The Interference of the Mass media in the Intercultural Dialogue during the Emergency Landings in the Mediterranean: Between Reality and Representation

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to highlight the difficulties that characterise the intercultural dialogue in specific contexts and situations of emergency. The paper focuses on the interference of the mass media and their representations in the dynamics of intercultural dialogue among emergency operators and migrants at the borders. These aspects will be examined by relating the results of prior researches carried out on mass media representations of the landings to those obtained by the participating observation in the island of Lampedusa during the landings and the migrants’ protests. The results show how the frames of the mass media representation in its alarmist/pietistic approach may be reiterated in models of intercultural dialogue between operators and migrants.