Giving Compass' Take:

• News Deeply examines a new study out of Europe that shows the challenges of covering the migration crisis in a balanced manner. Reporters in Italy and Spain point to political interference.

• What lessons can we learn for journalism here in the U.S.? Are we creating an environment free of "fake news" and the proliferation of dangerously skewed narratives?

• Here's how journalism can be an ally to the people and responsive governments.

Talk to Spanish and Italian journalists about reporting on refugees and migration and a single common sentiment emerges.

“I wish to give a voice to the voiceless and record the unrecorded,” an Italian journalist told us. It echoed what a Spanish colleague had said: “It is necessary to give a voice to people who don’t have it.”

These statements reflect the self-image of many reporters in the two Mediterranean countries where many migrants first arrive in Europe. Across the political spectrum, Spanish journalists and, to an even greater extent, Italian journalists, tend to identify with the disadvantaged and powerless. But a new academic analysis suggests that when it comes to reporting on migration, their noble intentions conflict with everyday practice.

The authors of a joint study by the European Journalism Centre, the University of Oxford and Budapest Business School spoke with journalists, public relations officers and other media practitioners, delving into their motivations and methods, as well as the challenges they face.

In both Spain and Italy, journalists expressed a keen awareness of dominant migration-related narratives and terminology. They also acknowledged the values with which these terms can be loaded. Spanish participants explained that “migrants” or “immigrants” were considered to be persons who came to Spain mainly for economic reasons — to escape poverty in their countries of origin. Meanwhile, refugees were seen as people fleeing war and human rights violations. One remarked, “If you call some of them ‘refugees’ and you call others ‘economic immigrants,’ it is like sending the message that we have to accept some of them, but not the others.”

Read the full article about migration journalism in Italy and Spain by Eric Karstens at News Deeply.