Media, migration, and sociology: A critical review

The article reviews and discusses the interconnections between media studies and migration studies - namely, the field of “media and migration” - focusing in particular on three major books which were published in the last five years: two in the sub-field of journalism, political communication and (im)migration [Moore, Gross & Threadgold's 2012 edited Migration and the Media, published by Peter Lang, and Benson's 2013 Shaping Immigration News: A French-American Comparison, published by Cambridge University Press], and one in the subfield of transnationalism, diasporas and the media [Hegde's 2016 Mediating Migration, published by Polity Press]. By looking at these interconnections, the article identifies and critically examines major subfields of studies and research in media and migration, it discusses their strengths and weaknesses, and it suggests a few potential research strands with the intention of both reinforcing the sociological contribution to the field and better bridging migration studies and media studies.