Deserving of Assistance: The Social Construction of Ukrainian Refugees

Abstract

Poland and the Czech Republic shifted their approach towards refugees during the 2022 Russian invasion when the assistance to Ukrainian refugees became ‘a national task’. Our qualitative content analysis of media titles identified narratives strengthening social construction of Ukrainian refugees as deserving of assistance. Consequently, we suggest expanding the CARIN concept of deservingness to CARIN+A emphasizing the role of Assistance as a booster of Control, Attitude, Reciprocity, Identity, and Need. Moreover, we propose the hypothesis of a constructed rationality of assistance since the assistance to the Ukrainians allowed Poles and Czechs to rationalize their negative attitude towards other refugees.

Introduction

Until recently, Poland and the Czech Republic have been known for their rejectionist attitude towards refugees, which was also visible in some of their media. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the way the media in the two countries present refugees. Previously, refugees—in general—have mainly been described as a problem, as people undeserving of public policy’s support. Nonetheless, Ukrainian refugees coming to Poland and the Czech Republic since February 2022 were portrayed in a completely different way. The aim of the article is to examine the social construction of Ukrainian refugees in Polish and Czech media in the first two months of the war—just after the influx of displaced people had peaked. We follow the image of Ukrainian refugees that the media created—and reflected, despite the positive portrayal in any of the cases was not obvious. The novelty of the situation, related to the unprecedented number of arrivals within a short period, and to the shift in the media, society and politicians’ attitudes towards refugees, may make the text interesting to people beyond Central and Eastern Europe as well.

Theoretical foundation of our consideration roots in the social construction of reality (Berger & Luckmann, 1966), specifically in social construction of target groups. Schneider and Ingram (1993) noticed that when combined with power, social constructions form four types of target populations that are politically strong or weak and simultaneously positively or negatively constructed: advantaged groups (powerful and positively constructed), contenders (powerful but negatively constructed), dependents (politically weak but with positive image) and deviants (politically weak and with negative image). Consequently, they may be perceived as those who are deserving or undeserving, e.g. of money, support, or public policies’ attention. In other words, solidarity among the public is conditional and relates to the answer to the question ‘who should get what and why’ (van Oorschot, 2000). In this article, we omit the political power element and—as van Oorschot—we focus on the perception of the target groups: If the public identifies some groups as deserving solidarity it results from fulfilling specific criteria regarding control, attitude, reciprocity, identity and need (CARIN). The public is usually willing to share its resources with those who: do not have control over their poor situation; have the ‘proper’ attitude, i.e. to demonstrate gratefulness or docility; may reciprocate the support to the public in some form (or have already earned it); the public may identify with for their proximity. Finally, the public should recognize that the group is in great need (van Oorschot, 2000; van Oorschot et al., 2017).

We believe that the media plays a vital role in the process of target groups’ social construction. Their narratives are significant for public and political debate, as well as for policymaking, specifically in its initial phases (see e.g. Callaghan & Schnell, 2001; McCombs & Valenzuela, 2021; O’Sullivan, 2001). In the case of refugees, the narrative is likely to affect integration policies, the society’s attitudes towards newcomers, including majority nationalism. The media narratives and the social construction of minorities related to them may also function as a factor affecting inter-ethnic relations and ethnopolitics. It may prevent or promote tensions between various ethnic groups. The image of refugees has been lately examined in connection with European Migration Crises in 2015, e.g. the image of unaccompanied minors in Sweden by Wernesjö (2020), or refugees in Italy (Marchetti, 2020), or measuring compassion of volunteers towards the refugees during the migration wave in 2015 (Maestri & Monforte, 2020). Bjånesøy (2019) examined the effects of the refugee crisis on perceptions of asylum seekers in Norway.

This article focuses on how Polish and Czech media described the situation regarding the arrival of Ukrainian refugees in the first two months of the war. Our main research question therefore was: Through what narratives did the most popular Polish and Czech Internet media contribute to social construction of Ukrainian refugees? Using the method of constructionist analysis, we examined Twitter posts drawing attention to articles from the five main Czech and Polish information websites. We found out that the will and the scope of assistance to Ukrainian refugees that the media presented, became a catalyst for perceiving Ukrainian refugees as the deserving public policy’s target population. Moreover, the scope of assistance to Ukrainian refugees allowed Poles and Czechs to rationalize their attitude toward other refugees: ‘in the past and now we help those who are truly deserving and we constantly refuse help to those who are undeserving’. This relates to the hypothesis of constructed rationality of the assistance we propose: recognizing some groups as deserving and providing it assistance, enables the society to rationalize the refusal of support in other cases. Both our findings represent at the same time the hypotheses for further examination in other contexts.

In the following section, we explain our concept and present the context of the research.

The Role of Media in the Social Construction of Refugees

The public perception of reality is affected by the social environment (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). Wallace and Wolf (1999, p. 277) briefly define social construction of reality ‘as the process whereby people continuously create, through their actions and interactions, a shared reality that is experienced as objectively factual or subjectively meaningful’. Media play an essential role in this process, shaping discourse about events and developments. The rise of the internet and social media multiplied the number of voices.

In the article, we concentrate on images of Ukrainian refugees, even though we do recognize that the social construction of reality and the target populations as deserving or undeserving is not merely the media’s construction of reality (target populations), and that media users are an active audience that is often critical towards media content and will actively negotiate meanings (Fiske, 1987). Nonetheless, we acknowledge the media’s significant impact on politics, on public and political debate and ultimately the public policy process. Institutions and organizations, as well as formal and informal actors in governance, adapt their actions to the media environment (Peters, 2016). Politicians and policy makers are sensitive to the way the media presents policy issues and may react to that in their decisions.

The Context

Foreign population in the Czech Republic has been steadily rising since 1993. The initial conceptual policy documents adopted in 1999 gave the rise of the more comprehensive policy-making in migration area. Since then, the country has been consistently building its migration and integration policy (expressed e.g. in the form of strategies, concepts and related infrastructure), which—although criticized for many reasons—is one of the most developed in the region. At the end of 2014, migrants represented about 4, 5% of country’s population, and about one quarter of them were Ukrainians. Despite a high number of foreigners, until the 2014–2015 Migration Crisis, when massive arrival of refugees from Arab and African countries to Europe began, the migration topic has not been widely publicized or politicized in that country for a longer period. However, in 2015 the Migration Crisis meant a significant shift in the Czech politics and society regardless small numbers of refugees coming to the Czech Republic. Previously marginal anti-immigrant movements, such as ‘We Do Not Want Islam in Czechia’ and ‘Block against Islam’, gained prominence while the mainstream political parties adopted anti-immigrant stances. The politicization was accompanied by a heightened securitization of the issue, influencing migration and integration policies, as well as negative attitudes towards foreigners in general (Zogata-Kusz, 2020). Non-governmental organizations assisting immigrants admitted that whereas before they advocated for migrants’ social rights, after 2015, they had to focus on the migrants’ human rights (Zogata-Kusz, 2022). Despite of the atmosphere around (mainly) refugees, the overall number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic exceeded 660 thousand at the end of 2021 (Czech Statistical Office, 2022).

Similarly in Poland, the year was a watershed year as for migration topics. Migration has become the essential element of political debate since the campaign before the 2015 parliamentary elections. The winning party, Law and Justice, strongly emphasized its reluctance towards migrants and refugees something which received a practical dimension after the party had taken power (Cekiera, 2017). Renaming the Inter-Ministerial Team for Resettlement and Relocation of Refugees to the Inter-Ministerial Team for Ensuring Security in the Process of Resettlement and Relocation of Foreigners was a symptomatic harbinger of the new policy directions. As Adamczyk (2017, p. 320) notices, the team’s responsibilities simultaneously changed: ‘within the tasks, those of an integration nature have disappeared. The emphasis was placed on security and monitoring of relocation and resettlement processes. There was also a task related to the effective removal of foreigners, which was not there before’. Another important testimony of the policy revision was cancellation of the 2012 Polish Migration Policy—the State of Play and Proposed Measures which had been intended to replace policies made as ad hoc and post factum reactions to the existing situation or as adjusting to the EU acquis communautaire (Zogata-Kusz, 2013). Since then the Polish authorities have also consistently refused to accept even trace numbers of refugees. The denial of Caritas Poland's request for humanitarian corridors, as proposed by the Polish Catholic Church's Episcopate (Cekiera, 2022), stands as proof. At the same time, the number of people who came to Poland for work purposes was multiplying. According to estimates by the Central Statistical Office (2020), at the end of 2019, there were more than 2.1 million foreigners in Poland, including more than 1.35 million Ukrainians.

During the so-called European migration crisis both these countries refused to cooperate in the relocation of applicants for international protection and a great majority of these societies supported their governments’ decisions. Due to the 2017 findings of the Public Opinion Research Center (PORC, 2017), as many as 63% of Poles and 69% of Czechs did not agree with the acceptance of refugees from countries in armed conflicts. They were against the acceptance of refugees from the Middle East and Africa in particular (despite the threat of losing EU funding).

It is certain that public opinion was at that time affected by the media coverage of the topic since the actual number of refugees did not indicate any crisis. Moreover, the question of migration had for a long time been free from politicization, and appeared in the media sporadically (Zogata-Kusz, 2013). Nonetheless, in 2015 the situation changed. Migration became a highly politicized and mediatized topic, and misused by politicians, primarily during election campaigns (Cekiera, 2020; Lewandowski & Polakowski, 2023; Zogata-Kusz, 2020). The media depicted refugees as a security threat and partly as a burden that the European Union was trying to impose on Czechs (Jelínková, 2019). Gradually, news about refugees as people became replaced by news about ‘migration’ as a phenomenon and about migration policies. Migration became related to problems, criminality and security (Pospěch & Jurečková, 2019; Troszyński & El-Ghamari, 2022). In Polish internet memes, the dominant portrayal of a refugee was as a terrorist (Cekiera, 2017). On the Czech internet, the topic of refugees drew a lot of attention (Öbrink Hobzová et al., 2017) connected with the spreading of hoaxes, half-truths and propaganda (Sobková et al., 2016). Altogether, refugees were portrayed in a negative way as undeserving societies’ and public policies’ support. Since simultaneously they did not have any political power, they were—using the language of Schneider and Ingram—deviants (1993).

Novelty of the Situation

The arrival of an unprecedentedly high number of Ukrainian refugees to Poland and the Czech Republic created a brand-new situation. The number of newcomers was extraordinary (at least in Europe): within the first three weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, about two million Ukrainians crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border. At the end of May 2022, the total number of people who had come to Poland from Ukraine was estimated at 3.74 million (while 1.74 million travelled back to Ukraine) (Headquarters of the Border Guard, 2022). As for the Czech Republic, in just two weeks approximately 200,000 Ukrainian refugees came into the country, increasing the number of foreigners living there by about 30 per cent. For the sake of comparison: in 2015, about 1.3 million migrants applied for asylum across all 28 member states of the European Union, plus Norway and Switzerland. Over one million asylum seekers came to Germany, however, it was between 2014 and 2016 (Albarosa & Elsner, 2022). Hence, for the first time the European Union has implemented the Temporary Protection Directive, enabling Ukrainian nationals and permanent residents to live in the EU country without the necessity to go through asylum procedures (Bosse, 2022). While the Czech Republic invoked the directive as so-called Lex Ukraina, Poland chose to adopt the remarkably generous ‘Special Law’ for Ukrainian citizens arriving to Poland because of the war directly from Ukraine and for holders of semi-citizenship ‘the Polish Card’, along with their immediate families. Other people fleeing the war could gain protection based on the temporary protection law and the EU decision.

The novelty of the situation was also the welcoming attitude of Czechs and Poles toward Ukrainian refugees. Not only the governments established centres for assistance to refugees, but mainly ordinary people, volunteers, NGO and local authorities actively engaged in unprecedented assistance efforts since the early stages of the war. Media coverage also highlighted these efforts, portraying refugees and assistance to them positively—as demonstrated below.

Research Design

The study addresses the research question: Through what narratives did the most popular Polish and Czech Internet media contribute to social construction of Ukrainian refugees?

To answer this question, we focused on the Twitter accounts of the top five most popular information websites in each of the countries (MediaGuru, 2021; Wirtualnemedia, 2022), thus our criterion was not to choose media representing various political orientation but simply those visited by the highest number of readers. Twitter was for us only a tool to examine the information websites’ content and not the Twitter discussions. The websites attract readers to the articles on their site via Twitter accounts. Moreover, the tweets copy the articles’ titles, and they contain a part of the lead paragraph, i.e. the parts most visible to readers who frequently do not read the whole articles. The Twitter users are then exposed to the same narratives as the visitors of the information website. The Czech data came from @SeznamZpravy, @novinkycz, @Aktualnecz, @denikcz, @iDNEScz; in Poland, we worked with tweets from: @onetpl, @wirtualnapolska, @tvn24, @Int_Wydarzenia, @RadioZET_NEWS.

The data comes from tweets made from 24 February to 24 April 2022, i.e. the first two months of the war in Ukraine. We found out that using the term ‘refugee’ while searching was more suitable than ‘the Ukrainians/the Ukrainian’, since these specifically connected to the war itself within the Ukrainian territory, not to the refugee situation. We carried out the data collection separately in Czech and Polish. Because both languages have grammatical cases, our search had to involve ‘refugee’ and ‘refugees’ in all grammatical forms as well as in both feminine and masculine forms. The final Czech sample counted 175 tweets associated with the topic of (Ukrainian) refugees within the EU and the Czech Republic. On the Polish side, the final sample included 432 tweets.

We used the qualitative content analysis method (Mayring, 2000), i.e. we employed three procedures: data reduction, data display, and conclusion: drawing/verifying (see Miles & Huberman, 1994). Analysing data, we applied the constructionist approach. As Silverman (2005, p. 160) wrote, constructionists who analyse documents ‘are more concerned with the processes through which texts depict “reality” rather than with whether such texts contain true or false statements’.

After gathering the tweets, the first coding was conducted, and we developed the categories (e.g. money, politics, settlement, etc.). During the second reading, we divided the tweets into these categories and determined names for the topics addressed by the media (e.g. ethnocentric, support in practice, etc.) and identified specific narratives within each topic. Despite some differences in codes and categories, we were able to observe that the topics in both countries were the same and the narratives were usually similar. Finally, the third reading allowed us to revise the findings, identify and correct mistakes. When it comes to language procedures, we coded all tweets in Czech or Polish, and then translated them into English. The results were analysed for both countries individually, then compared and discussed.

In the case of research on dramatic events, an awareness of their ethical contexts is essential. It also applies to analyses that directly (or indirectly) affect refugees (e.g. Clark-Kazak, 2017; Mackenzie et al., 2007). Ethical issues were therefore significant to us. While conducting the analysis, we remembered that the source of our research was the dramatic experiences of real people. Such a situation required exceptional sensitivity to the conditions of refugees and attempts to describe them. We also hope that the results of our research will meet the ethical postulate ‘to design and conduct research projects that aim to bring about reciprocal benefits for refugee participants and/or communities’ (Mackenzie et al., 2007), e.g. in the form of appropriate policies supporting refugee integration and mitigating potential conflicts.

Data Analysis

Based on our analysis we determined six topics: Support in practice, Ethnocentric perspective, Economic issues, Political issues, the Image of refugees and Influencers. First, we present the narratives regarding directly the image of refugees. The other topics we arrange subsequently according to the total number of tweets in both countries. References to specific tweets that we introduce as examples, may be found in the online Appendix 1 (APP 1) and Appendix 2 (APP 2). In each topic, we first present the narratives in the Czech media, then in the Polish ones.

Images of Refugees (CZ—22 tweets, PL—33 tweets)

The direct portraying of Ukrainian refugees is the most important for contributing to their perception by the public. In Czech media at the beginning of the war in Ukraine there appeared a picture of mothers and children fleeing from the conflict (Seznam Zprávy, 2022c see APP 1/17), which completely differed from how Syrian refugees were presented during the migration crisis between 2015 and 2017 (Pospěch & Jurečková, 2019). The way the news depicted people crossing the border with Poland and Slovakia in cold weather created a very moving picture (Seznam Zprávy, 2022b see APP 1/16). The image was potentiated by deep human-interest stories and pictures from the railway stations in Poland showing where people remained overnight (Seznam Zprávy, 2022a see APP 1/15). The narrative of the need to help the weak from Ukraine was strengthened by good examples of refugees who had successfully integrated into Czech society (Seznam Zprávy, 2022j see APP 1/24). Unlike refugees from Arab and African countries, the Ukrainians were depicted as people who had come to the Czech Republic not in order to receive social support, but to find sanctuary from war that would enable them normal life. Since before the war Ukrainians were the most numerous group in the immigrant workforce—if we do not count Slovaks not always perceived as ‘foreigners’ for still recent common state Czechoslovakia (Czech Statistical Office, 2021), they were considered as positive for the job market (Seznam Zprávy, 2022f see APP 1/20). Concerning the possible length of the refugees’ stay, some tweets gave voice to Ukrainian refugees believing they would return home after the Ukraine’s victory (Deník.cz, 2022f see APP 1/10).

Despite the fact that the majority supported acceptance of war refugees, the influx also caused hatred, mainly on the Internet. The analysed tweets included attempts to fight hoaxes which appeared on social media and targeted refugees (Deník.cz, 2022e see APP 1/9). Some activists also warned against Ukrainian refugees becoming a subject of Czech majority’s frustration (Seznam Zprávy, 2022i see APP 1/23).

Similarly, in Poland the main narrative in this topic was the emphasis that refugees are ‘women and children in a dramatic situation’. Those arriving in Poland were explicitly and frequently described by using these two demographic categories, which were clearly intended to appeal for assistance (TVN24, 2022k see APP 2/34). They also highlighted the traumatic experiences they had suffered (Interia, 2022j see APP 2/35).

Empathy and solidarity with the newcomers was built by quoting their stories. Tweets mentioned some reports that analysed the luggage of refugees (TVN24, 2022l see APP 2/36) or described some moving farewells to loved ones who remained in Ukraine (Interia, 2022k see APP 2/37). From the perspective of building the refugees’ image, the story of a weeping boy who got lost on the Polish-Ukrainian border (this is reminiscent of the ‘Alyan Kurdi topos’, but with a happy ending) (Wirtualna Polska, 2022f see APP 2/38) can also be considered significant.

Information about voluntary community work that refugees undertook as a form of gratitude for the hospitality they received supported their positive image (TVN24, 2022m see APP 2/39). This narrative was ‘secured’ by denouncing inappropriate attitudes towards Ukrainian refugees (TVN24, 2022n see APP 2/40; Radio ZET NEWS, 2022f see APP 2/41). We found only one tweet that could be taken as a warning about refugees—and it concerned possible attempts by Russian spies to impersonate Ukrainian refugees (Interia, 2022l see APP 2/42).

An important theme in the tweets concerned making a distinction between the ‘right’ refugees from Ukraine and the ‘not right’ refugees—i.e. people who tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border and against whom the border guard employed the practice of push-backs. We can call this narrative ‘This is a very different situation’ (TVN24, 2022o see APP 2/43). Only occasionally there were some demands for equal treatment of these refugees (Interia, 2022m see APP 2/44).

Support in Practice (CZ—35 tweets, PL—135)

Support in practice was the most frequently occurring topic in both countries (when counted together). It reflects how Czechs and Poles attempted to deliver help in practice. The Czech media focused on how to find accommodation and how much the government should compensate private property owners and regional authorities for housing. This related to the fact that the government was running out of capacity. Consequently, the risk of lower quality housing for refugees arose. This discourse appeared regularly from mid-March until the Ministry of the Interior pushed to find more accommodation options (Seznam Zprávy, 2022k see APP 1/25). This intervention might have been a strategy intended to motivate individual citizens to participate in accommodating Ukrainians.

The topic also contains tweets giving advice to Czechs who wanted to help (Deník.cz, 2022b see APP 1/6). Some tweets additionally spread awareness among Czechs about possible traumatization of refugees and ways how to appropriately react to trauma (Aktualne.cz, 2022c see APP 1/3).

The main narrative in this area in Poland we may describe as ‘Ordinary people doing extraordinary things’. Many reports on spontaneous and grassroots activities in support of refugees have been forwarded in connection with this (TVN 24, 2022a see APP 2/1). The enormous response of Poles rushing to help has been emphasized, sometimes exceeding—in the first days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine—requirements and absorption capacity (Interia, 2022a see APP 2/2). Examples of customized support efforts communicated on Twitter also fit into this narrative. Twitter profiles analysed here became a support tool in the first days of the war. For example, they published a list of institutions offering free medical care for Ukrainians (Radio ZET NEWS, 2022a see APP 2/3), explained how they could legalize their stay (TVN24, 2022b see APP 2/4), and listed charity collections and auctions for the benefit of newcomers (TVN24, 2022c see APP 2/5). Peculiar to this narrative was the stigmatization of any behaviour exploiting the refugee situation (TVN24, 2022d see APP 2/6). It was also reported with indignation, e.g. that some people brought ruined clothing to collections for refugees (Interia, 2022b see APP 2/7).

One of the dominant narratives we may formulate as an ‘Appeal to the government for systematic support’. Its foundation stood on the belief that aid must be coordinated and planned for the long term. The tweets pointed at the gradual depletion of volunteer resources (TVN24, 2022e see APP 2/8), and there were reports of difficulties in, for instance hosting refugees under one’s own roof due to unclear laws (Interia, 2022c see APP 2/9). Another important narrative is ‘Local government in action’—that is, messages about various local government activities directed at helping Ukrainians.

Ethnocentric Perspective (CZ—54 tweets, PL—35 tweets)

This reflects how Czechs and Poles perceived their own behaviour towards the refugees from Ukraine. It mostly relates to the image of themselves being good people and role models, since they help those in need.

On Czech Twitter, there were two main narratives to be distinguished: ‘Czechs are helping’, and ‘Look, neighbouring countries are helping too’.

The image of Czechs helping was very strong. A month after the outbreak of the war support was still overwhelming (one-third of Czechs would even accommodate refugees in their homes) (Aktualne.cz, 2022b see APP 1/2). Many tweets presented Czech volunteers who set off to help at the Slovak-Ukrainian border (Aktualne.cz, 2022a see APP 1/1). This strongly suggested that there was a civil society in place in the Czech Republic that brought communities together in times of need. Two months after the outbreak, the majority still wanted to accept more refugees (Seznam Zprávy, 2022h see APP 1/22).

The government’s attempt to create a system of assistance went hand in hand with the picture of Czechs as a nation in solidarity. The tweets mapped e.g. the help delivered by reporting on the Central Crisis Headquarters meetings about how to manage the refugee influx (Seznam Zprávy, 2022n see APP 1/28). Moreover, some tweets emphasized that other entities, e.g. banks, were also providing assistance (Seznam Zprávy, 2022l see APP 1/26). However, already during the first week of March critical voices noted that all this help could have been coordinated better by the authorities and the NGOs involved (Seznam Zprávy, 2022e see APP 1/19). The introduction and prolongation of the state of emergency, known from the COVID-19 pandemic justified with the need to manage the extraordinary situation, raised discussion about its actual need, although it was mainly invoked to make managing legislation and administration simpler (Deník.cz, 2022c see APP 1/7).

Another aspect was that the information websites constantly reported on the number of refugees in the Czech Republic that was soon accompanied by alerts about nearing the limits of country’ capacity (novinkycz, 2022b see APP 1/14). At the same time, individual politicians praised the work done and suggested that the Czech system could serve as a model for other countries, e.g. (Aktualne.cz, 2022a see APP 1/1).

The other narrative, ‘Look, neighbouring countries are helping too’, showed the amount of attention paid to crisis management in countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Moldavia, highlighting how their struggle with the refugee influx (Denik.cz, 2022a see APP 1/5), and most importantly their welcoming attitude were. The selected information websites concentrated largely on Poland. It seems that all these tweets supported a story of unity across the former Eastern Bloc, emphasizing that helping is the right choice (Seznam Zprávy, 2022m see APP 1/27). It appears as if the news wanted to show that the Czech Republic belongs among the ‘good ones’.

Within this ethnocentric perspective, two main narrative axes can also be distinguished in Polish media. The first of them we called ‘They appreciate us’. These are messages emphasizing and quoting the appreciation of Poles by representatives of various nations or international institutions, e.g. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (TVN24, 2022f see APP 2/10), Kamala Harris (TVN24, 2022g see APP 2/11), Justin Trudeau (Interia, 2022d see APP 2/12), Pope Francis (Interia, 2022e see APP 2/13), Jens Stoltenberg (TVN24, 2022h see APP 2/14) and various representatives of Ukraine—e.g. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko (TVN24, 2022i see APP 2/15). It is worth noting that sometimes representatives of Polish authorities reported this praise, see Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s statement after his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden (Radio ZET NEWS, 2022b see APP 2/16).

This narrative links to the second one: ‘Poland as a role model’. The belief that Poland can be an example for others is based, among various factors, on comparing the help Poles provide to refugees with help of others. Tweets point out the inefficiency of Germany’s refugee reception system (Wirtualna Polska, 2022a see APP 2/17), or Britain’s unwillingness to accept them (Wirtualna Polska, 2022b see APP 2/18), or Hungary’s obstruction of their passage (Interia, 2022f see APP 2/19). One of the tweets, which describes a refugee who decided to come to Poland after her dramatic experience in Germany, is especially articulate in this context (Interia, 2022g see APP 2/20). Other distinct tweets concerned the reluctance of refugees to leave Poland for Germany or Sweden, despite the free transport provided (Interia, 2022h see APP 2/21). They also quoted statements that explicitly identified Poland as a model (TVN24, 2022j see APP 2/22). Occasionally, this narrative was questioned, with doubts concerning the universality of the aid provided or the chances of sustaining the aid spurt over the long term (Radio ZET NEWS, 2022c see APP 2/23).

Economic Issues (CZ—21 tweets, PL—50 tweets)

This topic involved tweets mainly on the economic side of ‘Managing the refugees’ arrival’, i.e. issues of accommodation, health insurance, social services and employment matters and related financial and organizational considerations. For instance, since the Prague region was filling up early on during the crisis, newspapers started discussing the other regions’ capacities, along with the possibility of using private hotels (Deník.cz, 2022d see APP 1/8). With the number of Ukrainians steadily rising, the media began to quantify the estimated costs for managing the whole situation (Deník.cz, 2022g see APP 1/11) and pointed at potential problems.

On Polish Twitter, one narrative concerning economic topic was ‘Funds for refugees’, i.e. similarly to the Czech case, it regarded information about institutional forms of financial support for Ukrainians and their hosts (Interia, 2022i see APP 2/24). Such economic narratives saw increased frequency with the prolonged state of public humanitarian exasperation, i.e. during the second month after the outbreak of the war. The dominant narrative ‘Poland needs support’, emphasized that Poland requested assistance (including financial) from other countries to manage the huge challenge. The statements of the ruling party and the opposition representatives (Interia, 2022j see APP 2/25, Interia, 2022h see APP 2/26), and of the EU Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (Radio ZET NEWS, 2022d see APP 2/27), are cited in agreement—which is quite exceptional. A separate part of the economic topic is the information about the funds that EU institutions (Wirtualna Polska, 2022c see APP 2/28) or the United States (Wirtualna Polska, 2022d see APP 2/29) decided to provide to support countries hosting refugees. Additionally, forecasts had emerged indicating the measurable impact of refugee support on the Polish budget (Wirtualna Polska, 2022e see APP 2/30).

Political Issues (CZ—23 tweets, PL—45 tweets)

This topic reflects the political comments and discourse on the matter. The chosen Czech Twitter accounts mostly published announcements of either European politicians (V4 and UK support the refugees) or Czech ones. The news covered how many refugees the EU commission expected to have (Seznam Zprávy, 2022d see APP 1/18).

Whereas national politicians mostly focused on explaining why they needed to introduce a longer state of emergency¹ that was mentioned above, regional ones referred to challenges concerning integration of refugees who they expected to stay longer. They warned e.g. against making unrealistic plans, pointing out that the initial enthusiasm could soon turn into frustration (Seznam Zprávy, 2022g see APP 1/21). Among the regional politicians’ discussions with the government on available capacities, an interview with the Prime Minister appeared. He claimed that the high number of refugees was a burden on the Czech Republic, but mainly to emphasize the need for help from other European countries (Deník.cz, 2022e see APP 1/12).

Among the chosen tweets, there was also criticism towards the state authorities, which had allegedly failed to find out the occupation of refugees when they had been registered (Aktualne.cz, 2022d see APP 1/4). The allusion to employment can be associated with the expectations of the majority that Ukrainians will immediately join the labour market.

The first narrative observed within this topic in Poland we may describe as ‘We have to work together’. In the context of the extremely polarized Polish political scene, the necessity of cooperation between different political groups in solving the existing situation was emphasized (Radio ZET NEWS, 2022e see APP 2/31). Despite a general agreement about the extent of assistance to Ukrainian refugees, a significant dispute arose e.g. over the Special Law, in which the governing parties attempted to include provisions that would protect public officials from criminal prosecution for possible violations of the law and public finance discipline (Onet, 2022a, see APP 2/32). Another example was political clash about the alarm sirens for the anniversary of the 2010 plane crash which resulted in a number of deaths, including the then Polish President Lech Kaczynski (Interia, 2022i see APP 2/33).

The second identified narrative regards political games at a transnational level and we can call it ‘Biting the European Union’. In their relations to EU institutions, Polish authorities not only communicated their expectation for EU assistance, but also took advantage of the situation to remind the EU about their withholding of funds for Poland from before the war (due to violations of the rule of law) as part of the National Recovery Plan.

Influencers (CZ—3 tweets, PL—18 tweets)

Analysis of Czech tweets showed there were not many celebrities who spoke up in the news. It was mostly politicians who commented on the refugee crisis, except for the tweet on Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who by walking from Ukraine to Poland wanted to show the horrible situation of refugees, mainly mothers and kids (novinkycz, 2022a see APP 1/13).

In Polish information websites this group included singers (Onet, 2022b, see APP 2/45), actors (TVN24, 2022p see APP 2/46), the Polish Miss World (TVN24, 2022q see APP 2/47) and former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who ‘arrived in Poland at night with humanitarian aid for refugees’ (Radio ZET NEWS, 2022g see APP 2/48). Media also covered financial support (e.g. regarding Roger Federer—Radio ZET NEWS, 2022h see APP 2/49). These tweets showed, on the one hand, human solidarity in providing help, but also—through modern-day heroes—that celebrities had a role modelling function and were meant to inspire similar actions. This narrative may be termed ‘Celebrities and stars help refugees’. Another interesting, though different, example of engaging a musical celebrity to build empathy and solidarity with refugees was the story of Ukrainian singer Jamala, a Eurovision winner who, along with her two children, was a refugee who fled to Romania (Interia, 2022n see APP 2/50).

Apart from the specified topics, there were a few more regarding many different individual topics (28 tweets for both countries together). We therefore excluded the general topic Others from the analysis.

Results

The situation in which Poland and the Czech Republic found themselves in February 2022 was of an unusual and unprecedented nature, and the media coverage reflected this. Poland and the Czech Republic responded to it in a similar way. Our analysis of Polish and Czech media’s Twitter content lets us distinguish six topics in both countries. Let us look at the findings closer.

The most influential narratives affecting the perception of Ukrainian refugees as a population deserving public assistance and enhancing their acceptance, adaptation, and integration were those directly portraying refugees—the topic Image of refugees. Narratives within other topics contribute to this picture in a more indirect way. The narratives in both countries share similarities, portraying refugees as individuals similar to us but facing great need, lacking control over their situation. They exhibit gratitude and may reciprocate the support we provide. The emphasis in both countries is slightly different. Whereas the Czech media paid more attention to the fact that, the refugees may be an opportunity for the labour market; the Polish media focused rather on the attitude of refugees, and that they are the ‘right refugees’, in contrast to the people camping on the Polish-Belarusian border.

The media implicitly demonstrated that the refugees deserve this solidarity. The narratives in the ethnocentric topic showed Poland and the Czech Republic as role models in response to the drama of refugees. Moreover, the Polish media highlighted how the world perceived the country and how it was appreciated by others in numerous ways, including through publishing interviews with and opinions of celebrities (the topic Influencers). In both countries, societies’ current response to the influx of huge numbers of Ukrainians stands in great contrast to how they reacted to the potential burdens related to the arrival of refuge seekers from Arab and African countries in 2015 (Cekiera, 2017) and—in the case of Poland—to the current situation on the Polish-Belorussian border (Grupa Granica, 2021). In the case of Ukrainians, they were not xenophobic, but instead they were prepared to provide enormous help, were open and exhibited solidarity with the vulnerable. The media indicated in this way that the overwhelming help proves that these refugees—in contrast to others—are ‘the real refugees’, deserving of assistance and care.

The narratives within the next two topics, Economic issues and Support in practice, brought attention to practical problems and potential solutions. Likewise, they contributed to specific, above-mentioned images of both the receiving societies and mainly of the refugees as deserving the support. The general tone of the tweets in both countries was practical and task/solution-oriented. Existing problems and potential risks were not used as a bogeyman for society but rather as challenges to be managed. If criticism appeared, it was mostly addressed towards the government (the lack of coordination of help in Poland). All of this is meaningful for the acceptance of the refugees and their inclusion in society.

As for Political issues, there were some dissimilarities in media narratives between the two countries. In Poland, the media focused on national politics and the issue of the EU countries’ assistance to Poland. In the Czech Republic alongside national politics—where the conflict centred around the question of the state of emergency—the media also referred to regional and local politics (politicians calling for state support). They partly called attention to the need for EU (financial) assistance to the Czech Republic, but the narrative was not as strong as in Poland because it did not concern refusal of EU money for the National Recovery Plan. The expectation of EU support emerged in both topics, i.e. Political issues and Economic issues, as the Czech Republic and (especially) Poland tried to use the crisis as a part of wider political debate (expectations for other types of support). Simultaneously, they called for EU financial support.

Significantly, in both countries there were no loud voices speaking against the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees or the level of assistance to them, despite a few far-right politicians making some attempts in that direction. The disagreement as depicted by the media rather lay in the methods of solving crisis-related challenges.

Across the narratives within various topics in the media of both countries, we may notice that questions arose concerning Ukrainian refugees’ adaptation and integration into the receiving societies. Specifically the Czech media emphasized the need of cooperation across the whole society, a topic that a number of national and regional politicians highlighted. The issues raised regarded housing, schooling, insufficient language proficiency that might complicate adaptation to the new environment and especially the labour market. Any questions however regarded the deservingness of Ukrainian refugees for help but merely the needs and feasibility of their fulfilment.

Discussion and Findings

The research findings are interesting when seen specifically through the lenses of social construction of target populations (Schneider & Ingram, 1993) and the CARIN concept by van Oorschot (2000); (van Oorschot et al., 2017). The media narratives contribute to the social construction of the specific populations’ images (stereotypes), in particular ethnic minorities. Immigrants are a striking example of this. For instance, during the 2015 European migration crisis, the Czech media narratives reproduced the dominant political discourse presenting such refugees as an undeserving target population (Jelínková, 2019).

As our analysis has shown that, in the first weeks of the war Czech and Polish media portrayed Ukrainian refugees as deserving. The spontaneous help from hundreds or even thousands of Polish and Czech volunteers welcoming Ukrainians almost as relatives as well as assistance provided immediately by local governments and NGOs definitely made it easier to do this. We may assume that the feeling of closeness resulted from an understanding of the Ukrainians’ dire situation in the context of the historical experiences—especially Poles exposed to Russia's imperial policy. Likewise, the welcoming reaction of the Polish and Czech governments and individual politicians enabled the media to portray Ukrainian refugees in a positive way. In both countries, state authorities, major political parties, media, NGOs, and religious institutions were almost entirely in agreement about the need to help the Ukrainians. This prepared a good ground for inter-ethnic relations and for prevention of ethnic conflict.

Using the van Oorschot concept (van Oorschot et al., 2017), we may say that the refugees pictured by Czech and Polish media fulfil all the CARIN dimensions. They do not have control over their fate. They have an attitude of gratefulness. There is potential for reciprocity of the help once they join the labour markets. As for their identity, they are depicted as proximate to Poles and Czechs (white, Christian, Slavic language-speaking, easier to understand for their partially similar culture, having the same enemy). Finally, they are mostly women and children fleeing conflict and violence and are in great need due to the emergency of their situation. Nevertheless, our research lets us identify one more element, i.e. assistance. The scope of assistance and will of the societies’ to help became a confirmation of Ukrainian refugees’ deservingness. Consequently, in this case we may enhance the CARIN concept to CARIN+A: In Czech and Polish cases, the assistance was found to be a booster, intensifier that reinforces the image of the target group as deserving. This appears to be a self-perpetuating mechanism, the circle of dependence: they deserve assistance, therefore we assist them and the more assistance we provide, the more it confirms they deserve it.

In relation to this, we found one more aspect regarding societies’ concern about the image of ourselves and our own community as ‘belonging to the good ones’. We therefore propose a hypothesis of constructed rationalization of the assistance: Recognizing a population as deserving and providing it assistance enables society to rationalize refusal of support in other cases. It is visible specifically in both societies’ attitudes towards refugees from Arab and African countries (Marfouk, 2019). Enormous solidarity with Ukrainian refugees confirms rationality of assistance that might be expressed in the sentence ‘we haven’t changed, but we simply always help those who are truly deserving and we constantly refuse help to those who are undeserving’.

Nonetheless, framing Ukrainian refugees as deserving is not straightforward. There is an ongoing crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border where migrants originating mainly from Middle East countries are trying to gain entry to Poland (and farther, to other EU countries). The governmental and (at least partly) media narratives regarding this situation clearly differ from the one on the Polish-Ukrainian border (criminalization of refugees, criminalization of help or silence about their presence), since these refugees are mostly framed as undeserving (Halemba, 2022) despite the fact there are women and children among them too. Regarding the Czech Republic, as Jelínková (2020, p. 210, transl. by Zogata-Kusz) found analysing Czech media from 2014 to 2016 and development of policy design of the asylum policy

[…] the negative attitude of the Czech Republic towards refugees became deeply rooted in politics, media and public opinion. This means, among other things that the state (feeling the support of all political parties and the great majority of the voters) will principally (and probably over a long period) resist accepting any bigger group of refugees.

Moreover, specifically for Poland, the narrative regarding Ukrainians could have been very different, built around ethnic conflict and historical Polish-Ukrainian relations in particular events such as the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by Stepan Bandera’s groups (1943/1944). A negative narrative would have been just as possible. The positive narrative is neither obvious to Czechs: despite a large number of Ukrainians working in the Czech Republic before the conflict, in 2020 only 24% of Czechs found Ukrainians a likable ethnic group (Tuček, 2020). Furthermore, in 2017 only 37% of Czechs agreed with accepting Ukrainian refugees fleeing the conflict in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea—in case of Poland the number was clearly higher: 61% (PORC, 2017).

Consequently, it is worth highlighting that negative elements were absent from politics and the media narrative. At least in the first months of war the general narratives in none of the countries included unfavourable discourse that could transform refugees into social enemies (Tsoukala, 2005, 2016). Neither criminalization, securitization nor even highlighting the risk of weakening social cohesion was present in the Czech or Polish media. Even though some tried to level criticism regarding assistance to refugees and win political points that way, these voices immediately disappeared in the atmosphere of openness towards Ukrainian refugees in the spring. We may therefore notice that in both countries, Ukrainian refugees became separated from the group of ‘refugees’ what confirms Schneider and Ingram statement about the possibility of ‘subdividing a particular group into those who are deserving and those who are not’ (1993, p. 336).

The data confirms that the attitude of Poles and Czechs towards Ukrainian refugees in the first weeks of the war clearly differed from that of a few years earlier as we mentioned above. A survey conducted among Czechs in the spring 2022 showed that 64% of respondents supported accepting Ukrainian refugees by the Czech Republic (STEM, 2022). In April 2022, 43% of respondents proclaimed that they had already been involved in some form of assistance. To be able to understand the attitude of Czechs towards Ukrainians it is worth noting that almost half of the respondents (48%) also saw the war in Ukraine as a fight for the Czech Republic (Focus Agency, 2022). The support for Ukraine in Czech society has been strong for a long time since February 2022. According to a survey carried out in January 2023, 60% of Czechs agreed with accepting refugees from Ukraine (Czech News Agency, 2023).

As for Poland, the survey conducted at the end of April 2022 revealed that 91% of the respondents (vs. 94% in March) agreed that Poland should accept Ukrainian refugees from the areas affected by conflict. As many as 63% of them answered that they (or someone from their household) had offered help to Ukrainian refugees voluntarily and free of charge (PORC, 2022). At the beginning of 2023, most Poles (78%) still supported accepting Ukrainian refugees. About 14% of Poles were against it, and this result has stayed approximately the same for a long time. Most Poles also considered the help offered to refugees from Ukraine to be sufficient while 22% see it as too high (PORC, 2023).

It is positive that the affirmative attitude towards Ukrainian refugees has persisted, despite signs that the will to assist them in both countries weakens. Nonetheless, it is a natural phenomenon: Havekes et al. (2011) found a reversed U-shaped relation between the size of the out-group and feelings of natives towards the group. Firstly, the increasing size of the out-group provokes positive feelings of the receiving population towards the immigrants. At particular point, however, a further increase of the out-group size negatively affects favourable feelings. Before the phenomenon of solidarity fatigue might intensify, the countries are still in ‘the window of good weather’ that gives them a chance to settle policies that would support refugees’ and societies’ integration, prevent xenophobia or fight hoaxes and fake news about their new inhabitants.

Conclusion

Media may contribute to social construction of public policies’ target populations either in a direct or in an indirect way. In the cases we examined, the media portrayed Ukrainian refugees as a deserving population on multiple fronts, aligning with van Oorschot’s CARIN dimensions of deservingness. They directly contributed to social construction of that group painting the image of Ukrainian refugees as predominantly women and children facing challenges beyond their control, displaying gratitude and potential for reciprocity when entering the labour market, as these with whom we may identify for a number of reasons and finally, as these who are in great need. Additionally, the media indirectly supported the image of deserving refugees through narratives within ethnocentric and influencers-related topics. Other narratives focused on practical aspects of assistance, economic issues, and political concerns, all reinforcing the idea that Ukrainian refugees were a legitimate target for policies aimed at providing them aid. No narrative questioned the need for assistance. The media presented challenges as tasks to be managed rather than problems caused by the arrivals. They co-created the atmosphere of support in which in both countries assistance to Ukrainian refugees—separated from the more general category of refugees—became ‘a national task’, a kind of ‘norm of behaviour’.

In general, the media narratives were in both countries remarkably similar. The differences manifested rather in the emphasis put on some issues, e.g. the dimension of reciprocity in Poland was reflected by pointing at refugees’ engagement in voluntary community work, whereas the Czech media referred more often to their potential as labour force. Moreover, for the ongoing situation at the Polish-Belorussian border, the division on ‘right’ and ‘not right’ refugees was more explicit in the Polish media.

The findings allow us to distinguish assistance—meaning the scope of assistance and the will to provide it—as an element reinforcing the perception of the target group as deserving. Specifically, in these particular cases we may conclude that Ukrainian refugees as public policies’ target populations fulfilled all CARIN criteria which were additionally strengthened by assistance. Although we are not authorized to generalize our conclusions to other cases, our finding regarding assistance as booster of deservingness’ dimensions enhancing van Oorschot’s concept to CARIN+A may become a hypothesis to be examined in further research, in particular in other context of inter-ethnic relations.

Another finding of our study is the hypothesis of constructed rationalization of the assistance: recognizing some population as deserving and underlining this recognition by providing it assistance, enables the society to rationalize the refusal of support in other cases. Making the distinction between the populations is rationalized with the ability to recognize those who are truly deserving from those who are undeserving.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that helped us greatly to improve our paper. Furthermore, we wish to express our gratitude to Professor Piotr Michoń from Poznań University of Economics and Business. During the 2023 European Network for Social Policy Analysis (ESPAnet) conference, where we presented our research, Professor Michoń provided valuable suggestions that enhanced the quality of our conclusions.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2023.2286779.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Internal Grant Agency of the Palacký University Olomouc [grant numbers IGA_CMTF_2023_010, IGA_CMTF_2023_007, IGA_CMTF_2022_004].

Notes on contributors

Agnieszka Zogata-Kusz

Agnieszka Zogata-Kusz is an assistant professor at Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic). She graduated from the doctoral programme at the Department of Politics and European Studies, Palacký University Olomouc. She works at the Department of Social Work, focusing on issues related to immigration and integration policies, working with immigrants, as well as policy advocacy and civic engagement.

Milena Öbrink Hobzová

Milena Öbrink Hobzová is an assistant professor at the Department of Christian Education at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology, Palacký University Olomouc. She earned her Ph.D. at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc. Her research projects focus on education of immigrants, multicultural education and media literacy education.

Rafał Cekiera

Rafał Cekiera is an assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland). He is interested in the sociology of migration and religion. He has recently published the books Uchodźcy, migranci i Kościół katolicki. Polska debata migracyjna po 2015 roku w kontekście nauczania Kościoła katolickiego [Refugees, Migrants, and the Catholic Church: Polish Migration's Debate after 2015 in the Context of the Teaching of the Catholic Church, 2022] and Emigracja jako doświadczenie Studium na przykładzie migrantów powrotnych do województwa śląskiego [Emigration as an Experience: A Study on the Example of Return Migrants to the Silesian Province, with J. Kijonka, M. Żak, 2022].

Notes

1 The Czech government chose a state of emergency as a tool of crisis management. It allowed for better coordination and technical solutions when necessary to accept a high number of refugees. The measures did not concern ordinary Czech citizens (unlike during a simile state during COVID-19 pandemic).