When asked, most people have an idea about the struggles that migrants face on a daily basis, but they cannot elaborate on the impact these crises have had on global media or the tragedies that migrants have endured. The year 2015 introduced a multitude of global challenges, from climate-induced disasters to a variety of humanitarian crises. Just one example is the immigration of 1.3 million refugees and migrants to continental Europe. The rise of tragedies related to the migration of such a large number of people has become a common occurrence in the Aegean Sea. Following the 2015 refugee crisis of people fleeing persecution from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan to Central Europe through routes in the Mediterranean, there was a controversial opinion among many European politicians regarding migration policies and refugees. This article will address the lack of media coverage with respect to failed migration attempts resulting in deaths of innocent refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and internally displaced persons. 

Throughout 2015, many countries voiced opinions on how media should cover migration tragedies; for example, Germany accepted 1.5 million migrants and urged German media platforms such as Bild to advocate for refugees. At the same time, however, Hungary and Austria agreed to set up a 175 km long fence to block refugees from entering their countries due to their migration policies, ultimately preventing migrants from reaching Germany. Fast forward to today, the sinking of a capsized boat, which led to the death of 104 migrants on the coast of Greece, sparked a global debate on the lack of media coverage concerning migrant tragedies. Other catastrophes, like the death of Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian boy found deceased on a Turkish beach following an unsuccessful attempt to reach the coast of Greece in September of 2015, have flown under the global radar because of the lack of media visibility. Kurdi’s death resulted in significant backlash from the international community toward the European Union (EU), as he was one of the many refugees who drowned in a migrant ship disaster. This wave of backlash brought to light disparities in the Greek government's treatment of different asylum seekers. Refugee Support Aegean’s report in June 2022 revealed how asylum seekers from the Middle East received unbearable and inhumane treatment in Greece through the first Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) in Samos, yet Greece accepted 71,000 Ukrainian migrants in the same year with little reports of cruel treatment. Similarly, more than 22 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) revealed that the Greek government has been sentencing migrants and asylum seekers to life in prison. In general, the pushback of migrants from the Aegean coast back into Türkiye (formerly recognized as Turkey) has not only made it challenging for Syrian migrants to lead a pathway into Western Europe, but has also been the driving force behind failed attempts of migrants in entering the Greek border. The Greek pushback of migrants from the Aegean coast has external impacts as well, particularly for Türkiye. Many migrants continue their quest for safety by finding pathways into Western Europe from Türkiye, but this phenomena has led to more failed attempts of migrants entering the Greek border, which has affected media coverage on the overall issue. 

Nevertheless, despite critiques by journalists of this issue all over Europe, with a special emphasis on Turkish and Greek journalists leading the critiques, those who attempt to elaborate on these inhumane measures are oftentimes censored by mainstream media. Many journalists are not able to access primary resources in these scenarios, which leads to a general lack of media coverage in Europe and a highly polarized view pertaining to this topic. Many European countries leverage “sovereignty” as a reason behind increasing restrictions on migrants coming into their countries. However, it is of utmost vitality to understand that the main issue is the misrepresentation and stereotyping of migrants by EU authorities and European governments. This is one of the main reasons as to why media coverage on migrant tragedies has increased within the past decade. The “sovereignty” argument postures xenophobia and inputs this dehumanizing sentiment into policy with the association of  “other” or “different.” One example of this is seen in Spain: in 2013, there were approximately 700,000 Spanish migrants who left Spain as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. The media referred to these migrants as “Spanish people living abroad.” In contrast, migrants from the Middle East and North Africa are often labeled as refugees and asylum seekers. This example alone is sufficient in terms of explaining how the coverage of migrants and migration is westernized, and how journalists particularly cannot access resources to commentate on the challenges and tragedies that migrants from non-European countries have endured, following 2015. 

It is evident that the EU mishandled the 2015 crisis, as seen through the joint response composed of multiple perspectives, on migration and refugees specifically. These include differences in EU countries’ responses such as Germany and Sweden criticizing Italy’s refusal to conduct rescue and search missions for missing migrants. To address the issue, Sweden’s media covered a majority of the issue at hand and highlighted lack of response from the EU as a leading cause of the high death-toll of migrants in the Mediterranean and Aegean. Sweden noted that having aggressive border control does not decrease the number of asylum seekers, supporting the argument that the crisis was also a result of Europe’s poor border policies and minimal public information. Furthermore, even though certain tragedies such as the Libyan shipwreck in the Mediterranean were covered visually by news reporters and journalists, the depths of the crises were not fully described. When Türkiye decided to share the disturbing image of Aylan Kurdi, there was a surge in political and humanitarian responses to the ongoing global issue, supporting Sweden’s perspective.

Following the adoption of the EU-Türkiye Deal in 2016, since 2021, there have been a total of 5700 recorded deaths on migration routes within Europe. Referred to as the “invisible shipwrecks,” many tragedies that have happened on this route have gone unheard and unreported and could have been prevented if safety measures were taken by EU countries. Recently, the International Organization for Migration (IoM) called upon all European states to take substantive measures to combat the sudden and inhumane deaths of migrants including asking states to alter their migration policies so that migrants from the Middle East and North Africa may enter European borders without fearing death or persecution by the state that is supposed to protect their humanitarian rights. With an increase in the number of articles covering migrant tragedies and a call for action among member states of the EU and EEA members through media solidarity, the dehumanization and marginalization of migrants can be significantly reduced.