Migration in the Media as a Problematic Construction of the Discourse in Public Space

The narrative of immigration is also the collective narration and construction of a self - a community, a space defined by material and symbolic borders, a nation as an ideological construct - in which the media play a predominant role. Moving from the analysis of the literature and from different empirical paths, this contribution highlights the main focal points about the media representation and public discourse of migration as social construction. The relationship between media frames and public policy is strong and the Italian case shows many interesting patterns in building a public discourse focused on some consolidated interpretations, a repertoire of recurrent images and iconic representations of the foreigner, mainly seen as “different”, “foreigner” and “enemy”. Despite the variability of events and political and institutional frameworks, this horizon of social representations maintains a significant coherence in the construction of a public discourse that, on the one hand, regenerates community and national belongings and, on the other, legitimizes policies of exclusion.