Responsibility, constraint, ambiguity. Discursive legitimizations of the European asylum reform in the German and Austrian news media

Abstract

With the New Pact on Migration and Asylum (NPMA), the European Union is attempting to reduce the number of asylum applications in its territory. Restrictive changes to the applicable laws and regulations are the subject of critical public debate. However, an initial examination of German and Austrian reporting reveals that media organs from the center-left to the conservative side sometimes hold similar affirmative views on the NPMA. Rhetorical means of self-distancing and skepticism do accompany those views, though. The article reconstructs the content and rhetoric of three German and two Austrian newspapers by applying a discourse analysis. The analytical inclusion of rhetorical means of self-distancing clarifies whether assessments that approve of the NPMA are based on inner conviction or other motives. The analyzed connection of arguments and narratives explain, why a partially hegemonic attitude toward the restrictive measures of the NPMA is possible across the political–ideological spectra.