Refugees and migrants trying to cross a narrow channel.

From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media.

Brooke Gladstone is away this week.

I'm Bob Garfield.

It's clear that the risk of drowning at sea is not enough to deter, especially refugees who fled.

So far this year, more than 380,000 souls have undertaken the treacherous crossing

of the Mediterranean into Europe, of whom some 2,800 have died en route.

Hundreds of thousands more have traveled by air or trekked on foot. The Exodus is testing

the resources and the political will of the European Union, where humanitarian impulses compete

against a stagnant economy and large pockets of Islamophobia. The crisis is also playing out

in the language used to describe it.

Breaking news, we're covering on the migrant crisis in Europe, so much human drama.

This exploding migrant crisis, thousands of people are trying to escape war.

Europe's growing migrant crisis is playing out in Hungary. Thousands of desperate migrants are pushing and shoving their way into...

Perhaps taking their cues from politicians.

In describing those seeking security in the West, media have favored the word migrant.

The term isn't strictly inaccurate, comprising as it does, both those looking for refuge from war or oppression

and those simply trying to improve their economic lot. But it also isn't necessarily neutral.

Note the contempt in this statement by France's President Francois Hollande.

We must differentiate between refugees and migrants. Migrants who are coming for other reasons, such as escaping poverty in their countries,

cannot be welcomed under this regime.

And he's a socialist.

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