DISCURSIVE REPRESENTATION OF MIGRANTS, REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS IN BRITISH NEWS SOURCES

Abstract

The article examines the features of the discourse representation of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers on the eve of the 2016 EU referendum in the context of critical discourse analysis on the material of the leading British editions the Daily Mail and the Guardian, identifies the main discourse topics using categories forming a discursive view of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in news reports of British conservative and liberal press. Within the framework of critical discourse analysis discourse is considered as a form of social interaction, where the power, exercising its dominance in the society, forms negative images of the others as the representatives of other races, ethnic groups and cultures. The relevance of such study is due to the growing scientific interest in the discourse of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, which is a form of social practice, since the discourse under consideration has a socially structured order and is subject to rules and norms associated with certain social institutions that use massmedia discourse as a direct tool to influence society. No crucial differences in the representation of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers by British conservative and liberal news sources were discovered, although the study showed that the right-center the Daily Mail represents migrants, refugees and asylum seekers a little bit more negatively than the center-left the Guardian. Country of origin, number, entry, place of residence, compliance with laws, plight and help are the categories that form the basis of the discursive representation of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers during the specified time period.