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

Abstract

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.