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The issue of asylum seekers, migration, and refugee crisis encompassed both Germany and K
countries. And how government responded to these problems and how they were represented
by media differs from one another. The economic, ethnic, and security threats posed by
migrants, refugees and asylum seekers were the major focus of security both in Germany and
United Kingdom. In addition to this, the term deservingness was defined in both cases and
issues were interpreted from historical backgrounds of countries. How media represents issues
of refugee crisis and asylum seekers, who really deserves to be them and do they put economic,
ethnic and security threats both in Germany and UK are similar on one hand and varies from the
other hand.

The tabloid media in UK have acceptedthe image of the immigrants as a criminal

and perpetuates it in public understanding (Innes, p 462.) The media plays a significant role in
shaping the asylum seekers condition in UK because they are far more widely read in the UK
than the broadsheet, and large number of people access online websites of the tabloids. People
easily adapt what is produced in media and it is important that how and in which manner the
things are represented by media. For example, in British media there was no mention made of
humanitarian issues and the need to offer refuge from persecution (Alexandra J. Innes, p 465.)
News of the World reported that Metropolitan Police Commander Ian Quinton wrote to Home
Office officials saying those foreign nationals represent a danger to ordinary citizens. So, he is
referring to all other nations as a threat to the UK.

On the contrary, the German-language press, specifically, tabloid media reacted to

refugee crisis in Germany more positively by representing the central themes like solidarity,
responsibility, and Willkommenkulltur(culture of welcome) (Holmes & Castaneda, p 8.) In
addition to this, German newspapers have issued special supplements in Arabic to welcome
refugees to the country (International Business Times, September 9, 2015.) This optimistic
attitude of local mass- media towards refugee crisis shaped the discourse of events in the
international press. As evidence, UK Guardian, July 16, 2015 was parallelly broadcasting these
events. Another example of positive response of media was the action taken by Startup Boat
Company where leaders from various areas addressed the problem of refugee crisis in Greek
Island Soimos (p 9.)

In the case of UK, asylum seekers defined as people who are seeking to escape poverty,
civil war or natural disaster. Comparingly, in Germany the term refugee interpreted in the same
way. It states that International Conventions establish refugee as involuntarily displaced people
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by political circumstances, including war and anthropogenic disasters. Consequently, they are
framed as deserving. Both terms asylum seeker and refugee are clearly distinguished from the
term migrant.

They are both treated as untrustworthy. For instance, in UK asylum seekers considered
to be as a factor which put threat into divergent sphere of society in UK. Firstly, UK hold the
idea that asylum seekers are economically motivated and simply seek access to British welfare
state and they seek to obtain something (well-being) that they do not deserve. Secondly, the
societal identity was protected by physical appearance means that people from other ethnic group
or nationalities were not welcome to UK as any means. Thirdly, asylum seekers seen as a
physical threat to UK security in terms of criminal issues. They were conceived as external
factors which causes insecurity in UK.

Likewise, in Germany community immigrants and refugees put fear to media and
political representation by their cultural, ethnic, and religious difference which had been
obviously displayed in securitization responses of German government (Holmes & Castaneda, p
7.) They create a certain type of xenophobia in German society.

In conclusion, the current issues of refugee crisis, migration and asylum seekers are
mostly approached differently both in Germany and UK. While media reflected a positive
picture of refugee crisis in Germany, it had spread the evil picture of migration into UK
community. To speak generally about migrants, they treated as untrustworthy in terms of
security policies and ethnic diversity in both countries.

References
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1. Alexandria J. Innes: When the threatened become the threat: The construction of asylum
seekers in British media narratives, International Relations 2010 24: 456, link:
http://ire.sagepub.com/content/24/4/456

2. Seth M. Holmes & Heide Castaneda: Representing the European refugee crisis in
Germany and beyond: Deservingness and difference, life and death, American
ethnologist,volume 43, number 1, February 2016