How a photograph of a drowned refugee child turned a migrant crisis into a refugee crisis: A comparative discourse analysis

Parker, Samuel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5111-920X, Aaheim Naper, Anja and Goodman, Simon 2018. How a photograph of a drowned refugee child turned a migrant crisis into a refugee crisis: A comparative discourse analysis. for(e)dialogue 2 (1) , pp. 12-28.

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Abstract

The ‘refugee crisis’ refers to the on-going movement of people crossing into Europe, in which over 34 thousand refugees died in 2015. A key point in this ‘crisis’ was the publishing of photographs of one of the young children who died. Despite the death toll, representations, and the resulting treatment, of refugees in Europe remained ambivalent. This paper compares the representation of the crisis across three countries (The UK, Norway and Australia) before and after the publishing of the photographs from one major broadcaster in each country using discourse analysis. It is shown that the photographs led to a more sympathetic portrayal of refugees resulting in the crisis shifting from a ‘migrant’ to a ‘refugee’ crisis. This analysis demonstrates the importance of the ways in which refugees are presented as well as the benefits of a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to discourse analysis.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
ISSN:	2398-0532
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 July 2018
Date of Acceptance:	6 November 2017
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 12:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/112905

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