Global News Coverage on Victimization and Challenges of Roma Migrants from Romania: An Experiential Study

The issue of Roma migrants from Romania has generated debate and discussion among media experts, scholars and policy analysts across the globe. The socio-cultural implications of this issue have triggered an increase of reports and commentaries on international news television outlets across the globe. Interestingly, there have been various qualitative and quantitative studies on social mobility of migrants in Europe. However, there is paucity of research investigations on communication perspectives on the issue of victimization and challenges of Roma migrants from Romania. Thus, the need to generate empirical evidences on the rise and fall of media report on the experiences, motivations, and ambitions of Roma migrants from Romania is critical, considering the fact that the dramatic increase of Roma migrants in Western Europe is alarming. This study examined global news coverage on socio-cultural issues of Roma migrants from Romania, using Youtube videos as examples. Furthermore, this study examined the audience mindset on global news coverage of Roma migrants. The method adopted was content analysis and 12 news videos of three selected global TV outlets were analyzed; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cable News Network (CNN) and Aljazeera. The timeline adopted for the analysis was between June 2014 and March 2016 to achieve the objectives of the study. Also, four research questions were raised and adequately answered in this study. From the findings of the study, three predominant sociocultural challenges affecting the Roma migrants were identified and discussed, which are ethnic marginalization, structural poverty and racial bias. It was recommended that non-government agencies and concerned bodies should work hand-in-hand to provide structures for skill acquisition and human capital inclusion. Furthermore, the EU should reinforce its benefit systems for Migrants as well as partne