Comparing the representation of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the Irish and UK press

Abstract

Coverage of migration in the media intensified during 2015 against the backdrop of a largescale European refugee crisis. Using corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis, we explore the representation of refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and migrants from September to November 2015, in UK and Irish newspapers. Data was collected from Nexis, using the Baker et al. (2008) RASIM framework. Using corpus linguistic techniques, we identify how these groups are represented, before drawing on CDA to examine the data sets further. Frequency lists of the UK and Irish corpora were compared across variety followed by more detailed diachronic analysis of the most frequently occurring items. The extent to which the issue of migration is refracted through a discourse of terrorism in Irish and UK coverage is compared through cluster analyses and a close CDA analysis of randomised downsamples of the Irish and UK sub-corpora drawing in particular on the DHA approach.

On the Balkan Route: the Image of Migrants in Bulgarian Online News

“…O'Regan and Riordan (O'Regan, Riordan, 2018) explore the portrayal of refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and migrants from September to November 2015, in UK andIrish newspapers. Felberg andŠarić (Felberg, Šarić, 2017) investigate the image of migration and migrants in Croatian and Serbian public broadcasters' online portals during the "migrant crisis" in 2015/2016.…”

Syrian refugees in digital news discourse: Depictions and reflections in Germany

“…In particular, the ‘Otherness’ of refugees was highlighted by Bulgarian media (Kamenova, 2014), Slovenian tabloids (Vezovnik, 2017) and some British newspapers (Wilmott, 2017). Their conception as a threat and an economic burden was stressed in the Finnish (Järvinen, 2015), Austrian (Greussing and Boomgaarden, 2017), British (Gabrielatos and Baker, 2006; O’Regan and Riordan, 2018), Spanish (Durán, 2013) and Hungarian press (Vicsek et al, 2008).…”

“…Berry et al (2016) investigated the coverage of refugees in five European countries in 2014 and 2015 1 and reported that, while their most positive depiction occurred in Swedish newspapers, variations were particularly evident in German and British press. More recently, O’Regan and Riordan (2018) compared their representations in Irish and UK press and found that the latter tends to focus on the need to remove failed asylum seekers, while the former considers them victims. Overall, a shift towards more humanitarian perspectives on refugees in international news discourse has only recently become visible, and so far relatively few studies have focused on this trend (e.g.…”

“…Most research on the issue has concentrated on refugees’ negative images including their illegal status (e.g. Blinder and Allen, 2016; O’Regan and Riordan, 2018; Parker, 2015), their association with crime and deviant behavior (e.g. Vicsek et al, 2008) and their depiction as threats to national security, social cohesion, and economic stability of local communities (Bleiker et al, 2013; Elsamni, 2016; Greussing and Boomgaarden, 2017; Laughland-Booy et al, 2014; Lueck et al, 2015; Pedersen and Hartley, 2015).…”

“…To a smaller extent, the humanitarian perspective on refugees in the media has been tackled by a number of studies (e.g. Cooper et al, 2016; Corbu et al, 2017; O’Regan and Riordan, 2018; Salahshour, 2016; Sulaiman-Hill et al, 2011).…”