Running Head: Media and refugees 1

Press and asylum seekers: How the U.S. media portrayed the Syrian Refugee

Crisis of 2015

Rob Glover

Queens University
Running Head: Media and refugees 2

For more than four years, an armed conflict between the standing Syrian

Government - lead by Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces who hope to

remove him has waged throughout the Middle Eastern country. During the

fight, roughly 250,000 Syrians have died, 4 million have fled the country, and

more than 7 million have been displaced within Syrian borders.

In 2015, during a peak of the crisis, hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers

made their way to Europe. The U.S. government weighted the pros and cons

of accepting Syrian refugees. One camp, generally lead by U.S. President

Barak Obama, argued that the refugees where mostly women and children

and that it was the duty of the United States to help those fleeing from

persecution. (Beinart, 2015)

The opposition, among whos most prominent voices were several U.S. state

Governors, expressed concerns that potential terrorists could be hiding

among the refugees, waiting for a chance to strike within U.S. borders.

(Morrill, 2015)

The media presented the case in two vastly different ways. For example,

while highlighting the current migrant crisis in 2015, Fox news chose a

supporting video of a crowd agressivly cheering Alla Akbar. They also

added the question Terrorists Inbound? just below the action. The video

turned out to actually be five years old (Media Matters, 2015).

On the other side of the coin, MSNBC ran an article describing 6 extreme

responses to the Syrian refugee crisis (Frumin, 2015). The lead of the story
Running Head: Media and refugees 3

begins with a sentence that describes the screening process for refugees as

rigorous and provides six examples of controversial remarks from U.S.

politicians (Frumin, 2015).

The final outcome of the roll of the United States in the Syrian refugee crisis

is still in the works. The medias roll, however, seems to already be clearer

cut, with individual outlets portraying the event in vastly different ways.
Running Head: Media and refugees 4

References
Beinart, P. (2015, November 23). President Obama and the Syrian Refugees - The
Atlantic. Retrieved
from http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/obama-syrian-
refugees/417222/
Morrill, J. (2015, November 16). Gov. Pat McCrory: Dont send Syrian refugees to
North Carolina | The
Charlotte Observer. Retrieved from
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-
government/article45072972.html

Media Matters. (2015, September 9). Fox & Friends Suggests Chanting "Allahu
Akbar" Shows Refugees
May Be Terrorists | Blog | Media Matters for America [Web log post]. Retrieved
from
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/09/09/fox-amp-friends-suggests-chanting-
allahu-
akbar/205443
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/6-extreme-responses-the-syrian-refugee-crisis
Frumin, A. (2015, November 20). 6 extreme responses to the Syrian refugee crisis |
MSNBC. Retrieved
from http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/6-extreme-responses-the-syrian-refugee-
crisis