The Media Framing of Migration in Sending and Receiving Countries: The Case of Romanians Migrating to the UK

Abstract

This chapter looks at how the media—particularly the British and Romanian media—frame the issue of Romanian immigrants in Great Britain, in the context of free movement of labor in the EU. It is structured in three main parts: (1) media frames on migration employed in the British and Romanian media, comparatively, (2) stereotypes about Romanian people in the British media, and (3) the visual framing of Romanian migrants in the national press. The results show that the Romanian press mainly reinforces the frames used by the British journalists, and seven media frames emerge: the economic, educational, political, social benefits, employment, public security, and EU policy. The majority of the news photographs are representing Roma people, reinforcing anti-Roma discourses found in the Romanian society.