Displaced and Invisible: Ukrainian Refugee Crisis Coverage in the US, UK, Ukrainian, and Russian Newspapers

Abstract

The Ukrainian–Russian military conflict that began in 2014 displaced nearly two million people. This study is one of the first to compare the news media coverage of Ukrainian displaced persons in the UK, US, Ukrainian, and Russian elite press as the crisis unfolded. This analysis looks at frames, sources, and demographic characteristics used in the coverage of displaced people. The findings of this study indicate that the coverage of displaced Ukrainians varied from country to country in elite newspapers, and the descriptions did not always point to classic markers of crisis, such as emotional turmoil. English-language newspapers were more likely to focus on statistics, while Ukrainian and Russian press devoted more attention to various aspects of migrants’ resettlement. The “security threat” and “crime” frames, which are often used in media coverage of refugees, were nearly non-existent in the articles about displaced Ukrainians.