Perceções sobre o retrato de conflitos geopolíticos nos media e (des)informações: um estudo junto dos públicos portugueses

Armed conflicts are at the epicentre of an information war fuelled by false claims about the motivations of conflicts and refugees. The spread of narratives fuelled particularly in the online context challenges the European Union (EU) and International Organisations to define strategies to combat them and adopt measures to scrutinise the main channels of misinformation in order to prevent hostile narratives from shaping public opinion and influencing political decision-makers. The narrative of the crisis and the rising cost of living, or of uncontrolled immigration, particularly in the context of European countries, tends to sow division, uncertainty and resentment towards refugees. This fact may have an impact on institutional decisions on migration policies, legitimizing more restrictive measures and jeopardizing the protection of vulnerable victims of conflict. It is in the sense of seeking to understand and analyze the implications of media discourses in the formation of social representations about the Russo-Ukrainian war and armed conflicts, and refugees, that this research gains relevance. Part of an exploratory study integrated in the Research and Development (R&D) Project MeInWar - Study on the media and social representations of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, funded by the Universidade Europeia, whose main objective of study is the narrative and media discourse surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and armed conflicts in a broad sense, as well as social representations of war, refugees and migration policies. Through the use of a questionnaire, this research aimed to analyze and understand the opinions and points of view of citizens living in the Portuguese context, regarding information about the Russian war in Ukraine and the refugees who are victims of this conflict, and also their perspectives on the EU’s intervention in this process and the impact of this war on their most immediate contexts. The main findings indicate that respondents follow the news about the Russian-Ukrainian war mainly through digital media and television, attributing a negative tone to the media coverage of the conflict. There is disagreement about the representation of refugees, but the majority considers that the European Union’s intervention is positive, although they fear a new economic crisis. The majority of citizens also believe that refugees can contribute positively to the host country.