The journalistic construction of «Emergenza Lampedusa». The «Arab Spring» and the «landings» issue in media representation of migration

The essay aims to explore and deconstruct the mechanisms of representation and news-media construction of the so-called “landing emergency”, i.e., the issue of migrants landing in Italy by sea, as a highly significant frame and as a very important issue, mainly with regard to its iconic value, within the wider image of migration in Italy. In particular, the focus is on the events directly or indirectly connected to the so-called “Arab Spring” and, therefore, with the arrivals on the Italian coast (particularly in Lampedusa) in February-April 2011. The representative patterns of the (immigrant) “arrival issue” in the mainstream media and the journalistic construction of the image of immigrants and refugees are identified and analyzed through discourse analysis of media content – principally using the non-standard methods of frame analysis and critical discourse analysis. The definition and labeling of migration as a “social problem” is revealed as a justification for the adoption of specific policies. Particular emphasis is placed on the dimension of the “quantitative description” of landings (what can be called a “TV politics of numbers”, functional to the definition of an interpretative key based on alarm) and on the politicization of the discourse on migration and reception and management of immigrants.