IDP Media Presence in Local Media of Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk
By Anton Liahusha
Who are IDPs? How do they live in the cities? Do they influence the development of the cities? How many of the IDPs are in the cities and what is it that defines them as the newcomers for the locals? We were trying to answer these questions running through the local media of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Mariupol. The main aim of this article was to show how the local residents of these cities see the displaced based on the broad selection, discourse and narrative analysis.
If we recall the Laswell’s known formula of “who speaks? - what is said? - through what channel? - with what effect?”, it is easy for us to see what the local media and journalist “do” to the internally displaced persons and their own audience. The analysing and reflecting on the IDPs depiction in the media of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk and Mariupol, overall, is a relevant and complex issue that requires a conscious choice of selection, proper methodology and approach.
Thus, while we have mostly analysed the internet media of the three cities — the most popular resources and a couple of newspapers, for instance, The Pryazov Worker (Pryazovskyi Rabochiy), Technopolis and Kramatorsk’ Truth (Kramatorskaya Pravda), more than 2000 articles overall — he very first thing we should acknowledge is the carelessness of the authors of the articles, they do not seem to be interested in the quality of their own text, tend to get stuck on hot topics and silence down, in our opinion, the relevant and important.
“Not belonging” in the city
In the three researched cities, the IDPs seem to exist out of the “city cosmos”, though the media give us a glimpse of a completely different picture. In most of all the long-reads, info messages, articles and coverages we have analysed, the IDPs are described as “others” (“outlanders”): The media constantly use the word “resettler” thus creating the conditional line between us and others; the level of the informational noise is very high, most of the information provided about the IDPs concern the issues of identity verification, pension payment, etc. There is also some heroisation in place, both positive and negative. Some of the “resettlers” are depicted as criminals, some as the examples of the success stories. And the rest, the majority of the IDPs? They are not mentioned. At all. What we see is not the social cut-out, not the voicing out of the problem but the resettler being used as a news-break. But what is this news-break about? Let us take a closer look at the cities.
Mariupol
The presence of the IDPs in the local media is based on the interest of the local audience to the issue. Unfortunately, it is notable that the traditional triad of the hottest topic — sensation, scandal and death — is the most productive in the opinion of the local editors and journalists. And the discourse analysis has proved it.
For example, some of the messages at the most popular local online media in Mariupol, the 0629.com.ua portal: “The police have detained a man who had stolen some equipment from the public enterprise in Mariupol. The resettler has been stealing from the enterprise...” (27.10.2016)1; “A resettler from Druzhkivka has seeded a poppy field near Mariupol” (09.06.2016)2; “A resettler has launched a drug-selling business upon arrival to Mariupol” (01.05.2016)3; “A resettled schoolboy has robbed a Mariupol resident” (31.10.2017)4. There are thousands of messages like this, and they create an image of an enemy, a conditional outlander — a violator whose only aim of coming to Mariupol is to commit crimes. It would have been fine, if only the guilt for these trespassings was not metonymically placed onto all of the displaced people, even the ones that have nothing to do with this negative fame.
Still, the “belonging” to the city by the “positive” heroes are defined by their personal success: the media usually only depict the individual success stories of the resettlers that have launched their business in Mariupol or became a part of a broader project that was supported by the state attention. For instance, the article “A resettler opens a turner workshop in a Mariupol multi-storied residential building” (21.09.2017)5; under the “My Business” chapter at 0629.com.ua6.
However, in its development Strategy7, Mariupol is defined as “the city of opportunities” for the IDPs: “Most of the cities think of IDPs as of a problem, while for us, they are the new residents of our city and a development chance. Many highly qualified people of different specializations have now come to us, and it is a vital breath of a fresh air for our city... We have approved a five-year Strategy, and have mentioned the needs of both the native residents and new people of Mariupol in its every chapter”8.
Though it still seems that the Strategy remains valid on paper only: a lot is being said about the benefits of the resettlers in the city, like the development of the real estate and labour markets, cultural uprisal, but the informational scope defies this.
1 https://www.0629.com.ua/news/1419652
2 https://www.0629.com.ua/news/1255211
3 https://www.0629.com.ua/news/1210821
4 https://www.0629.com.ua/news/1844977
5 http://mrpl.city/news/view/v-mariupolskoj-mnogoe-tazhke-pereselenets-otkryl-tokarnuyu-masterskuyu-foto
6 https://www.0629.com.ua/news/1842032
7 Маріуполь: Стратегія розвитку – 2021.
8 Пабло Матеу: «Мариуполь стал первым городом, который рассмотрел переселенцев, как элемент развития» http://marsovet.org.ua/news/show/id/18787
Kramatorsk
Kramatorsk is currently the main city of the Donetsk region, the city where the Regional Military-Civil Administration and the headquarters of the numerous international organizations are situated. The situation with the IDPs integration seems to be better here according to the local media. Unlike Mariupol, the media space of Kramatorsk is filled with the issue of money: there are news about the payments for the IDPS, aid provided by the international funds and organizations, challenges on the labour market and flat rent. One of the main differences that has been identified while analysing the local internet media and newspaper is the question of the IDPs’ rights protection.
Based on our analysis, we have found out that the residents of Kramatorsk have ambiguous feelings about the IDP, mostly building their assumptions around the categories of “compassion”, “envy”, “opportunities”, and “help”.
For instance, the media mentions partly consist of the issue of inquiries, regaining IDs, social and pension payments: “The IDPs besiege OshchadBank’s Kramatorsk department” (28.03.2017)9; “On Monday, May 6th, the IDPs of Kramatorsk will be holding a meeting at the Myr Square to highlight the problem with the migration stamps that have not been addressed for a long time now” (02.06.2017)10.
The local media also pay a lot of attention on depicting the care and support that is provided to the IDPs not by the state and local authorities, but by the international organisations and NGOs: “Caritas-Kramatorsk will implement a home daycare project for the lonely seniors” (18.10.2016)11; “Dorms for the IDPs in Kramatorsk: reconstruction or saw cutting the European money?” (20.10.2017)12; “Charity Fund provides aid to the IDPs from the ATO zone” (25.10.2016)13.
Thus the main discourse of the Kramatorsk IDPs is built on the material aspect and is problematised by the social, the issues of culture, education, etc., are seldom covered by the local media.
9 https://www.kramatorsk.info/view/210829
10 https://www.kramatorsk.info/view/195582
11 https://www.kramatorsk.info/view/202796
12 https://www.kramatorsk.info/view/211981
13 http://hi.dn.ua/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70249:-q-q&catid=60:narodnaya-novost&Itemid=157
Sloviansk
Even though Sloviansk is the city with the lowest number of the IDPs among the other analysed cities, stigmatisation and “not-belonging” are also noticed here. Most of the entries at the 0626.com.ua and slavinfo.dn.ua are criminal news that, just like of that in Mariupol, equal IDP with a criminal and share this opinion over the whole group: “An IDP from Luhansk was stealing from the Sloviansk railways” (12.03.2015)14; “A judge from DNR (People’s Republic of Donetsk) was registered as an IDP in Sloviansk and received Ukrainian payments” (15.10.2017)15; “14-years-old teenager from Ienakievo has run away from his parents 7 times in a year. The police have found him is the shortest terms but once he was absent for a whole month” (24.06.2016)16; “A resident of Makiivka detained for was placed under temporary detention by the Sloviansk PD for a property crime” (20.06.2016)17.
Of course, Sloviansk media also have the entries about the “life of the IDPs” and “success stories”, etc. Still, those are not about the average people, those are about singular “heroes”, and the connection between the “curiosity VS relevance” is often broken.
Social networks are the main platform for the depiction of the cultural activities of the NGOs and different hubs in the cities because of the target audience. The active change is a matter of interest for the young people mostly, and their use of the media resources is different: social networks help to facilitate and speed up spreading the news, creating announcements and discussing problems.
14 https://www.6262.com.ua/news/765144
15 https://www.6262.com.ua/news/1827721
16 https://www.6262.com.ua/news/1272259
17 https://www.6262.com.ua/news/1302233
Conclusions
Thus, the news agenda shapes the perceptions of the local community about the IDPs and the extent of their significance for the cities through the prism of migrants' efficiency, and this representation is formed by our/other, successful/unsuccessful, useful/useless stamps. There is no media representation at all for those displaced who simply live/survive, suffer and love, want to eat, go to work and want to feel themselves equal residents of the cities. For the most part, in all cities, the informational presence of IDPs in local media is stratified according to age: less active elderly people are almost out of the attention of Internet publications and newspapers, with the exception of general information related to state policy, social benefits, etc. .; high degree of presence of young people is determined either by their achievements (successful stories, creating cultural space, the work of a public organization), or their criminal activity.
Despite the active development of the local media in the 2014-2017 and the migration processes in these cities, we see a stereotyped view of the settlers, and their life is removed from the media. There is also such an eclectic phenomenon as stigmatization, while simultaneously taking into account "the new opportunities in connection with IDPs" for the studied cities.
In total, almost 2/3 of all media information are publications based on news-breaks and statements by state officials, the Cabinet of Ministers resolutions, national information on the social securities for IDPs, state "care", changes in regulatory acts, the activities of the Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and IDPs. The share of local information is significantly smaller.
Recommendations for social change and development of local non-governmental organizations
- To develop strategies for the IDPs integration into the local communities;
- To diversify the labour market;
- To impersonate (re-impersonate) every IDP;
- To create opportunities for migrants to participate in the city's life by engaging them in active communities, local community processes, etc. .;
- To conduct training for local journalists on the issues of news literacy, cultural journalism;
- To develop the social capital forming strategies;
- To enhance the presence in the local media.