Mare #nostrum: power, media, and the Sea-Watch 3 case

Every day, we are constantly surrounded by new trends, opinions, experiences, and products that originate from or are shaped by the media. Nevertheless, several mysteries remain uncovered. While studies have attempted to explore media effects, many doubts persist regarding their true impact they have on people.

A perfect example to showcase how media, power, worldviews, and migration intersect is the 2019 Sea-Watch 3 case. Captain Carola Rackete, guiding the NGO Sea-Watch ship, rescued a group of migrants at sea but was not permitted to dock at the port of Lampedusa, Italy. A strong and influential opponent of this event was the minister Matteo Salvini, who fiercely opposed this docking. Following these events, both sides used new and traditional media to communicate their positions. Salvini in various newspaper articles called Rackete a “scoundrel, outlaw, criminal”, while she accused him of “inciting to crime". Research observes how both social and news media influenced the debate, using aggressive communication strategies on social media to contribute to the spread of fake news. This event highlights how media not only influences our everyday choices but also shapes our policies and politics.

Castells writes that “throughout history, communication and information have been fundamental sources of power and counter-power”. Modern social life is deeply connected to media, and power dynamics are constructed more than ever through communication strategies. When analyzing reports of these events, it is crucial to understand the strategies at play: the more dramatic and polarized the approach, the greater the engagement - especially on controversial topics such as migration.

Media impact can vary depending on each individual. Media discourses surrounding immigration influence public opinion and political attitudes. For example, migrant groups, generally underrepresented, are often negatively portrayed as threats. Both traditional and social media’s framing of immigration can reinforce negative stereotypes of people with a migrant background and, over time, even shape political attitudes and voting behaviours .

A dive in the past

On June 12, 2019, the Sea-Watch 3 rescued a group of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Libya was the first country to offer the ship a port to dock in, but Captain Carola Rackete deemed it unsafe, prompting them to head toward Lampedusa, Sicily. However, in the same period, a decree issued by Italy’s Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, introduced fines for organizations bringing rescued migrants to Italy without official permission.

It was the beginning of a stand-off that would last until the end of the month. For the following few weeks, until the end of June, the tug-of-war between Italy and the NGO turned a legal and political dilemma into a conflict between two different fronts, as the current legislation failed to provide clear and unambiguous instructions. It ended only when the ship entered Italian waters and docked without authorization, leading to the arrest (with later release) of Carola Rackete. The case sparked broad mediatic debate across the whole country, with politicians, experts, scholars, and other public figures siding with one side or the other.

The media coverage of these events was extensive. However, when Rackete ran for a seat in the European parliament in 2024, her focus was mainly on ecological issues: as she declared herself, she dedicated much of her life to environmental work, and she did not identify herself with the symbolic figure created by the media.

The tidal power of the media

The Sea-Watch 3 case truly represents and connects media, politics, and European immigration policies, and it is not surprising that several studies have focused on this event. On this “water chessboard”, it was pointed out how migrants were nearly objectified, and new actors became the protagonists of the political debate, with Rackete and Salvini emerging as symbolical figures: one representing the humanitarian rescue, and the other institutional power. Opinions were polarized between the two “enemies”: both social media and traditional media contributed to misogynistic attacks against Captain Rackete, whoch were defined by some as an unprecedented smear campaign. Her lawyer filed a legal complaint against the minister, who, among other things, publicly called her "criminal", "delinquent", and a " rich and spoiled communist", but the proceedings were dropped as he was not found guilty.

In fact, Salvini, despite being a minister, always made a point of communicating in more “popular”, direct ways: through declarations, interviews, and official decisions, he often used his social media profiles, where, with the help of a more colloquial language and the absence of a division between him and his followers, he was able to express himself freely. His executive power used traditional media and social media to reach more people and communicate with them more effectively.

The NGO Sea-Watch and Carola Rackete, while on the opposite side of this conflict, also used media to advance their cause and connect with people on a more personal level. By utilizing their social media profiles, interviews, and statements on their website, the NGO shared information, photographs, and testimonies from their perspective while living the emergency in the first person and highlighting their difficulties and humanitarian demands. As an NGO, even without official executive, legislative, or judicial authority, they leveraged modern media practices to ensure their messages reached a broad audience, gaining both supporters and funding.

Followers of virtue and knowledge

As we have seen, power can be closely linked to media, both in their traditional and more “social” modern forms. Today’s tools make navigating the vast online sea easier than ever before, presenting unexpected discoveries or priceless opportunities that might change the course of our lives. At the same time, they can influence initiatives, projects, and issues, transforming situations from peaceful calm to a perfect storm of change. How we decide to face the tempest and steer our ship in divisive matters like migration can lead to enriching and respectful conversations or to insults and hate. The outcome of this next odyssey is in our hands.