Abstract

This paper aims to discuss how peace journalism, as an alternative theoretical approach, may challenge conventional reporting on diversity and go beyond the traditional “Us” and “Them” binaries. In particular, the paper will take a closer look at the example of Greek media’s framing of immigration during the Greek crisis. Based on a framing analysis, it will aim to present the key findings of a three-year study exploring the way in which four Greek newspapers have portrayed immigration in crisis-stricken Greece, and particularly in the years between 2011 and 2014, in the light of the theoretical approach of peace journalism as an emerging research and teaching field for the study of conflicts. Peace journalism has been developing since the 1970s as an autonomous branch of peace and communication studies and as an attempt to redefine journalistic practices and the role of journalists who cover conflicts. It is only recently, however, and especially during the last decade, that it began to evolve dynamically, as evidenced by the production of dozens of research papers about it and by the number of universities worldwide which integrate the peace journalism concept into their academic curricula. Within this context, this paper proposes an analytical model for the study of media representations of diversity, with a focus on immigration, which is based on the theory of peace journalism and stereotypes as well as the thorough observation and processing of a carefully selected sample of newspaper articles.