The Images of Refugees Framed in the Media - Literature review Example

Literature review, Political Science How the images of refugees framed in the media will influence peoples sympathy and perception on refugees Abstract： Refugee has been always a crucial issue in the globe, which influence political stability and economic development. This research paper will focus on the topic of refugee, more specifically, explore the relationship between mass media images and refugees. How the image of refugees is framed in the mass media images and how it will influence people’s perspective on them? Refugees are always being a central problem in international political domain and there are many images set up in the mass media images about refugees in newspaper, TV, propaganda. Especially, nowadays, the new technology brings about new Medias. This essay aims to conduct a study, which explore the relationship between how a person feels refugees and the images of refugees framed in the mass media. In order to examine the research question: what is the influence of images of refugees framed in the mass media images on people’s perception, the essay would expect to organize a group experiment. According to FADIMAN, (2012, p. 54), the human nature dictates that humanity is an intrinsic feature that every human being has. This intrinsic feature is dependent in certain humanitarian standards and in feelings that must be accumulated within the body of a human being. For instance, pain is one of the intrinsic characteristics that depict a human being. Humanity is fearful to pain and suffering. Refugees are people considered to be facing intermediate imbalance in their capability to access the humanitarian requirements and standards for living. This is why in most cases, their mention signifies suffering, death, lack of everything that helps keep life, and total failure in knowledge and understanding of a certain body that resulted in them. Refugee camps are characterized with human suffering captions. People face little chance of survival, yet in most cases, they survive with intriguing human feelings. The media is a channel through which several human intentions are perceived and delivered. For instance, it would take an easy stature for media personnel to convince a group of people offer the sufferings found in the refugee camps. With the intrinsic human nature founded in people, it becomes an easy and even unthinkable task to offer help to people facing such refugee challenges (HOUTMAN- DE SMEDT 2005, p. 56). Challenges are common in every society. Nonetheless, the ones faced by refugees appear to touch the innate feelings of many people in the world. The mass media images exploit on the fact that challenges and sufferings being faced by refugees could have been done away if appropriate measures were taken to avert them. For instance, the refugee camps in Kenyan bearing the Somalis have always attracted much humanitarian aid. Psychologically speaking, there is a common belief that makes people think that being in a refugee camp warrants enough suffering. At the mention of refugee presence, people would tend to think that these are the people who do not access basic and non-basic needs in their lives. Therefore, the immediate response among many people is to try to make life better for them by contributing. It would be futile to some communities to ear of refugee suffering and fail to offer help. The psychological perception that refugee camps host people with ultimate suffering has been overstated. This is because of the fact that many of these refugee camps host people with normal lives, only that they do not access their home place. It is not a necessary idea that people within the refugee camps do not access basic needs and commodities that make life better. In the real sense, many people should actually know that the only main problem facing people in the refugee camps is their geographical location or settlement. The mass media images exploit the need for people of the society to have sensible perception of the refugee camp conditions. In most cases, the media to signify political ailments use the presence of refugee camps in any country. The reigning political leadership bears the remains of the fact that it is not in accordance to the rule of law that people should be in the refugee camps. This becomes a loophole for many media personnel to get in touch with the political stability of the nation (MANNIK 2013, p. 34-69). for instance, it would take a simple cause to assert pressure on the reigning power when the refugee camp conditions are overrated among the people. In such cases, the mass media images would present a desperate condition among refugee camps in order to get the attention of the people, as well as the attention of the government at hand. The conditions among many refugee camps are wanting. Such conditions involve lack of water, basic food commodities, lack of appropriate shelter, lack of educational programs and societal establishments, together with congestion among the people. In most cases, the hygiene conditions are not favorable for human existence, and hence this leads to presence of diseases and ailments. Such conditions will always strike the attention of the media in a bid to reduce the level of human suffering in such camps. Human death is a common activity in such refugee camps (SHEMAK 2011, p. 56). In most cases, there is much human death and suffering that should draw the attention of human assistance. Other antihuman activities like killing, women rape, and human trafficking are also part of the daily activities that take place in such refugee camps. Therefore, the media, looking for any selling and captivating stories, would take opportunity of this in order to try to alleviate the living conditions of these people (CHRISTISON 1999, p. 354). PETERS (2011, p. 67) stresses that neglect is one of the reasons considered to cause presence of refugee camps in the world. Such neglect often comes from the governments at hand. Human conflict results in several aspects, one of which is the presence of refugee camps that bears the living opportunities for people who did not access the chance to retain their previous living conditions. The media would exploit the need for people or the government to know that the people living in the refugee camps did not disserve to be in such places. Neglect comes in various perspectives. For instance, it would take the efforts of a human aid or non-governmental organization to care for the needs and survival of the people in the refugee camps. BARCLAY & GLASER-SCHMIDT (1997, p. 154) asserts that many governments bearing refugees and refugee camps do not take appropriate action to alleviate the presence and suffering of the people in refugee camps. In such cases, the mass media images becomes the only weapon that cries out for help to be accorded to such these camps (CUNNINGHAM & SINCLAIR 2001, p. 34). When an opportunity comes, the mass media images will have to use the common desperate conditions among the refugee camp survivors, in order to draw the attention of the people together with the attention of the government. As said earlier, it is often within the human feeling to have assistance towards people who are suffering. Humanitarian aid is often received from every continent in the world directed towards meeting the needs of the people living in refugee camps, thanks to the highlight given by the mass media images (ROBINSON et, al 2003, p. 65). According to GREENSLADE (2005, p. 89), the mass media images remains to be the only enabling tool for many people living in refugee camps. It would often take the efforts of the mass media images to try to reach the people who will in turn offer help to these people. Humanity requires that human help becomes a common identity to all people (SPENCER 1995, p. 34). That is why it would touch the hearts of many people to assist those who are in refugee camps living within the desperate conditions highlighted by the media. Many people do not get a chance to visit refugee camps. Because of this, every highlight of the refugee camp living from the media would attract immediate assistance and attention from the people (WOOLFE et, al 2009, p. 43-54). 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