Speakers at the first day of the International Symposium on "Immigration Issues in the Mediterranean: Media Coverage and Approaches", organised by the TAP News Agency on Thursday and Friday, focused on the reality of media performance in dealing with this growing phenomenon and ways to develop it. Ahlam Hammami, Director General of the National Migration Observatory, in a presentation entitled "Challenges of migration governance in the Euro-Mediterranean space", highlighted what she considered to be the increasing numbers of migrants arriving on European shores. She referred to the arrival of 151,301 migrants in Italy, including more than 17,000 Tunisians from the beginning of this year until 22 November, according to official Italian sources. She stressed the need to regulate the handling of the migration phenomenon in the Euro-Mediterranean area, while calling for a further improvement in the performance of the media and the establishment of professional controls to deal with the issue of migration, so that the media treatment of migration does not remain seasonal or situational or dominated by sensationalism. She recalled the efforts of the National Migration Observatory to understand the phenomenon of migration through the publication of the first national survey on migration in 2020, in cooperation with the National Institute for Migration. Hammami stressed that the Observatory does not stop at the limits of these data, but uses them to generate knowledge to better understand and deepen the phenomenon in its various dimensions. She also pointed out that the National Observatory for Migration had organised several training courses for journalists from various local media on how to deal with migration issues in the media. It is necessary to evaluate all that has been achieved in order to develop a media charter and a modern integrated communication plan to better understand the phenomenon of migration in all its aspects, she stressed. For her part, the press officer of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Wafa Hammami, revealed in her speech that the ministry is in the process of developing a new communication plan to deal with immigration issues and the problems of the Tunisian community abroad. She pointed to the move to create a "radio" with correspondents abroad to listen to the concerns of Tunisians abroad. For her part, Basma Chettaoui, a journalist and head of TAP's social affairs department, spoke at the international symposium about best practices and rules for reporting on migration issues, arguing that "the media have not played the role they had hoped for in covering the issues of migrants and refugees". During her speech, Chettaoui regretted the lack of in-depth coverage of the migration phenomenon, pointing out that the issue is treated superficially due to the lack of accurate information, documents and updated statistics, as well as the lack of tools and skills for journalists to delve into migration issues. In her speech, she pointed out that there are two different and contradictory views on the treatment of migration issues in the media in the northern and southern Mediterranean. "While the media in the southern Mediterranean focus their coverage emotionally on the fragile situation of migrants and the violations committed against them, the media in the northern Mediterranean present a media discourse marked by a hostile and discriminatory tendency in dealing with migrants," she pointed out. She stressed the need to adhere to the principles of objectivity, neutrality, integrity and accuracy, to ensure the safety of information sources and to protect them, as well as to intensify training courses for journalists and to provide logistical and financial means to produce in-depth and accurate media content on migration issues in its various dimensions. Tahir Sheikh, Director of the Office of the Palestinian News Agency in Tunisia, called on the media to focus on the motives behind the growing phenomenon of illegal migration and the risks faced by migrants, whether in transit from the southern t o the northern shores of the Mediterranean or in European countries. In his presentation entitled "Transparency and Secrecy in Addressing the Phenomenon of Migration in the Media", Sheikh said that the media is now called upon to show the alternatives and opportunities offered by the countries of origin to migrants, to contribute to strengthening the sense of belonging among the youth, and to highlight success models for those who have been able to achieve their dreams in their country, in parallel with focusing on the security aspects of transit countries. In another context, Sheikh explained that the displacement and destruction witnessed in Gaza today is the result of an Israeli "war" against the entire Palestinian people. He urged the media not to adopt the Israeli version, and the need to use the word "war" instead of the phrase "self-defence" adopted by the Western media. Israel has committed heinous massacres since October 7, killing more than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 70 per cent of them childre n. It has also killed more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank and targeted more than 60 journalists, who have been killed to hide the facts, he added. Hamida El Bour, Director of the Institute of Press and Information Sciences, said in her presentation entitled "Specialised Media Training on Migration Issues" that the phenomenon of illegal migration cannot be addressed without research and investigation. She explained that addressing the phenomenon requires the involvement of the media, community radio stations and social media influencers in the dissemination of up-to-date and documented information on migration, as well as the promotion of research initiatives and comprehensive academic publications on migration. Hamida El Bour noted that presenting the success stories of some returning migrants who have succeeded in social and economic integration is of great importance in addressing the issue from a positive angle, stressing in this regard that the percentage of migration of Africans within the Afr ican continent is twice the percentage of migration to Europe. She highlighted the role of the TAP news agency in producing objective, diverse and up-to-date news on migration issues, and called on the media to verify information and join in the fight against misinformation and false news spread on the migration issue. Source: EN - Agence Tunis Afrique Presse