Polish Media Debate on the Migration Crisis. The Case of Opinion-Forming Media

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper was: to specify the significance of the problem of the migration crisis in the Polish media debate as well as to point out similarities and dissimilarities in the manner of presenting (depending on a given narration applied) this phenomenon on the basis of two major, albeit ideologically distinct, weeklies, that is “Polityka” and “Do Rzeczy”, with the said two news magazines actively participating in the above-mentioned debate. The paper reconstructs the narrations presented by the said opinion-forming weeklies referring to the migration crisis and the issues related thereto. We also analyzed to what extent the weeklies differed with respect to the scrutinized phenomenon. For the sake of analysis, we availed ourselves of the assumptions of the agenda-setting theory.

In our opinion, the conducted analysis allows for regarding the problem of migration crisis as a major area for opinion-forming activities of both weeklies. The respective editors of both weeklies put forward specific interpretations of social phenomena; and what is more, the suggested narrations, in a multi-faceted way, built a model for comprehending the events of European importance, with the said events perceived, on the one hand, as a threat to the Polish state (“Do Rzeczy”); on the other hand, as a challenge which demands Poland’s participation in the European politics (“Polityka”). Each weekly, while referring to some argumentation aimed at the demonstration of its sole moral rightness, attempted to discredit the position of the other.