"And now on BBC Radio 4…": imaginative geographies of forced migration and refugee settlement in Europe on the airwaves

Thesis

Geographers have examined the history, materiality, and geopolitical power of radio, but there has been little interest in contemporary radio journalism and its capacity to shape geographical imaginations. This thesis addresses this research gap by exploring how imaginative geographies of forced migration and refugee settlement in Europe were constructed on BBC Radio 4 between January 2014 and March 2019, and by examining how broadcasts were produced by journalists and are heard and imagined by listeners. The protracted Syrian conflict, recent drownings in the Mediterranean, and rise of populism in Europe raise important questions about media representations as an act of power with the potential to regulate imagined communities of belonging and condition a sense of responsibility and care for others. By focusing on BBC Radio 4 and the audible spectacle of Europe’s migration ‘crisis’, the thesis seeks to further understandings of the journalistic storytelling of migration that to date have focused almost exclusively on print and photographic journalism, and develop theorisations of the ear and mind’s eye in radio geography by revealing the affective and experiential power of broadcasts. The thesis is organised around three empirical chapters: Chapter 4 draws on a thematic analysis of 172 broadcasts across a range of programme genres and identifies two contrasting imaginative geographies of migration that reveal Radio 4 to be a disparate and, at times, contradictory site of representation; Chapter 5 analyses 17 semi-structured interviews conducted with BBC journalists, editors, producers, and senior leaders to reveal the organisational structures and journalistic practices that shape the production of broadcasts; and Chapter 6 draws on 51 listener diaries written in response to a digital playlist of 12 selected broadcasts to reveal how stories and imaginaries of migration, articulated through sounds and voices, are heard, imagined, and felt. The thesis responds to calls in cultural and political geography for analyses of radio that attend to the discursive and affective impacts of listening, and for research on representations of migration in alternative media to print journalism.

Authors: Watson, AE

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: migration; radio; voices; sounds; listening; imaginative geographies
• Subjects: Human geography; Migration; Radio broadcasting, British