News Analysis Of Rohingya Refugee Crisis From ABC, HuffPost, The Conversation, Aljazeera, And The Washington Post

Background on the Rohingya Muslim Minority Group

Discuss about the Daily Stressors of Rohingya Refugee.

The unfortunate situations of the Rohingya people are the biggest current refugee crisis in the world. Rohingya Muslims are one of the most ill-treated Muslim minority groups. They used to live in Myanmar from 2017. They are mostly Indo-Aryan speaking people used to live in the Rakhine state ((Jeremiah, 2017). In August 2017, there has been a massacre against the Muslims; they were killed, raped, murders in the name of cleansing (Milton, 2017). This study includes news from ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Huff Post, The conversation, Aljazeera, The Washington Post. The following paragraphs will explain the similar story from this entire news platform to analyze the tone, angle and content of the same news from the different point of views.

ABC News is an Australian national news service focusing the locals that provide local as well as global news and current affairs. ABC stands for Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Idris, 2017).  The report uses the television, radio and online platform to broadcast the news.

The news article mainly reports the thought of the refugees about returning to the Myanmar and how the locals are feeling about the refugee people and the government of Bangladesh is acting in these situations (ABC News, 2018).

• The angle of the story is from the localized point of view. After the news hit the market, the author did a follow up news considering the local people’s judgment about these refugees.
• The pitch of the story explains that Bangladesh is unable to provide any shelter and food to the refugees as the nation is already overpopulated. The refugees do not have any intentions to return to Myanmar, as they are fearful that they will be slaughtered. The local people also mentioned that the refugees are harassing the tourists for monetary help and in a way; it is affecting the local people’s income.
• The story framework contains the narrative theme to execute the storyline. The story includes question and answers with the localities.
• The key message of the story is local people are against the inevitable settlement of the refugee people, and they think that the refugees should return to their homeland, as Myanmar is their motherland. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina asked the Myanmar government to provide a safe return to the refugees as Bangladesh is already overpopulated and they cannot offer any more food shelters to the refugees.
• The story has a negative approach towards the refugees as it mainly focuses upon the suffering of the localities and the country caused by these refugees.
• The story does not seems to have much agenda towards any political outlets, or it did not opt for any policy making.
• It can be assumed that the media platforms target audiences are the international people who have sympathy towards the Bangladesh localities and of course the locals of Bangladesh.

HuffPost formerly known as The Huffington post is news, website, and blog with both localized and international editors. Josh Buttler reports this article on an American website mainly focuses upon the Australian government attention towards South African white farmers and the problems they are facing. However, the news did not help in concentrating much on the Rohingya refugees what so (Butler, 2018).

• The angle of the story is from a national point of view and do not seems to have any agenda towards the Rohingya refugees and did not suggest any policymaking.
• The pitch of the story describes the miseries of the South African farmer primarily. He did not mention anything that can lead the audiences to the problems of the Rohingya Muslims.
• The story framed interactively to suggest that if Australia is taking the South Africans, then Rohingya should not be ignored too. This suggestion was highlighted under the sufferings of the South African. The author did not mention much about the situations the Rohingya people faced.
• The key message of the story is to highlight that Bangladesh should welcome the Rohingya Muslims.
• The story has a neutral point of view towards the issue, and the author of the article obliquely addressed the issue.
• There is no agenda of any political group found in this article.
• It can be assumed that the target audience of this article is the Australian localities.

The Conversation is a non-profit and independent media outlet of Australia that contains a variety of academic articles and researches. According to the author Sabrina Karim, a professor at the Cornell University, Bangladesh provided the Rohingya people with the correct solution of their needs (Karim, 2018). The article covered the main topics such as:

The government of Bangladesh provided the refugees with all the aid and facilities and military services only for them. The head of the family declared as the leader of the family, and there are 200 families, so 200 leaders are supervising all the conflicts of the families.

Bangladesh is a good management plan regarding the disasters, as the country faces many disasters since its independence. They have set a long-term plan to help the crisis (Solomon, 2017).

• The angle of the story is nationalized, and the agenda of the story is to elevate the success story of Bangladesh in managing the refugees.
• The story pitched the leading platforms of Bangladesh success stories such as, how the managerial group is working to provide continuous support towards the Rohingya refugees.
• The story framework is in a narrative way the author described all the positive outlooks of the Bangladesh refugee management camp.
• The key message of the of the news is to appreciate Bangladesh for its unconditional and continuous support towards the poor Rohingya Muslims. The country has its disaster management techniques to ensure proper action in needful days.
• The story is positive for Rohingya Muslims as it continuously encouraged Bangladesh for the continuous support and elevated this moral cause to the international level to highlight the need of the help.
• There may be an agenda of Bangladesh politics to highpoint their social performance in international level.
• The targeted audiences can be assumed as the Bangladesh localities and politicians as well as the international audience who is in support of the welfare of the refuges.

News Coverage on the Rohingya Refugee Crisis from ABC News

The Qatar government owns Alzajeera media network, and it mainly broadcasts global news from its 80 bureaus around the world. In this article, the mental state of the children of Rohingya Muslims is stated elaborately. Many of the children are not able to understand what happened but they often express their trauma through their paintings and stories. The adults also feel guilty about leaving the near ones behind. (Ekin & Ekin, 2018).

Critical analysis of the article:

• The angle of the story covers both national and localized point of view, and it has a clear agenda towards the encouragement of more helping hands towards the children and adults of the refugees as they suffer a tremendous mental trauma.
• The pitch of the story explains the mental trauma faced by the Rohingya children and adult.
• The story is framed narratively to express many stories told by the victims about how the children and adults are feeling. The refugees communicate their story to the caregiver.
• The key message of the story is about the trauma faced by the children and adult refugees and the after incident trauma. The author asked for moral supports toward them.
• The story is positive towards the victims, as it escalates the need for more helping hand and moral support towards the victims.
• The story does not include any agenda from any political platforms.
• The media targets the audiences who are sympathized towards the Rohingya refugees.

The Washington Post is a major American daily newspaper that mainly focuses on the readers of Washington DC. Mahesha Alam evaluated this article. This article primarily focuses on the drawbacks of the Bangladesh government as they welcomed these refugees (Cage, 2018).

• Political impact:

Bangladesh insisted on returning of the refugees after completion of the two years. However, neither the refugees nor the international organizations are aware of this planning (Hassan et al., 2018).

• Security Challenges:

Because “ Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army” will consider recruiting from the refugees the country may face security challenges.

• Economic effects:

A hike in of the price of goods and loss of the jobs critically affects the financial sector for the locals of Coxbazar, which is the leading tourist destination of Bangladesh.

• Social strains:

Human trafficking is becoming a more significant concern in the Coxsbazar area. The local non-government organization is raising awareness to prevent the occurrence.

• Environmental effects:

The new land is made to give the Rohingya refugees space, which is causing the destruction of the environment in Bangladesh.

• The story angle is narrative. The agenda of the story is to mark the problems that are faced by the country in various aspects.
• The story pitched many environmental, social, economic and environmental strains appear as a problem in Bangladesh due to the present refuge is taken by the Rohingya Muslims.
• The story framed in a narrative way to approach the situation.
• The key message of the story is to highlight the problems of Bangladesh in various aspect, and how the issues are affecting the locals and the country negatively.
• The story approaches negative way towards the Rohingya refugees as they highlighted mainly on the problems of the country rather than the issues of the refugees.
• The article seems to have a political agenda of the Bangladesh government to escalate their issues in the international platform.
• The targeted audiences are those who are in favour of returning the refugees to their homeland Myanmar.

Among all the above news articles only the Aljazeera news is framed towards the welfare of the refugees, however, the ABC News and The Washington Post has mainly focused on the adverse effects of the refugees on the country. The conversation, The Huff Post neutrally expressed the news, the discussion primarily expressed how Bangladesh is managing to help the refugees and in The HuffPost, the author did not directly approach the issues of the refugees.

Conclusion:

Here it can be concluded that the Rohingya Muslims has left Myanmar to survive the mass genocide.  The violent actions taken in the name of genocide have left them with long-term marks. Many will not understand the pain and trauma they are feeling. They are away from the place, which was known to them as ‘Home.’  They are away from the identified faces. The trauma has left the children and adults with mental trauma that they might not overcome in their lifetime. Bangladesh is providing the refugee group with as much support as they can, but there are many controversial topics s arose highlighting these poor people. Most of the journals addressed the refugee group with a negative approach, hoe they are harmful to the locals of Bangladesh, but none of them can provide a valued solution for the miseries the refugees are facing.

References:

ABC News. (2018). ‘They’re a problem’: Rohingya refugees face increasing hostility in Bangladesh. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-28/rohingya-refugees-face-increasing-hostility-in-bangladesh/8995238

Butler, J. (2018). If Australia Takes In South Africans, We Can’t Ignore The Rohingya. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/josh-butler/if-australia-takes-in-south-africans-we-can-t-ignore-the-rohingya_a_23387122/

Cage, M. (2018). How the Rohingya crisis is affecting Bangladesh — and why it matters. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/12/how-the-rohingya-crisis-is-affecting-bangladesh-and-why-it-matters/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cd2cbcbe7bd3

Ekin, A., & Ekin, A. (2018). The mental health toll of the Rohingya crisis. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/10/mental-health-toll-rohingya-crisis-171010111603004.html

Hassan, M. M., Smith, A. C., Walker, K., Rahman, M. K., & Southworth, J. (2018). Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Forest Cover Change in Teknaf, Bangladesh.

Idris, I. (2017). Rohingya refugee crisis: impact on Bangladeshi politics.

Jeremiah, R. D., Magan, I., Oyewuwo-Gassikia, O. B., & Ibrahim, A. (2017). Insights into the Daily Stressors of Rohingya Refugee Men in Chicago. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 11(1).

Karim, S. (2018). I visited the Rohingya refugee camps and here is what Bangladesh is doing right. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/i-visited-the-rohingya-refugee-camps-and-here-is-what-bangladesh-is-doing-right-90513

Milton, A. H., Rahman, M., Hussain, S., Jindal, C., Choudhury, S., Akter, S., … & Efird, J. T. (2017). Trapped in statelessness: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. International journal of environmental research and public health, 14(8), 942.

Solomon, F. (2017). Rohingya refugee children are in desperate need of aid, the UN says.