Navigating the complexities of migration journalism: <i>A Sisyphean battle?</i>

Journalists covering migration often encounter suspicion, hostility and persecution which undermine their efforts to report critically and inclusively, thereby constituting attacks on press freedom. They add to the existing challenges of covering migration, especially at borders and displacement areas where journalists witness human drama and illegal refoulements. However, research rarely examines migration journalists’ practices or perceptions. To address this gap, this study draws from 10 semi-structured interviews with journalists experienced in covering migration for international media from EU entry countries or from areas of displacement like the Middle East. As they document migrants’ agency, journalists demonstrate their own agency navigating professional and personal challenges. Findings show that reporting on migration from an inclusive perspective, sometimes can be like a Sisyphean battle: The media system and the migration regime seem broken, while part of the audience remains uninterested even when confronted with the most extreme forms of human suffering. Participants discussed the challenges of reporting migration and reflected on the professional, personal and ethical dilemmas they face. Their accounts provide crucial entry points to exploring and consequently overcoming multi-level limitations in news media coverage of migration.