The Media Construction of Identity in Anti-immigration Discourses: the Case of Romanian Immigrants in Great Britain (original) (raw)

This paper will analyze the role of the Romanian press in the debate about the migration of the Romanian people, in the context of the freedom of movement for workers in Great Britain. The theme of Romanian migrants in the UK is a public issue which involves, among others, the country image of Romania. Considering these facts, the discussion will focus on the national symbols used by Romanian mass-media, as a response to the campaigns from the British tabloid press, and on the way in which stereotypes of Romanian people, spread in quality and tabloid newspapers (" beggars " , " murderers " , " criminals " , " fraudsters " , " corrupt ") shape the discursive construction of Romania's nation brand. Methodologically, a mixed research will be used, combining critical discourse analysis and media frames analysis, implying the four structural frame devices developed by Pan & Kosicki (1993). As a conclusion, the Romanian journalists respond to the anti-immigration campaigns from the British press by using three media frames: the anti-immigration frame, the contestation frame – Daily Fail and the truth frame. In doing so, the journalists fight against the stereotypes most employed in the British news articles about the Romanian migrants.