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Chapter 4. Profiling of new Europeans in the British conservative press

A case study of the Daily Telegraph
  • Jolanta Szymańska
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Representing the Other in European Media Discourses
This chapter is in the book Representing the Other in European Media Discourses

Abstract

This chapter presents an exploratory analysis of discursive strategies through which Europe and Europeans are represented, focusing on how their images are profiled in the texts of the British conservative newspaper Daily Telegraph, a quality newspaper ranked as one of the three most widely read in the UK throughout the 2000s. We explore articles retrieved from the Internet version of the Daily Telegraph from the 1st of May, 2004 to the 1st of May, 2009, aiming to establish the patterns of distribution of the words “EU”, “Europe” or “European”, and discover possible othering techniques that do not overtly transgress the rules of political correctness. Such covert profiling, among other factors, can hardly be underestimated as a determinant in the process of opinion forming and decision making among the general public, the effects of which have been revealed in time, as witnessed during the Brexit referendum. Cognitive images can be projected and, in the process of repetition, legitimized through language use. Thus, when a given lexical patterning appears regularly, it acquires the potential of shaping particular perceptions of objects and ideas. Both quantitative and interpretative analyses of the corpus amounting to 550,000 words have revealed a range of subtle othering techniques through which the concept of Europeans has been significantly and consistently profiled.

Abstract

This chapter presents an exploratory analysis of discursive strategies through which Europe and Europeans are represented, focusing on how their images are profiled in the texts of the British conservative newspaper Daily Telegraph, a quality newspaper ranked as one of the three most widely read in the UK throughout the 2000s. We explore articles retrieved from the Internet version of the Daily Telegraph from the 1st of May, 2004 to the 1st of May, 2009, aiming to establish the patterns of distribution of the words “EU”, “Europe” or “European”, and discover possible othering techniques that do not overtly transgress the rules of political correctness. Such covert profiling, among other factors, can hardly be underestimated as a determinant in the process of opinion forming and decision making among the general public, the effects of which have been revealed in time, as witnessed during the Brexit referendum. Cognitive images can be projected and, in the process of repetition, legitimized through language use. Thus, when a given lexical patterning appears regularly, it acquires the potential of shaping particular perceptions of objects and ideas. Both quantitative and interpretative analyses of the corpus amounting to 550,000 words have revealed a range of subtle othering techniques through which the concept of Europeans has been significantly and consistently profiled.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Media representations of the “other” Europeans 1
  4. Part I. Othering as political and media practice
  5. Chapter 1. Orbán’s Hungary 25
  6. Chapter 2. Togetherness or othering? 55
  7. Chapter 3. The European “stranger” in Le Monde ’s headline discourse 81
  8. Chapter 4. Profiling of new Europeans in the British conservative press 103
  9. Chapter 5. Construing the Other 121
  10. Chapter 6. Discursive legitimation of criminalization and victimization of sub-Saharan immigrants in Spanish El País and ABC newspapers 135
  11. Part II. Othering as interpersonal and interactional practice
  12. Chapter 7. Negotiating an identity 157
  13. Chapter 8. Representations of Eastern Europeans in the UK in reader comments of two British online newspapers 183
  14. Chapter 9. Othering others 207
  15. Chapter 10. The othering of Roma migrants in British and Czech online news discussion forums 235
  16. Chapter 11. The Roma as ultimate European minority and ultimate outsider? 259
  17. Chapter 12. Othering in Estonian online discussions about refugees 281
  18. Contributors 305
  19. Index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.74.05szy

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Media representations of the “other” Europeans 1
  4. Part I. Othering as political and media practice
  5. Chapter 1. Orbán’s Hungary 25
  6. Chapter 2. Togetherness or othering? 55
  7. Chapter 3. The European “stranger” in Le Monde ’s headline discourse 81
  8. Chapter 4. Profiling of new Europeans in the British conservative press 103
  9. Chapter 5. Construing the Other 121
  10. Chapter 6. Discursive legitimation of criminalization and victimization of sub-Saharan immigrants in Spanish El País and ABC newspapers 135
  11. Part II. Othering as interpersonal and interactional practice
  12. Chapter 7. Negotiating an identity 157
  13. Chapter 8. Representations of Eastern Europeans in the UK in reader comments of two British online newspapers 183
  14. Chapter 9. Othering others 207
  15. Chapter 10. The othering of Roma migrants in British and Czech online news discussion forums 235
  16. Chapter 11. The Roma as ultimate European minority and ultimate outsider? 259
  17. Chapter 12. Othering in Estonian online discussions about refugees 281
  18. Contributors 305
  19. Index 309
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