For Europe Day ’23, the European Cultural Foundation highlighted the Re:framing Migrants in the European Media project. As part of this project, an interview was conducted by Rimma Samir, the project’s evaluation expert, with Egyptian investigative journalist Osama Elsayad and Mohamed S Bah, Founder and Host of City Rights Radio.
During the interview, they discussed important topics such as decolonizing the newsroom and the creation of SHIFT magazine. They emphasised how the magazine ensures authentic representation of perspectives from refugees and migrants.
The Re:framing Migrants in the European Media project brought together media makers from across Europe on May 12 at Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam. During the event, the SHIFT magazine was presented, proposing ideas for developing an inclusive European public sphere that incorporates the perspectives of refugees and migrants. The magazine has been published by Here to Support and Hostwriter.
A digital version of SHIFT magazine can be found on the dedicated website for this year’s Europe Day. Additionally, physical copies were available at Pakhuis De Zwigher on May 12.
Osama Elsayad is an Egyptian investigative journalist with experience in producing investigations on human rights violations, corruption, and illicit assets in the Middle East. He participated in workshops related to the project, particularly focusing on anti-racism tests for newsrooms in the EU-funded program Re:framing Migrants in the European Media. He also contributed to the publication section of SHIFT magazine. Both Osama and Mohammed shared their experiences of earlier project events that took place in Madrid in July 2022, called “Decolonizing the Newsroom,” organised by Zemos98 and Conscience Afro. Osama was also part of the editorial team for SHIFT magazine, contributing to its content for three weeks.
Mohamed, from Guinea in West Africa, is the founder and host of City Rights Radio. In the Re:framing Migrants in the European Media project, he worked on the podcast component, creating episodes about various city assemblies. He expressed pride in his involvement and mentioned that the podcast can be listened to on SoundCloud and Spotify by searching for “ECF Sounds”. Mohamed expressed that his favourite podcast episode was titled “Nice to Meet You Too,” which introduced the project and its participants.
Mohamed had the opportunity to visit Lampedusa and Barcelona for the podcast. He described the experience as interesting, especially because he wanted to see what to expect in Lampedusa and found that the information he had come across prior to his visit was mostly negative when it came to migrants.
Overall, the Re:framing Migrants in the European Media project aimed to address the representation of refugees and migrants in European media. The SHIFT magazine and podcast served as important tools in achieving this goal.