The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has cautioned journalists against sensationalism and the inaccurate deployment of legal terminologies, noting that biased media narratives directly fuel xenophobic public policy and the demonisation of migrants.
Senior Media and Communications Officer at the IOM Regional Office in Dakar, Ada Francis Xavier, made the call during a media training session on migration reporting in Western and Central Africa. Xavier argued that local, national, and global frameworks governing migration are heavily influenced by the visual and textual representations generated by the press. He noted that behind numbers and political debates are human lives requiring protection and dignity.
“The laws that are developed, the policies that are adopted, the frameworks that are being discussed at local, national, global levels, all of that is shaped by how well the media does its job. It is the picture that you portray that people remember. It’s easy to transform and to turn what we do into a business and to forget that we exist to protect people,” Xavier said.
Citing historical precedents, he recalled the 2015 Mediterranean migration crisis, highlighting how news organisations like Al Jazeera deliberately ceased using the blanket term “migrant” to challenge the media’s role in using the word as an all-encompassing tool to scapegoat displaced populations for domestic socio-economic failures.
He explained that Nigeria possesses a complex migration landscape comprising refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), economic migrants, and international students, and that each category carries distinct international legal protection frameworks. Xavier said, “Using the right terminology is important because some of it beyond the fact that it’s human and it’s stories, some of these categories have deep legal categorization. If you decide to call someone a refugee, then you are suggesting that the person deserves or has access to the protection that they are entitled to.”
According to him, sensationalist practices are deliberately designed to inflate political rhetoric and pressure governments into adopting hardline, punitive migration policies that compromise human rights. He urged regional journalists to balance their economic need for viewership with editorial integrity by utilizing standard frameworks like the IOM Glossary of Migration to inform their reportage.
