Since 2015, migration and immigration have been relevant topics of political debate in Germany. Therefore, various communication studies researched the media reporting on these issues and examined how it affects the perception of migrants within the German population (e.g. Arlt & Wolling, 2017). In distinction to this, the present study addresses the question of how migrants themselves receive migration reporting, how they perceive it, and how it shapes their personal migration and integration actions. We conducted two focus group discussions with migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. The participants discussed both the reception and evaluation of migration reporting in their country of origin and in Germany. The results show that the topic of migration was hardly reported in the countries of origin, which is why personal migration decisions were more influenced by interpersonal communication. In Germany, the African participants perceive media reports about migration issues as too one-sided and as reduced to the sub-themes of poverty and war.