can also adapt the curriculum to their training plans.

The handbook is based on five years of research and analysis in the context of the Journalism in a Global Context (JiGC) project, founded in 2015 to promote the media's role in migration and forced displacement in Africa and Europe. In the JiGC project, journalism scholars and media practitioners from Africa and Europe have joined forces to develop an intercultural perspective on reporting on migration and forced displacement.

The curriculum includes the following modules:

1. Matters of Migrants and Refugees - Challenges in the 21 Century
2. Key Sources Key Facts, Key Terms and Numbers
3. Context Factors for Migration and Forced Displacement
4. The Media and the Migration Story - An Analysis Across Countries
5. Migration Coverage - Media Effects and Professional Challenges
6. Case Study Guinea-Bissau (West Africa)
7. Case Study Cameroon (Central Africa)
8. Case Study Germany
9. African Movements: From the Continent, within the Continent and within Countries
10. Professional Migration Coverage - Best Practices and Ethical Dimensions
11. Reporting on Migrants and Refugees - Dealing with Trauma
12. Towards Collaborate Coverage of Migration
13. Improving the Impact - Journalistic Strategies and Editorial Marketing