Medijska sekuritizacija procesa migracije na takozvanoj Balkanskoj ruti: Studija slučaja – Srbija i Severna Makedonija
Media Securitisation of the Migration Process on the So Called Balkan Route: A Case Study of Serbia and North Macedonia

Summary/Abstract: Using the example of the Balkan Route, the paper aims to show how the migrant issue in regional relations has taken an important place in national and regional security strategies and how it has been securitised by the media in the Western Balkans. The theoretical viewpoint is presented through an examination of the media’s role in identifying and securitising contemporary security challenges, using migration as a case point. The empirical viewpoint is presented through a case study of the so-called Balkan Route, in which the authors examine the role of the media in the process of securitisation of contemporary migrant flows as a cross-border security challenge and threat. The case study of the Balkan migrant route shows the role of the media in the process of securitisation of migrant flows, as well as the verbal or political securitisation of migration as a real security phenomenon. Did the media contribute to alleviating the migrant crisis, or did they exacerbate its severity? The research concludes that the media have positioned themselves as an instrument in the hands of interest groups, and the journalistic profession has failed to maintain its integrity or to influence the creation and implementation of policies in which people and their well-being come first as the primary European values. In that context, the leading research question is as follows: What is the purpose of media securitisation of the migrant crisis, and how much does such a phenomenon reposition the social place of the media sector from the perspective of current challenges, risks, and threats? The main hypothesis of the paper is as follows: The empirical example of the Balkan Route shows that media securitisation of the migrant crisis represents an ongoing instrumentalisation of media outlets for political interests, particularly in weak institutional states and populist decision-making frameworks. Based on the main hypothesis, there are two specific ones: First, using the media sector as a securitising mechanism endangers the media and journalism as a profession. Second, the examples of Serbia and North Macedonia demonstrate inverse tendencies within the phenomenon of populism, whereby the continued weakening of public institutions is accompanied by the strengthening of the media sector.

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