Research project "IM²MEDIATE" (BRAIN-be project)

Governments, news media and public opinion in Europe are increasingly preoccupied with refugees seeking access to Western Europe. Public opinion is split (if not negative) and generally un- or misinformed (amalgamation across ‘groups’ being one of the problems), and integration policies cannot respond to the needs (see cross-country MIPEX results).

This project aims to investigate the dynamic interplay between media representations of the current non-EU immigrant situation with a specific emphasis on the refugee situation on the one hand and the governmental and societal (re)actions on the other, through four complementary multi-stakeholder group perspectives: analysis of news media content and journalism culture, study of societal reactions of the general public, study of push/pull factors in migration from a refugee perspective, and policy analysis into national governmental (re)actions across countries. In fine, this research will allow to formulate recommendations towards a more encouraging integration policy, while lowering anti-immigration and anti-refugee sentiment.

Coordinated by the Institute for Media Studies of KU Leuven, the project brings together the ULB - ReSIC - F. Heinderyckx-, several research centers of KU Leuven, the UCL, the University of Halmstad and the VUB.

End of the project: 15/3/2019