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Media Manipulation: Online Media’s Different Depiction of Ukrainian and Syrian

Refugees
Xavier James
Migrant and Refugee Children in Europe
Professor Aykut
10/20/2023
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The Syrian Refugee Crisis is the largest refugee crisis of the 21st century beginning in

2011 after the onset of the Syrian civil war. As a result, more than 14 million Syrians have been

forced to flee their home in search of safety (UN Refugee Agency, 2023) Recently, there has

been another calamity that has forced mass migration: the war in Ukraine; the war in Ukraine

began February 24, 2022, when the Russian Federation invaded the country (UN Refugee

Agency, n.d.). The effects of the Ukraine war are for people’s lives may not match up statistically

to the effect of the Syrian civil war, yet they are still massive: more than 6 million people were

estimated to be displaced because of the war as stated in July 2023 (UN Refugee Agency, n.d.)

There are differences in how these two groups of refugees are accommodated in Europe.

Even in Denmark, there are discrepancies in how Ukrainian refugees are treated from other

refugees in the middle east and parts of Asia. For instance. Deewa, a former child refugee from

Afghanistan told my class of her experiences attempting to gain asylum in Denmark, and how

difficult it was for her. She also stated that she believes Ukrainian refugees were accommodated

much better than she ever was in part because of their race as White Europeans (D. Faqiri,

personal communication, September 22, 2023). I do not believe race is a sufficient reason for

discrimination, I believe the media also plays a role in how different refugees are accepted. For

instance, Deewa said that she saw a Ukrainian refugee applauded because she was Ukrainian,

and Ukrainian refugees were perceived as valiant and brave ((D. Faqiri, personal

communication, September 22, 2023). I do not know what image existed of Afghan refugees, but

I imagine it was not as good.

Being White allows different accommodations for Ukrainian refugees, but so does the

images that exist of them, and in our society perceptions are created primarily through online
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media. It has been stated that negative labeling of refugees creates issues in a host society, where

perceptions are heavily influenced (Lee & Nerghes, 2018, as cited in Sipahioğlu, 2023). So, if

there are negative perceptions of Syrian refugees in the media, it is likely that they will not be

well-received in whatever country they seek refuge in. And as Deewa stated, the perception of

Ukrainian refugees in Denmark are mostly good. So, throughout this paper, I am examining how

Ukrainian refugees are depicted differently from Syrian refugees in online media.

I gathered data from online media sources, primarily BBC’s (British Broadcasting

Channel) website. What I noticed initially when searching for Syrian refugees is that the short

articles and videos were prefaced with despondent titles, for instance “Syrian refugees in

Lebanon face healthcare crisis in Amnesty” (2014), and the content of the article is consistent

with the title presenting a grim reality that the refugees face. The first line of the article reads,

“Amnesty International says a shortfall in international support has left many Syrian refugees in

Lebanon unable to access crucial medical care” (“Syrian refugees in Lebanon face healthcare

crisis”, 2016). The article begins with a negative sentiment, highlighting the grim reality that

Syrian refugees live in, which creates the expectation that the entire article will present no hope.

In addition, the above-mentioned article paints a picture of hopelessness and helplessness

as it related to Syrian Refugees, as though they have no ability to overcome the challenges. I

believe the refugees must possess some amount of resiliency to survive. The end of the article

further corroborates my statement, with a statement from Audrey Gaughran, director of global

thematic issues at Amnesty International, chastising the world governments for not fulfilling

their responsibility of humanitarian appeal and resettlement of the “most vulnerable of refugees”

(“Syrian refugees in Lebanon face healthcare crisis”, 2014). Gaughran asserts that Syrian

refugees have no agency or ability of resiliency—even though proper healthcare is vital, I

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believe it is just as vital to not represent refugees as helpless cargo that the rest of the world must

be burdened with.

The issue of negative portrayal is exacerbated with migrant and refugee children,

especially the Syrian ones. On BBC as well, there was a short video about two Syrian boys who

fled from Aleppo working in separate but similar shoe factories in Turkey, Kamel (15) and

Hussein (12). Kamel’s section highlights his low wages, poor working conditions, his

responsibility of caring for his younger brother with only 100 Turkish lira a week—sending

another 150 to his parents. (“The Syrian children working”, 2016). The director includes sad

dialogue from Kamel, “I miss my country, I miss my home. But now my neighborhood has been

flattened. Now we don’t even have a house in Syria anymore.” (“The Syrian children working”,

2016).

Hussein’s section continues with despondency, with the director including that Hussein is

accompanied by his family, yet he seems to be the only working to provide for his three sisters,

mother, and disabled father (“The Syrian children working”, 2016). Then the director drives

home the feeling of despair with by the most negatively charged question in the video, asking

Hussein, “Why don’t you go to school?” to which Hussein almost breaks down but regains

composure saying, “I don’t go to school because I work. I work to support my family” (“The

Syrian children working”, 2016).

I believe this video corroborates a statement made by journalist Katty Alhayek, where she

discusses that English language media portrays Syrian refugees as desperately poor and helpless

whilst ignoring the efforts of refugees and other Syrians to support themselves and overcome

their challenges (2016). For instance, in 2015, the UN had a response budget of 1.3 billion, of

which only 35 % was raised, the gap was made up by Syrian humanitarian activist, whose
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members participated in the Syrian uprising thus allowing them to acquire networking and

community service skills to help the Syrian refugees (Alhayek, 2016). Syrian people are not

helpless, and they are not without agency or power, yet an overwhelming amount of online

media paints them as such.

Alhayek’s (2016) statement motivated my research to see if her statement applies across

popular online media, and as I said, I believe the BBC video including Hussein and Kamel

supports her statement. The director only included sections that highlight the struggles that the

children and their families faced, however amid this (in my opinion) skewed reporting, the

director also shows the resilience and agency Hussein and Kamel have, especially Kamel who is

only accompanied by his brother. Though I do not mean to say we should celebrate the

independence these children must show, I believe it is irresponsible to focus solely on the

victimhood of these children and their parents, because it portrays them as weak and helpless.

Another media source, Forbes, portrays the situation of Syrian children differently. Like

most articles, the article titled “War In Syria: Children Still Suffering Profound Impacts” first

presents the losses: nearly 1/3 of children in Syria suffer from anxiety, fatigue, sleeplessness, or

trouble sleeping and over 13,000 reported dead—a third of which died because of encounters

with landmines (Buechner, 2022). However, the article reaches a turning point, thereafter,

sharing some stories of resilience and support. Buechner shares that UNICEF reached 7.3 million

children with humanitarian assistance across Syria, and she includes a quote from boy named

Azzam, “I’m glad I can go to school again, have fun with my friends, and learn,” (2022). Azzam

goes to a UNICEF funded school that promotes inclusive learning for children with disabilities in

Syria, after being badly injured by a shell that hit a building he was in when he was age 5.
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Buechner diverges from sharing only the helplessness of Syrian children and refugees, rather she

shares stories of aid going to the right places to benefit the people that need it.

Searches for Ukrainian children on BBC result in overwhelmingly positivity, and the

articles portray happiness, connectedness, and support despite the effects of the war. I want to

juxtapose this representation with the representation that Alhayek (2016) mentions for Syrian

refugees. The first article I found is titled, “Oxford children's choir helps Ukrainian refugees 'not

feel alone'”, and it discusses how a former vocal teacher from Ukraine created a choir group for

Ukrainian children in Oxford, England as a form of support. The article puts emphasis on the fact

that even during distress, Ukrainian children can form positive connection in a new country, as

the teacher Yevheniia Diachenko (fellow refugee) states, “They miss their families, they miss

their dads who stay in Ukraine, but they feel support from each other and music helps to heal

their souls” (“Oxford’s children choir”, 2023). Even though the purpose of my research is not to

discuss discrimination in treatment, it is obvious that Ukrainian refugees are much better

received on the ground and are allowed much more accommodation to live a healthy life. In

addition, the way these children and their teacher are presented does not shout “problem” or

“burden”, rather it sends the message that they can contribute to society, they can live peacefully,

and they can sustain themselves to some extent.

The pictures in the article show the kids sitting nicely taking voice lessons from

Diachenko, in a nicely furnished Oxford room. When one sees this, they do not think to worry or

assign hopelessness, contrarily, they feel good about how well the kids are behaving, and how

much the country of England is supporting them. It is true that these kids are in a better position

than Kamel and Hussein, however, it is also true that the journalist decided to include the best

parts of the interview, highlighting the resiliency of these children. There is no doubt that these
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children suffer from trauma as well, however that just is not the focus of this article. What

exacerbates the issue is if one is to compare the side-by-side results on BBC when they search

for Ukrainian and Syrian children you could tell the difference immediately; the images of

Syrian children are them in dirty camps, or with sad faces, whereas the images pertaining to

Ukrainian children show ecstatic mothers, or the children engaging in activities.

The last article I found continued to show the disparities within reporting as it relates to

Ukrainian children. This article was found on BBC—I made the decision to stick with BBC

because I thought it would be easier to juxtapose representation from one sight, and much of my

media sources for Syrian refugee children are from BBC too. The last article is titled, “All

Ukrainian children will be welcomed in Surrey schools, council says” (2022), the article states,

“Even if schools are at capacity, children who fled the conflict will be given spaces” (“All

Ukrainian children will be welcomed”, 2022). This is a statement that an official made, in

addition to this, the article provided data at the time concerning the number of Ukrainian children

that had been accepted into schools: by June 6, 2022, 361 of 519 “arrivals” (70%) had been

accepted (“All Ukrainian children will be welcomed”, 2022). I think this article represents the

light in the Ukrainian refugee crisis; it highlights the support that continues to persist despite the

challenges of the war and the huge number of immigrants. This is a different tone from articles

about Syrian children, and which catastrophizes.

Initially, I had planned to see articles depicting the strength of Ukrainian refugee children

and their parents, whereas the Syrian refugee would be painted as a problem. However, I believe

most of the online media I encountered showed something different: the support that Ukrainian

children receive particularly in the EU, and the struggles that Syrian children face. Syrian

refugee children are painted as helpless and without agency, even though there are examples of
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them sustaining themselves (“The Syrian children working”, 2016). I believe that Ukrainian

refugee children are depicted in the same way, but their stories have more of an element of

calmness, hope, and positivity. These elements create the effect of seeing them as helpless people

that are well taken care of and well-behaved, and I would go further to say that they are depicted

as being too well, as though the war has had no effect on them.

Ukrainian and Syrian refugee children are both depicted as powerless, it is just that on

some level, Ukrainian refugee children are depicted as being more resilient and having more

resources at their disposal (which is true). The issue remains that the refugee children are not

being given proper representation for their agency. Caitriona Ni Laoire et al. say that children

play diverse roles in family migration in response to the sentiment that children in mobility are

just luggage (2011). Hussein and Kamel corroborate this statement, as Kamel worked to support

his younger brother and family in Syria, and Hussein worked to support his entire family in

Turkey, so their accompaniment was beneficial to say the least. However, their agency was

necessary because of the unfortunate circumstance, and they did not take up work because they

wanted to. Nonetheless, they still possess agency and power.

The valence of media depiction also matters, considering whether an article or video of

refugees is positive or negative. I came across an article concerning compassion fatigue, which is

defined as “a psychological condition in which the ability to be compassionate lessens over time

due to exposure to traumatic events and trauma victims” (Sorensonetal. 2017, as cited in

Aldamen, 2023). The article was not conclusive in their assortment of whether people developed

compassion fatigue for Syrian refugees in Jordan and Turkey, rather it just provides some insight

as to how some Syrian refugees perceive themselves. So, I cannot make a conclusion on if

compassion fatigue is present people seeing for Syrian refugee children, who are depicted as
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helpless victims quite often. I do think that the depictions of Syrians and Syrian children as

helpless affects how there are responded to globally. Ukrainian children are mostly shown in

good light.

The conclusion of my research: both Ukrainian and Syrian refugee are depicted as

powerless and helpless beings that are passive in their lives. Ukrainian refugee children are

usually shown in the best-case scenarios though. Outside of this, I could not find more specific

discrepancies in representation. On BBC, there was almost a lack of articles relating to the

struggles Ukrainian refugee children are facing. None of the articles I found for Ukrainian

children were about Ukrainian children specifically, rather they were about how much support

they were receiving. I think that is interesting and that it may contribute to the sentiment that

Ukrainian refugee children are doing too well as refugees. I will also suggest that BBC is a

biased network, from my experience. It remains true though, that both groups of refugee children

are depicted unfairly though.

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References

Aldamen, Y. (2023). Can a negative representation of refugees in social media lead to

compassion fatigue? An analysis of the perspectives of a sample of Syrian refugees in

Jordan and Turkey. Journalism and Media, 4(1), 90–104.

http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia4010007

Alhayek, K. (2016). Syrian refugees in the media. Middle East Report.

https://merip.org/2016/04/syrian-refugees-in-the-media/

BBC. (2022, June 21). All Ukrainian children will be welcomed in Surrey schools, council says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-61852853

BBC. (2023, June 20). Oxford children's choir helps Ukrainian refugees 'not feel alone'.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65952637

BBC. (2016, September 21). The Syrian children working in Turkey's shoe factories.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-37415693

Buechner, M.M. (2022, March 15). War in Syria: Children still suffering profound effects.

Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/unicefusa/2022/03/15/war-in-syria-children-still-

suffering-profound-impacts/

Laoire et. al. (2011). Childhood and migration in Europe: Portraits of mobility, identity and

belonging in bontemporary Ireland (pp. 1-16). London and New York: Routledge.

Sipahioğlu, B.Ö. (2023). A review of discrimination and labeling of refugees using the example

of Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. Journal of Social Policy Conferences, 0(84), 191-

198. https://doi.org/10.26650/jspc.2023.84.1172157
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UN Refugee Agency. (2023, March 14). Syria refugee crisis explained.

https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/#:~:text=The%20Syrian

%20refugee%20crisis%20began,the%20southern%20town%20of%20Daraa.

UN Refugee Agency (n.d.) Ukraine emergency.

https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/ukraine/