Abstract
The article deals with the study of the concept REFUGEE/FLÜCHTLING in the discourse of the new media of Germany in 2015 – the year which was characterized by the highest level of asylum seekers in the country. Based on the results of the content analysis, the positional narratives and thematic groups of lexical markers representing the official position and the position of the civil society (in the social media content) have been defined. The discourse-analysis proved that in the German infosphere there is a “battle of narratives” between the official media which put into action a systemic government policy of friendly treatment of refugees – «Willkommenskultur», and social networks which also manifest an unfavourable attitude towards asylum seekers – from critical to totally negative. It has been established that the concept REFUGEE/FLÜCHTLING has a discourse-forming function in both official and unofficial media in Germany where it has negative connotations, thereby revealing the «battle of narratives» and the «battle of discourses». It has been concluded that there is a single government communication strategy in the issue of refugees and a corresponding system of organization of official new media communications which broadcast the government’s position with a focus on conceptual worldviews of different target audiences of the country. The study was carried out using the Big Data technology, which contributed to obtaining of valid results.
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