Refugee Representations across European Media: Discursive Constructions of Immigration

Abstract

The present article analyses the ways migration and migrants, including refugees, are represented in the media in several European countries like Great Britain, France or Spain which, along their history, have often had to cope with multiple issues related to migration. These countries are considered to make up the group of ‘old countries’ confronting migration, whereas Central and Eastern European countries are referred to as ‘newer countries’ of both emigration and immigration. The analysis is carried out from a comparative perspective and the focus is placed mainly on the migration constructions established by the public political and media discourses on migration and various types of migrants. The method adopted by this paper is the discursive practice approach which allows a critical examination of the discourse on migration and migrants with a view to highlighting its specific features, but also the recurrent negative terminology and imagesused by this/these discourse(s).