The image of labour migrants constructed by the mass media: the case of Tomsk

The article discusses the results of content analysis of information and photo materials devoted to labour migration that had been published in the regional mass media of Tomsk both online and in printed periodicals from 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2016 - in total, 180 publications. The analysis of written texts presented in the media revealed a predominantly neutral tone of the description of migrants; most publications had drawn on information released by the press offices of different state bodies dealing with migration issues in one way or another. The largest number of publications had been produced in the months of March, August, and September of 2015, and in April 2016. These had been, for the most part, based on issues related to law enforcement and application of Russian legislation. Migrants were portrayed merely as an object of state regulation procedures and were associated with different problem situations. The photo materials which accompanied the texts about migrants as well were chiefly associated with activities of law enforcement bodies and with offences. Authentic photo materials of migrants were sparse. Migrants - in some of the pictures where they had been depicted - were groups of males of working age and of Central Asian origins, and the visual emphasis had been placed not on individual characteristics of these people but rather on their status as a particular social group. Thus, this research has shown that a ‘faceless’ image of labour migrants deprived of any agency is constructed, and the human dimension of labour migration is not present either in the texts or in the photographs contained in the mass media publications in the given period.

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