Chapter 8 critically discusses media reporting on migration and migration around the world. Drawing on existing research in different countries, the analysis addresses four key questions: (a) What do media around the world say about migration and migrants? (b) What impacts does this coverage have on what members of the public, policymakers and migrants themselves think and do? (c) How does the practice of journalism itself contribute to coverage? (d) What implications arise from recent experiences of media and migration for future research and practice?

While there is a growing body of research on the relationships between media, public opinion and policies on migration, the chapter shows that much more research needs to be done into the role of the media in transit and origin countries – and particularly migrants’ own use of, and preferences for, different types of media. The chapter makes a strong case for the need to encourage media coverage of migrants that is reasonable, measured and moves away from an assumed position of suspicion.