A Human Tragedy or a Statistic? Media Framing of Greece’s Deadliest Migrant Shipwreck in the Dark Waters of Pylos

Abstract

The world has been suffering a series of crises, some of which have been related to migration and refugee issues. Public opinion regarding migration and asylum-seeking has been greatly influenced by the media. In light of the above, the objective of this study is to examine how the Greek media covered the June 2023 migrant shipwreck off the Greek coast of Pylos, which has been labeled as one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. The study was based on data from a quantitative content analysis and a sample of news stories from the online versions of five Greek news media outlets (EfSyn, Ta Nea, Kathimerini, Proto Thema, and Eleftheros Typos), representing diverse political spaces. A broader set of criteria for content analysis was used, including absence of refugee and migrant voice in media content, dehumanization, absence of solutions, and context, among many others. The findings revealed a more subtle anti-migration narrative that lays all the responsibility on illicit smuggling networks and emphasizes the need for more stringent regulations with the aim to discourage migration.