Time magazine’s “Finding Home” analysis: A case of storytelling innovation on distant suffering

Authors

  • Gabriela Müggenburg Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/drdcd.v0i9.262

Abstract

This article aims to analyze an innovative and comprehensive way to report on migration and refugees tackling Time’s magazine “Finding Home”, a multimedia project held during 2016 mainly through a specific Instagram account. Throughout a year long, it tells the story about three Syrian women and their families who found shelter in refugee camps in Greece, all three of them while being pregnant and looking for a permanent place to settle. This piece of research explores qualitatively how the media is representing migrants and refugees, specifically women and motherhood, to illuminate the practice and develop innovative ways to approach and communicate mediated distant suffering from a peace-oriented approach. It uses a triangulation research design with a multimodal textual analysis and an in-depth semi-structured interview with two journalists involved in the project. This text intends to approach Instagram as an opportunity for innovative journalistic genres, while considering its challenges and constraints, and evaluate if peace-oriented news stories are able to connect with the audience while fostering empathy and solidarity.

Author Biography

Gabriela Müggenburg, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Investigadora predoctoral PIFP del Departamento de Comunicación de la UC3M

Estudia la respuesta de la audiencia al sufrimiento distante mediado por las redes sociales desde una perspectiva cualitativa y su trabajo adopta el enfoque de la sociología cultural. Busca entender en qué medida la exposición mediática en conjunción con determinados códigos culturales y morales, pueden invitar al usuario a la participación social y la solidaridad civil.

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Published

2023-09-01