Migration journalists and social media: “walking the line” in a love/hate paradox

Migration journalists work in challenging socio-political contexts, within which migration is cast as a national threat. Such journalists regularly report from border zones and are often victims of violence and intimidation, both online and offline. However, they are rarely the focus of research. This study aims to address this oversight by using individual qualitative interviews to explore how migration journalists perceive and navigate the role of social media in their reporting. While social media platforms are an indispensable professional tool, they are also spaces in which migration journalists can be targeted as traitors or enemies and even receive death threats. This paradox is illustrated in participants' descriptions of a love/hate relationship with social media and the need to "walk the line" when using it. Such reflections highlight participants' attempts to reconcile the opportunities that social media offers both them and migrant communities with the negative impact social media can have on their well-being and their work. Furthermore, the study highlights the limits of a purely functional approach to studying the relationship between journalism and social media by discussing the complexity of interactions between human agency, technology, and political context.