Between sealed borders and welcome culture

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the German and Hungarian Governments’ mediated public diplomacy (mpd) efforts during the European migrant crisis and their reflection in the international news media. Design/methodology/approach The study relies on a quantitative content analysis of English press releases and interviews distributed by the governments and their reflection in CNN and Al-Jazeera English. Overall, a sample of 483 texts was coded. Herein, the main actors, topics, frames, and information subsidies were analyzed. A comparison of the public diplomacy efforts and their reflection in the news then allows for assumptions about their potential impact on the news. Findings The data shows that the Hungarian Government uses more information subsidies in their communication than their German counterpart. Hence, the news agenda shows more similarities to the main topics put forward in the Hungarian sub-sample. The news framing, however, is more favorable toward the perspectives put forward in the German public diplomacy. Practical implications The results indicate that well planned and designed messaging does not guarantee successful communication. It also shows that critical journalism still plays an important role in the international news production. Originality/value The paper’s main contribution is that it goes beyond the war-based case studies on mpd and investigates one of the most relevant transnational issues in the last decades. In addition, it sheds light on why the media reflect some sponsored frames while they mostly discredit others.

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