Table 1
General view on the analysis of print media in relation to the “migration (refugee) crisis” in Slovak Republic in the period May 2015–March 2016
| Month | Number of days analyzed in the context of the visibility of “migration (refugee) crisis” | Visibility of media messages on migration (refugee) crisis | The average number of messages within the analyzed days | Representation of the theme of “migration (refugee) crisis” throughout the month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | 5 | 11 | 2.2 | 16% |
| June | 11 | 17 | 1.5 | 36% |
| July | 15 | 29 | 1.9 | 48% |
| August | 14 | 27 | 1.9 | 45% |
| September | 21 | 89 | 4.2 | 70% |
| October | 18 | 54 | 3 | 58% |
| November | 10 | 30 | 3 | 33% |
| December | 13 | 22 | 1.7 | 42% |
| January | 23 | 43 | 1.87 | 72% |
| February | 24 | 48 | 2 | 60% |
| March | 24 | 50 | 2.1 | 62% |
| Total | 178 | 420 | 2.4 |
Source: authors’ own research.
Scheme 1
The most frequent words in the media titles during the analyzed period.
Source: authors’ own research, Wordle software.
Table 2
The most frequent phrases of Slovak politicians connected to refugee crisis
| Month | Phrase | Dominant discourse |
|---|---|---|
| May | “Quotas are not the solution, solution is in the countries of migrants’ origin” | Slovakia is not responsible |
| June | “Moral duty” | Slovakia is not responsible |
| “Compulsory solidarity” | ||
| “By adopting quotas, we make contracts/agreements with traffickers” | ||
| “Quotas are not the solution, solution is in the countries of migrants’ origin” | ||
| July | “We can choose the migrants” | Slovakia is not responsible |
| “Quotas are not the solution, solution is in the countries of migrants’ origin” | ||
| August | “Quotas are not the solution, solution is in the countries of migrants’ origin” | Refugees – economic migrants |
| “Failure of EU” | ||
| “Migrants – economic speculators” | Slovakia is not responsible | |
| September | “Border protection” | Migrants – security risk |
| “Refugees are security risk” | Refugees – economic migrants-different religion | |
| “Green signal to traffickers” | ||
| “Impossible to integrate someone with completely different religion and traditions” | ||
| “I can just hardly imagine that the Muslims could integrate in Slovakia….” | ||
| “Could be harassing someone, who can find 5,000 euros to pay the traffickers?” | ||
| “Look how many young men who came to seek for work are there, there are around 90% of them” | ||
| “Absolute majority of the refugees are economic migrants” | ||
| October | “Mechanism the biggest danger for the EU” | Refugees – security risk |
| November | “To protect Slovakia” | Refugees – Muslims – terrorists – security risk |
| “We are monitoring every Muslim” | ||
| “Two attackers came with refugees” | ||
| “Security of the country” | ||
| December | “We could take 800 Muslims, but we do not have any mosques in Slovakia, so how could we integrate them, if they would not like it here?” | Migrants - different |
| “I consider quotas to be nonsensical and not possible to implement, they are fiasco. They are only on the paper. ” | ||
| January | “I feel sorry that the public officials who are responsible for the security of Slovak citizens underestimate the security aspect of the migration crisis.” | Migrants – sexual harassment – danger |
| “Big security risk” | ||
| “Different cultural habits and different religion” | ||
| “When someone does bombard a regime and the result is chaos, it cannot force the whole Europe to subsidize.” | ||
| “I consider quotas to be nonsensical and not possible to implement, they are a fiasco. They are only on the paper. ” | ||
| “Every Muslim who is on the territory of Slovak Republic is being monitored.” | ||
| “There is a significant indication about the origin of the attackers. Some can call them immigrants, some can say migrants.” | ||
| “I would not like to mention that in front of Bratislava train station, thousands of migrants vulgarly bother Slovak women.” | ||
| “We do not want that, in Slovakia, something would happen like in Germany, that someone would be bothering our women in public areas.” | ||
| February | “Until I am the Prime Minister, no migrants will come to Slovakia on the basis of mandatory quotas.” | Security – rejection of quotes (inefficiency of quotes) |
| “Security of this state is for me priority number one.” | ||
| “Slovakia not only rejects mandatory and temporary quotas, but also on voluntarily basis, the government doesn’t make any decision that could lead to the creation of a coherent Muslim community in Slovakia…These events are supposed to be an answer to those who stated that migrants with different religions could be easily integrated. They cannot; it is simply not happening.” | ||
| “We are against the nonsensical and inefficient quotas.” | ||
| March | “Refugees don’t exist anymore.” | |
| “Coalition stopped being interested in the refugees.” |
Source: authors own research.
Graph 1
The most cited Slovak politicians in the migration discourse
Source: authors own research, data based on media monitoring of printed media (May 2015–March 2016).
Images 1 and 2
Slovak political elites (Prime Minister in the left panel; President in the right panel)
Source: analysis of the printed media (SME).