The negative framing of migration in the British press

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THE NEGATIVE FRAMING OF MIGRATION IN THE BRITISH PRESS

M. Demirdzhaieva, O. Honcharova

Annotation

media framing migration newspaper

The paper explores the framing peculiarities of the topic of migration by the printed media in the UK. Particular attention is paid to non-verbal means that are used for representing migrants in newspapers. The front pages of news outlets, headlines and caricatures are given as an example of the effective use of framing. The concepts of frames and framing, as well as the techniques used by the media to achieve the desired result, are examined. The paper also studies how pictures used by journalists contribute to the formation and reinforcement of the stereotypical attitude towards refugees among population.

Key words: frame, media framing, polarization, migration crisis, negative representation.

Анотація

М.Н. Демірджаєва, О.О. Гончарова

НЕГАТИВНИЙ ФРЕЙМТНГ ТЕМИ МІГРАЦІЇ В БРИТАНСЬКІЙ ПРЕСІ

У статті досліджено особливості фреймінгу теми міграції британськими друкованими ЗМІ. Особлива увага приділяється невербальним засобам вираження, які використовуються газетами для репрезентації мігрантів. Наводяться перші шпальта агенцій новин, заголовки та карикатури як приклади ефективного використання фреймінгу. Розглядаються поняття фреймів та фреймінгу, а також методи, які використовуються засобами масової інформації для досягнення бажаного результату. У статті також вивчається, як зображення, що використовуються журналістами, сприяють формуванню та зміцненню серед населення стереотипного ставлення до біженців.

На сьогодні, засоби масової інформації відіграють ключову роль у висвітленні подій та є складовою частиною держаної ідеології. Провідні медіа країни безпосередньо впливають на те, як суспільство усвідомлює реальність і сприймає інформацію.

Вже довгий час преса в Великобританії виділяється своєю фрагментацією стосовно теми міграції, що спричинює поляризацію читацької аудиторії по відношенню до біженців та їхніх проблем. Слід зазначити, що британським друкованим ЗМІ притаманне активне використання невербальних засобів у створенні відповідного міграційного наративу в суспільному середовищі.

Праворадикальні таблоїди, такі як «the Sun», «the Daily Mail», «the Daly Express» впродовж 2014-2016рр. завдяки своїм публікаціям, зображенням та першим шпальтам сприяли негативізації образу біженця. Вони транслювали негативну риторику, що звучала в політичних колах на той час, доповнюючи її концептуальними метафорами, які підсилювали відчуття страху та занепокоєння суспільства масовим прибуттям мігрантів в країну. Для поглиблення опозиції між поганими «Ними» (біженцями) та хорошими «Нами» (місцевим населенням) використовувались зображення людей, які підпадали під стереотипи вбивць, терористів та насильників та підривали безпеку Великобританії. Карикатури стали ще одним ефективним інструментом негативного позиціювання мігрантів. Останніх зображали як щурів та терористів від яких необхідно позбутися задля загального добробуту і процвітання.

Таким чином, газети активно стають знаряддям ідеології, яке направлене на фреймінг певних проблем та поляризацію суспільства. Окрім того, вивчення теми міграції та її висвітлення друкованими ЗМІ сьогодні представляє інтерес для науковців. Особлива увага в даному контексті приділяється аналізу популістських таблоїдів, які використовують свої заголовки, перші шпальта та карикатури для стереотипізації та негативізації образу мігранта.

Ключові слова: фрейм, медіа фреймінг, поляризація, міграційна криза, негативна репрезентація.

The main text

It has long been established how strong the mass media are in affecting people's perception of reality, how powerful they are in setting the agenda and changing the tone of certain events. Throughout history media channels have been an integral part of the ideological machinery that shaped the political, social and cultural environment. Importantly, popular media are the direct reflection of the prevailing ideology in any country.

Pointing out that the media sphere plays a leading role in conveying meanings, it is also necessary to understand what methods are used to transmit the intended information to the public by news channels. Framing, in this case, is the most powerful shaping tool for radio, print press and television as well as other Internet resources.

The aim of the paper is to study the framing peculiarities of migrants in the British press. The non-verbal means act as a powerful tool for shaping the perception of society. Splashes, cartoons and headlines, in this context, are widely used by various media outlets, both right- and left-wing ones.

Thus, it is important to explore the concept of frame and the framing process, as well as to analyze the British media texts features that cover the migration issue and to point out the frames that are used in the newspapers towards refugees.

The European migration crisis and the senses it produced affects the development of the scientific research. By studying the non-verbal means employed by leading newspapers in Great Britain, it is possible trace the migrants' coverage peculiarities in the media sphere.

The concept of a frame is inherent in both political and media discourse. The multidimensional interpretation of these discursive spheres also affects the definition of what should be called a frame. Scholars express different opinions concerning this notion [1; 2]. Thus, according to R. Entman, who explored framing within political communication, to frame means to «select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described» [4, p. 52].

On the other hand, J. Matthes and M. Kohring in their article on media frames conclude that «a frame is a quite abstract variable that is hard to identify and hard to code in content analysis» [5, p. 258]. As a result, we can say that framing concept mainly deals with the description of an issue from one point of view to that extent that excludes other alternative outlooks.

Considering framing in terms of agenda setting, it can be argued that it includes a wide spectrum of cognitive processes. Framing peculiarities can be manifested in the establishment of causal argumentations, recommendations for dealing with a certain event or problem, as well as a moral assessment.

Frames that are used by various media affect how we perceive the world as well as what and how we think about things that surround us. Researchers G. Fairhurst and R. Sarr (1996) proposed their own classification of framing techniques that are used by media to influence public attitudes:

1. Metaphors: to frame an idea by comparing it to something else.

2. Stories (myths, legends): To frame a topic via a narrative in a vivid and memorable way.

3. Traditions (rituals, ceremonies): Cultural mores that imbue significance with the mundane, closely tied to artifacts.

4. Slogans, jargons, catchphrases: To frame an object with a catchy phrase in order to make it more memorable and relatable.

5. Artifacts: Objects with an intrinsic symbolic value - a visual / cultural phenomenon that holds more meaning than the object itself.

6. Contrast: To describe an object in terms of what it is not.

7. Spins: to describe a concept in such a ways as to give it a positive or negative connotation (that might not be immediately apparent); to create an inherent bias by definition [3].

The study of such a phenomenon as the migration crisis from the point of view of media influence is of great interest to scientists. One can find a huge number of research papers that reveal the features of the media image of migrants and migration processes in a particular country - Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic and the UK (L. Bennett, S. Bison, M. Morani, R. Rodriguez, L. Pomarius, S. Kaulfuss, I. Sundberg, T. Heidenreich, V. Ukmar).

It should be noted that since 2014, migration had a huge effect on the coverage of events in Britain. Unlike Italy, where most of the country's media adhered to a single line of reporting on the state of affairs with migrants, the United Kingdom, on the contrary, was distinguished by its strong fragmentation of media resources and the subsequent polarization of society.

When depicting events or victims of migration, the British media resorted to either a negative (to a greater extent) or a positive representation (to lesser extent). Thus, such rightwing tabloid newspapers as the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daly Express were notoriously famous for their publications and front pages, which contributed to the negative perception of migrants in society. These resources actively spread the negative rhetoric aimed towards the refugee and used various loaded words and metaphors in order to arouse fear of migrants and well as anxiety and discontent among the residents of the country.

In order to reinforce the dichotomy between the bad «Them» (i.e. migrants) and the good «Us» (i.e. local people), on their front pages the right-wing newspapers used various pictures and photographs of people who intimidated the public and made them consider the incoming refugees as unworthy to live in the UK and those that undermine the security of the country and its citizens.

The process of `othering' was illustrated in one of the Sun's front pages and the headlines and published in May 2015 (Figure 1).

Figure 1 The Sun, May 2015

On its front page, the newspaper posted the images of four angry looking men with the following signatures: «killer», «rapist», «paedo rapist» and «terrorist». On the other side, readers saw the smiling faces of Dave, Zafren, Karina and Wilks, which positioned the group of «us», the people who can be called by their names with the possibility to indicate their ages.

Other media outlets such as the Daily Express and the Daily Mail also used their front pages and bright headlines to propagate the stereotypes and negatively frame the migrants. The journalists resorted to the effective verbal and non-verbal tools and represented refugees as a threat, evil and devastation for the UK wellbeing (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The Daily Express, The Daily Mail

By framing the topic of migration the right-wing printed media were showing the country that in order to escape the «migration chaos» the country has to vote for Brexit.

Cartoons were another tool widely used by print newspapers for the negative representation of refugees. This type of a creolized text, which is characterized as the combination of a graphic image and grotesque, affects the formation of the position of people regarding a particular problem.

One of the most noticeable cartoons for the entire period of the European migration crisis was the image published in the Daily Mail in 2015 (Figure 3).

In his work, the British animator Stanley «Mac» McMurtry portrayed migrants as rats. As a prototype for this image, the author used another cartoon which was popular in Nazi Europe in 1939, where rats depicted Jews who had to be expelled from Germany.

To sum up the above-mentioned, it is obvious that in recent years, the topic of migration and the image of migrants has become a popular topic for research, and also has proven to be provide interesting data for analysis of the framing process by print newspapers. News outlets used their front pages, headlines, and cartoons in order to influence the perception of migrants by the population and present them from a negative point of view. Framing in the UK led to the separation of media into left- and right-wing ones, which in turn influenced the polarization of their audience.

The sphere of spoken media, especially the television, is also promising for the study of framing, which is no less involved in the negative and positive representation of migration.

Figure 3 «MAC ON... Europe's open borders», The Daily Mail, 2015

References

1. Goffman E. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience [Electronic resource] / E. Goffman. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Mode of access: https://is.muni.ez/el/1423/podzim2013/SOC571E/um/E.Goffman-FrameAnalysis.pdf

2. Fairhurst G. The art of Framing / G. T. Fairhurst, R. A. Sarr. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996. 213 p.

3. Framing theory [Electronic resource] // Mass Communication Theory: from Theory to Practical Application. Mode of access: https://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/framing-theory/

4. Entman R. Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm / R. Entman // Journal of Communication. 1993. Vol. 43, Issue 4. P. 51-58.

5. Matthes J. The content analysis of media frames: Toward improving reliability and validity / J. Matthes, M. Kohring // Journal of Communication. 2008. Vol. 58, Issue 2. P. 258-279.

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