Paper short abstract

This paper explores British national newspaper coverage of Syrian refugee crisis (2015). Our analysis of 100 articles from broadsheets and tabloids uses content and frame analysis to show changes in framing. They are explained within a wider system of overlapping discourses (stereotypes, xenophobia)

Paper long abstract

This paper explores British national newspaper coverage of Syrian refugee crisis in 2015. Our (ongoing) analysis of 100 articles from three tabloids and three broadsheets using content and frame analysis showed changes in framing. For instance, the term 'refugee' has been used more frequently than 'migrant' and 'asylum-seeker' indicating a shift in rhetoric and a general sense of 'crisis' has been instilled (a growing number of storied dealing with an open-door refugee policy overtaking stories of personal hardship, economic argument and military action). Contrary to previous research we found tabloid newspaper coverage to be more positive (e.g. calling for compassion especially after the three-year-old Syrian boy was found dead next to the beach). However, these changes should be seen and clarified in a wider context where the representations of refugees circulate within a system of overlapping discourses involving (negative) refugee stereotypes, politics of exclusion and grassroots xenophobia.