English A Language & Literature HL's Sample Extended Essays

English A Language & Literature HL's Sample Extended Essays

How was language used by the British press to portray the 2015 European migration crisis?

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Table of content

Background

The year 2015 saw an increase in the number of people trying to enter Europe: 1.3 million people applied for asylum in the 28 EU states, Norway and Sweden (Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, 2022). Many of these migrants crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece; others crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy. More than 80% of these migrants fled “persecution, war, famine and personal insecurity”, from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, with less than 1 out of 5 being economic migrants (d’Angelo et al., 2017).

 

The media play an important role, not only in informing the public of world events, but also in “the public representation of unequal social relations and the play of cultural power” (Cottle, 2000). The British press gave considerable coverage to the 2015 migrant crisis, with notable differences in how it was presented by various newspapers/news sites. Notably, language played a significant role in constructing an image of migrants; and in creating “a sense of who ‘we’ are in relation to who ‘we’ are not, whether as ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’, ‘colonizer’ and ‘colonized’, ‘citizen’ and ‘foreigner’, ‘normal’ and ‘deviant’, ‘friend and ‘foe’, ‘the west’ and ‘the rest’” (Cottle, 2000).

 

Critical Discourse Analysis is “the way social-power abuse and inequality are enacted, reproduced, legitimated, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context” (van Dijk, 2015). The aim of this essay is to use this form of analysis to examine language used to portray the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe by four news sources: The BBC, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror. Additionally, the essay seeks to investigate whether attitudeswithin each news source changed over the crisis period, and how this was reflected through language.

Methodology

A total of twelve articles were examined using the following methodology -

 

Analysis of Referential Strategies

Referential strategies are “approaches to naming individuals or groups of people, through which social memberships – for example, in-groups, out-groups, self and other – are constructed and represented” (Franklin et al., 2005). This essay will record and analyse the referential strategies, “migrant”, “refugee” and “immigrant”, and others as used in the four news sources. It is important to examine referential strategies because journalists have a choice when they decide how to categorise and define those trying to enter the EU, and each term has effects on the portrayal of the subject.

 

Cautious Language

Cautious language is used to express uncertainty, caution and probability, and it is a useful linguistic tool as it protects journalists’ claims from accusations of misinformation and disinformation. A strong presence of cautious language suggests impartiality; an under-use suggests an over-confident and sensationalist tone.

 

Sourcing

Sourcing describes sources included in articles (e.g. NGOs, politicians, the British government, migrants). An article’s sources can be revealing: for example, reliable sources suggest reputability and representation of minorities can point to inclusiveness.

 

Textual Analysis

Textual analysis is the close analysis of texts. There are two ways in which textual analysis can be approached -

  • Macro-Textual

Macro-textual analysis can be defined as the larger, overarching themes and aspects of a text, including the structure. This type of analysis will be executed through the inspection of the text’s structure, such as the proportion of the text consisting of quotes and the themes of each paragraph, demonstrated through screenshots with highlighted text.

 

  • Micro-Textual

Micro-textual analysis involves examining the text more closely, at a sentence level, and includes the vocabulary used by the writer (e.g. emotive and loaded language) as well as literary and rhetorical techniques (e.g. metaphors, similes, alliteration etc.).

 

Two other methods of analysis will be employed, which will provide an organisational framework for the essay -

 

  • Synchronic

Synchronic analysis involves looking at the media at a given point in time. This essay will first examine one article per news source from April 2015 in a synchronic way, using all of the techniques mentioned above.

 

  • Diachronic

Diachronic analysis refers to change in language over time, as exhibited in texts. This essay will examine an additional article per source from September 2015, including a textual analysis and examining referential strategies diachronically, in order to explore the possible change in language used to portray refugees and migrants. These two methodologies were chosen because they explicitly portray changing attitudes of the press towards migrants.

Key Events

In this essay, two key events were chosen to identify changing attitudes of the British press in 2015.

 

April 2015: Boat sinking in Lampedusa This boat sinking in 2015 was the “largest loss of life from any incident on the Mediterranean involving refugees and migrants” (Refugees, 2015), and was chosen to capture the British press’ first reactions to large-scale maritime migration into Europe.

 

September 2015 - Disruptions to rail and road in Denmark and Germany Many migrants took trains or walked on the E45 motorway to reach Sweden from Germany and Denmark, causing the Danish government to suspend road and rail links with Germany (Denmark blocks motorway, rail links with Germany to stop refugee flow, 2015). This event was chosen to show the press’ attitudes towards disruptions by migrants.

 

The time frame of April to September 2015 was chosen because it marked a sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers to the UK - applications increased by 19% to 29,024 in the year ending September 2015 (National Statistics: Asylum, 2015).

News Sources

Three newspapers and one news site were chosen for analysis. Three articles have been extracted from each of the subsequent sites -

  • The Daily Mail (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html) is a right-leaning (Smith, M., 2017), middle-market tabloid newspaper, owned by the multinational media company, Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) (Our History - DMGT, n.d.).
  • The Guardian (theguardian.com) is a left-leaning (ibid.) broad-sheet newspaper, owned by the company, Scott Trust Limited (About us | The Guardian, n.d.).
  • The Daily Mirror (https://www.mirror.co.uk), also known as The Mirror, is a left-leaning (ibid.) tabloid newspaper, owned by the publisher, Reach plc (About Us - Mirror Online, n.d.).
  • BBC Online, the news site, is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation, which is the UK’s national broadcaster (operated by the government) (BBC, n.d.).

Links to articles used for analysis can be found in Appendix 1.

Findings Section 1 (Synchronic Analysis)

Referential Strategies

News Source“Migrant”“Immigrant”“Immigrant”Other
The Guardian10004 (“survivor”)
Daily Mail24192 (“passengers”), 2 (“survivors”), 1 (“travellers”)
Daily Mirror4122 (“survivors), 2 (“travellers”)
The BBC18001 (“human beings”)

Figure 1 - Table on

The BBC predominantly utilises “migrant” (eighteen out of nineteen references). This is also the case with The Guardian and the Daily Mail. “Migrant” could be the most general of the terms, with no positive or negative connotations. By using the term “migrant”, these news sources may be rendering asylum seekers more relatable to their target audiences who could have been migrants themselves (e.g. British economic migrants to the European Union). Distance between readers and migrants is thus reduced; the asylum-seekers are humanised. Though, it can beThe BBC predominantly utilises “migrant” (eighteen out of nineteen references). This is also the case with The Guardian and the Daily Mail. “Migrant” could be the most general of the terms, with no positive or negative connotations. By using the term “migrant”, these news sources may be rendering asylum seekers more relatable to their target audiences who could have been migrants themselves (e.g. British economic migrants to the European Union). Distance between readers and migrants is thus reduced; the asylum-seekers are humanised. Though, it can be

 

The Daily Mail utilises a range of terms when referring to migrants, to appeal to a wide audience of various political stances. In other words, they may believe that they are employing neutrality by not demonstrating an alignment with a single term. One implication of this is there may be confusion among readers as to who the subjects are. A barrier is placed between the audience and the asylum seekers, and it is difficult for the audience to relate and sympathise with the subjects, who are referred to in so many different ways. The Daily Mirror also uses a selection of differing terms, which creates a similar effect.

Cautious Language

News SourceExamples of Cautious Language

The Guardian

(Kingsley and Kirchgaessner, 2015)

“Feared dead”
“About (20 bodies)”; “about (300 migrants)”; “about (60 miles)”
“About (60 miles)”
“(Saved) about (100,000 lives)”
“As many as”
“Feared to have drowned”
“What could prove to be”
“Up to 700 may (remain in the water)”
“According to (the interior ministry)|
“According to (numbers supplied by a survivor)”
“According to (witness accounts)”
“If confirmed”
“Suggest”
“It (Save the Children) reported”

Daily

(White, 2015)

“May have drowned”
“Feared to have drowned”
“Was seen”
“Are expected to have”
“(Five men) suspected of (piloting the boat)”
“(Many of whom) are suspected of (being trafficking victims)
“Often (in rickety boats)”
“Thought to have been (carrying up to 600 people)”

Daily Mirror

(Webb, 2015)

“Up to”
“About”
“It is believed”
“Estimated”
“Feared to have drowned”

BBC

(BBC, 2022)

“Feared dead”
“Feared to have drowned”
“(The vessel) thought to be”
“(The latest sinking) could”
“At least (another 900 migrants)”
“Reportedly”
“Between 9,000 and 10,000”
“Some (EU members)”
“More than (360 people)”
“Some (400 migrants)”
“About (650 migrants)”

Figure 2 - Table On

News SourceInstances of Cautious Language
The Guardian15
Daily Mail9
Daily Mirror5
BBC11

Figure 3 - Table On

The Guardian and the BBC utilise the most cautious language. This is a useful tool, which allows sources to reduce the assertiveness of their claims (this is especially important when details of events are still unclear, e.g. if the death toll rises). Subsequently, these two sources alert readers to the possibility of the changes to the facts stated - an indicator of credibility.

 

The Guardian and the BBC utilise the most cautious language. This is a useful tool, which allows sources to reduce the assertiveness of their claims (this is especially important when details of events are still unclear, e.g. if the death toll rises). Subsequently, these two sources alert readers to the possibility of the changes to the facts stated - an indicator of credibility.

Sourcing

Figure 4 - Table on

The Guardian and the Daily Mirror notably utilised non-elite sources (migrants and a smuggler) in an attempt to bring “more ‘average’ citizens into the news” (Massey, 1998), a well-known technique used in “civic journalism”. The Guardian, unusually, quoted a smuggler, who are often portrayed as perpetrators in this scenario. This could be an attempt by The Guardian to include all perspectives, and thus provide a nuanced, non-biased outlook on the scenario, which is often portrayed in a more binary way by other sources.

 

In contrast, the Daily Mail uses very few sources in its article. This could denote unreliability, as the absolute facts stated (see ‘Cautious Language’) are not always supported by evidence from a variety of sources. The sources it does draw on (politicians and governments) are official, legitimate, and provide easily-available quotes, for example from press conferences.

Textual Analysis

The Guardian: “700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwreck” (Kingsley and Kirchgaessner, 2015)

Macro-Textual

 

The first-half of the article appears objective, factual and statistical, as seen in the image below. Fact-based statements are highlighted in yellow.

 

In the second-half of the article, more opinionated language is used (highlighted in green). The article claims, “the deaths prompted fresh calls for Europe to reinstate full-scale search-and-rescue operations”, which is an unclear sentence that does not reveal whom these calls are from. Perhaps this is the opinion of The Guardian - yet the reader may believe this is factual due to the prevalence of indisputable facts previously stated.

Figure 5 -

The position of the quotes seems to be a deliberate choice. Quotes appear prominently in the first half of the article and are always at the beginning of paragraphs. They are usually preceded by the name of the sources, usually reputable European officials or organisations, followed by their credentials. The reason for this may be to convince the reader of the truthfulness of the information quoted. The quotes themselves often contain sensationalist and opinionated language, for example: “starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war”; “thousands die on our shores”; “witnessing a tragedy”; and the use of personification, “Europe cannot look the other way”. Readers may believe the emotive sentiments expressed in the quotations, since they have already been persuaded of the credibility of the sources.

Figure 6 -

Less reliable sources (highlighted in purple), however, (e.g. “a smuggler”), are included further down in the article. The introduction of the source is embedded within a paragraph, instead of at the beginning, as seen with the reliable sources. The effect of this method of structuring paragraphs is, subconsciously, readers may appreciate the credibility of elite sources more than non-elite sources. As previously mentioned in the ‘sourcing’ section, the use of non-elite sources is a technique in civic journalism that aims to make journalism more democratic and participatory; however, The Guardian limits its application of civic journalism when it conceals non-elite quotes within paragraphs.

Figure 7 - Table on Micro - textual

These features of language contribute to The Guardian’s overall message: that migrants are innocent and passive victims of an uncontrollable and “tragic” situation. It is likely that the urgent and often panicked tone in the article incites fear in the audience. In addition, the effect ofemotive language can contribute to a common stereotype that migrants are one-dimensional victims, in need of public sympathy. Although it is important that the public become aware of the severity of this “crisis”, the reduction of migrants to victims can be a harmful portrayal, especially when they are not given a voice through interviews. Victimhood is challenging in many ways: for example, it could be argued that “giving voice to migrants as victims relies too heavily on emotional reactions which do not necessarily contribute to a balanced and well-informed public and political debate on migration, nor to good policy making” (Crawley, McMahon and Jones, 2016).

 

Daily Mail - “‘We are witnessing a genocide caused by European selfishness': Sicilian mayor blasts EU over migrant crisis as hundreds are rescued from yet another overcrowded boat in the Med” (White, 2015)

Macro - textual

This article is dominated by sixteen photographs, captioned with emotive statements (e.g. “emergency”, “disaster”, “traumatised”, “exhausted”, “cruel end”). In labelling the photographs with short, punchy nouns (“emergency”, “cruel end”,“miracle”), the Daily Mail is story-telling, sensationalising the event, rather than giving objective information.The extensive use of photographs in this article portrays the plight of the survivors of this boat sinking. Readers are able to ‘put a face to the name’ of the statistics, and thus sympathise. Alarming images capture the attention of prospective readers who have not read the article yet, and are a convenient tool to present the article’s key messages instantly. Readers are hence equipped, not with objective facts about events, but with emotions and sympathy for the ‘victims’ in each scenario. This can be problematic in some ways (as described above in the “Micro-Textual” analysis of The Guardian’s article). Several psychological studies have demonstrated that pictures convey emotional meaning more effectively than words (e.g. Winkielman and Gogolushko, 2018) and pictures can therefore be considered an attempt by the Daily Mail to gain more readership in the increasingly competitive and online world of journalism.

Figure 8 -

Figure 9 - Table on Micro - textual

There is a strong presence of emotive and loaded language in this article, which seems to have the aim of instilling a sense of panic in readers. The writer places blame for the crisis on various actors: the EU, its policies, and European leaders, perhaps in an attempt to relieve the negative emotions of readers by assigning responsibility. However, while dramatisation of the migration crisis creates a more compelling story for readers, this perhaps comes at the expense of migrants’ dignity, who are sometimes dehumanised.

 

Daily Mirror - “Lampedusa migrant boat capsizes: Video of search operation after 900 drowned in latest tragedy” (Webb, 2015)

Macro-Textual

As can be seen in images below (depicting page 2 and onwards), a large proportion of the article consists of quotes from various sources, highlighted in green (see ‘Sourcing’ section). Approximately 45% of the total world count is direct quotation.

Figure 10 -

Figure 11 -

The Daily Mirror appears to have adopted a more descriptive and less interpretive approach to journalism, in contrast to The Guardian for example. There is very little analysis involved; rather, the focus is on presenting a variety of reactions to the crisis. Nonetheless, the Daily Mirror is able to portray opinions of a wide range of sources without showing its alignment with any one side.

 

This article also includes photographs which could be described as blurry screenshots from the Italian coastguard’s footage. These photographs may have been included in order to produce a raw effect, and allow readers to imagine the real context. The screenshots also lend an impression of truthfulness to the article.

Figure 12 - Table on Micro-textual

These features of text are highlighted because they demonstrate the Daily Mirror’s attempt to portray their indignance at such boat disasters and their sympathy for migrants. This article contains a large amount of loaded language, which seeks to create an emotional and panicked reaction from readers, in line with the Daily Mirror’s usual sensationalist style of journalism. As well as expressing sympathy towards migrants, the tone also implies almost a sense of exhaustion, from having to repetitively witness these “boat disasters”, with fault directly placed on people-smugglers and indirectly on the EU.

 

BBC: “Mediterranean migrants: Hundreds feared dead after boat capsizes” (BBC, 2022)

Macro - textual

The article consists of short paragraphs which can be considered an attempt to make the information accessible to all readers, and to keep their attention. It appears that the length of paragraphs grows as the article progresses. By the end, however, most paragraphs are short again. This structuring of information could be viewed as an adaptation of the “inverted pyramid”, which is “a controversial yet widely used method of reporting news” (Scanlan, 2003) that positions newsworthy information at the top, with the least important information at the bottom, giving readers the option to opt-out of reading if they so wish.

Figure 13 -

A significant portion of the BBC article relates to numbers: for example, the final five paragraphs concern mortality figures from September 2014 to April 2015. Such a focus on numbers can be harmful as it prevents readers from relating to migrants who are portrayed as statistics rather than people. On the other hand, the BBC may be attempting to be as neutral as possible by providing raw statistics, allowing readers to interpret them independently and without bias.

 

As can be seen below, the article’s photos are largely impersonal (only one depicts migrants or people). This choice may reflect the BBC’s strategy to be impartial; however as argued above, this can impede the audience’s ability to relate to and sympathise with migrants.

Figure 14 -

Figure 15 - Table on Micro - textual

The BBC, as the national broadcaster, prides itself on being neutral in presenting news. However, the above features, particularly the literary (e.g. visual imagery and onomatopoeia), and emotive techniques, portray a sympathetic stance towards migrants. Perhaps when dealing with certain topics involving human tragedy, the BBC considers its duty to not only communicate hard facts but also the human dimension.

 

Findings - Section 2 (Diachronic Analysis)

 

The above articles each depict the boat sinking in Lampedusa in April 2015. The following articles, from September 2015, were chosen in order to investigate a potential change in two particular areas of interest: referential strategies and micro-textual analysis.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 16 - Table on referential strategies

In every case (apart from the BBC), total references to the subjects reduced, representing a potential move away from story-centred articles, to more factual analyses of the problem as governments began to grapple with the practicalities of increased migration.

 

Notably, The Guardian’s increased its use of the term: “refugee”, which, as mentioned previously, “refugee” can be considered a sympathetic term, implying that the person is deserving of international protection. “Refugee” is also a legal term, which could imply that theasylum seekers’ claims are legitimate. This change in referential strategy could be seen as an attempt to counteract anti-immigrant sentiment in the media, or to increase its appeal to the more liberal British people. In contrast, the Daily Mirror eliminated its use of “refugee” and solely utilised “migrant” in September 2015, perhaps seeking to be firm in its neutral, or even slightly negative, opinion towards migrants.

Figure 17 - Table on Textual Analysis

Evidently, later representations of the crisis focus less on people’s reactions, and rather, facts. Instead of dwelling on the individual suffering of migrants, articles in September 2015 de-personalise the events somewhat, and more weight is given to the solutions of the crisis. This could represent a shift in framing of the 2015 European migration crisis as the potentially negative consequences of increased migration became known to the public. At the beginning of the crisis, the popular strategy was to invoke readers’ sympathy and focus on emotions relating to migration; in contrast, when the moral panic died down, newspapers took a more reserved and logical approach to reporting.

Conclusion

In this paper I explored how newspapers in the UK portrayed the 2015 European migration crisis. I learned through the synchronic analysis how loaded, sensationalist and emotive language about the 2015 migration crisis was incorporated into articles, yet appear objective through the use of tools such as cautious language. The diachronic analysis showed me how the reporting of these events began by focusing on the human and emotive side of the issue, and became progressively more de-personalised.The small sample size (8 articles) is a limitation of this research. Nonetheless, I feel that the findings could be extrapolated, as, in the digital-age of journalism, where news is profitable, it is logical for journalists to imitate successful news stories, frames and techniques that they come across, thus making media trends repetitive and predictable.

 

It became apparent that newspapers found it difficult to grapple with being sympathetic and emotive in their portrayal of migrants, while also remaining impartial. In my opinion, newspapers sometimes take their neutrality too far by eliminating all representations of migrants - for example by only including photographs of inanimate objects and faceless crowds. In a study of the British press, only 15% of the 648 articles analysed referenced a migrant voice or perspective (Crawley, McMahon and Jones, 2016). My research demonstrated a similar phenomenon, with only 2/8 articles studied including migrant voices.

 

A question now arises: if news sources had continued with the sympathetic tone from April 2015, would there have been such a deterioration in public opinion of refugees? Perhaps, for example, British people would not have overestimated the number of migrants in the country in 2019 by 13% (Holloway et al., 2021) if not for the long-shot photos of large crowds of refugees in the September 2015 articles, and subsequent media trends which exaggerated the volume of migrants.

 

In both of the tabloid newspapers, as expected, emotions took precedence over the factual elements. However, I was surprised to realise that the broadsheet newspapers can not be described as neutral either. Even if more subtly, the BBC and The Guardian seemed to portray messaging that aligned with their own political agendas. Some would argue that journalists must “reshape their messaging to do more than cite facts; they must use smart storytelling and craft solutions that don’t require those they want to reach to sacrifice their values” (Campbell, Griffin and Neimand, 2017). It is clear to me that the building of narratives about the refugee crisis, filled with emotion, make the issue more accessible and understandable; even those who

 

politically identify as right-wing and anti-immigration can sympathise with harrowing descriptions and images of human suffering. Thus, especially as the crisis had just started, the newspapers may have found profitability in using emotive and sensationalist language. I feel this language may not be harmful, if it allows the British public to connect with asylum seekers. Nonetheless, I have learnt that newspapers should and must strike a balance between story-driven journalism and factual, and impartial approaches.

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(About us | The Guardian, n.d.)

 

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Appendices

Figure 18 - Links to articles