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Constructing immigrants: portrayals of migrant groups in British national newspapers, 2010–2012

Constructing immigrants: portrayals of migrant groups in British national newspapers, 2010–2012
Constructing immigrants: portrayals of migrant groups in British national newspapers, 2010–2012
Public opposition to immigration in Britain reflects perceptions of immigrants that focus disproportionately on “illegal” immigration and asylum seekers, rather than more numerous workers, students, and family members. This study examines coverage of immigration in the British national press, to see whether press portrayals of migrants provide a basis for these images of immigration underlying public attitudes. We use corpus linguistic methods to analyze 43 million words of news from 2010 to 2012. Among other findings, we show that press portrayals match public perceptions of migrants, with “illegal immigrants” and “failed asylum seekers” as predominant depictions in broadsheet and tabloid newspapers.
0197-9183
3-40
Blinder, Scott
42d193be-9c71-409c-8908-412f9166ff38
Allen, William L.
f0d4731a-81c1-4886-b11c-74dfa412bb97
Blinder, Scott
42d193be-9c71-409c-8908-412f9166ff38
Allen, William L.
f0d4731a-81c1-4886-b11c-74dfa412bb97

Blinder, Scott and Allen, William L. (2016) Constructing immigrants: portrayals of migrant groups in British national newspapers, 2010–2012. International Migration Review, 50 (1), 3-40. (doi:10.1111/imre.12206).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Public opposition to immigration in Britain reflects perceptions of immigrants that focus disproportionately on “illegal” immigration and asylum seekers, rather than more numerous workers, students, and family members. This study examines coverage of immigration in the British national press, to see whether press portrayals of migrants provide a basis for these images of immigration underlying public attitudes. We use corpus linguistic methods to analyze 43 million words of news from 2010 to 2012. Among other findings, we show that press portrayals match public perceptions of migrants, with “illegal immigrants” and “failed asylum seekers” as predominant depictions in broadsheet and tabloid newspapers.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 19 July 2016

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 499792
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499792
ISSN: 0197-9183
PURE UUID: 44c28d68-d9b4-4a36-8cea-6d3f6f9f162d
ORCID for William L. Allen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3185-1468

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Date deposited: 04 Apr 2025 16:38
Last modified: 26 Apr 2025 02:12

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Contributors

Author: Scott Blinder
Author: William L. Allen ORCID iD

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