Migration information campaigns: How to analyse their impact?

Information campaigns aim at discouraging potential migrants from leaving their countries irregularly. This article discusses how to analyse the impact of such campaigns by identifying different research lines in the literature. The impact of migration information campaigns may be explored by, firstly, focusing on transnational migratory data and inter-state relations (the macro-level); secondly, by investigating their impact on narratives within societies (the meso-level); and, finally, by investigating the micro-level of their influence on migratory decision-making. At each level, scholars face considerable methodological challenges to filter out the impact of campaigns. This article suggests that a promising research avenue is to analyse more widely the narratives and information sources upon which (potential) migrants rely. Opening up the research focus may avoid the risk of over-emphasising the impact of information campaigns by only looking at them. It allows to better understand which sources of information actually influence migratory behaviour.     

South Koreans’ perceptions of North Koreans and implications for public relations campaigns

Analyzing data from a telephone survey of South Korean respondents, we explored public campaign strategies for relationship building between South and North Koreas. We examined three important questions essential for the relationship building: What are the typical images of the North that South Koreans find in the media? How do South Koreans perceive North Koreans? Do such perceptions guide their intention to integrate with North Koreans? Our findings may provide important insights in developing communication agenda and message strategies, particularly for policy makers and public communication practitioners, whose efforts aim to build a favorable relationship between the South and the North.