Abstract
This article investigates online representations and evaluations of EU migrants, focusing on the notion of ‘benefit tourism’ and discursive strategies used in the (de)legitimization of new welfare restrictions in the UK. Through the examination of online newspapers and corresponding public comment threads, this article adopts theoretical and methodological premises from Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), drawing upon the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) to provide both a politically motivated as well as reflexive account. Although new participatory structures allow for resistance to emerge, the openness, scalability and anonymity of the internet also allows for the spread of discrimination through the construction of EU migrants (in particular Bulgarians and Romanians) as the ‘Other’.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Special issue: Representations of immigrants and refugees: News coverage, public opinion and media literacy
- Editorial introduction. Representations of immigrants and refugees: News coverage, public opinion and media literacy
- Refugees in the news: Comparing Belgian and Swedish newspaper coverage of the European refugee situation during summer 2015
- The Syrian refugee crisis in Scandinavian newspapers
- Who drove the discourse? News coverage and policy framing of immigrants and refugees in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
- Welfare restrictions and ‘benefit tourists’: Representations and evaluations of EU migrants in the UK
- The relationship between media use and public opinion on immigrants and refugees: A Belgian perspective
- Critical media literacy through making media: A key to participation for young migrants?
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Special issue: Representations of immigrants and refugees: News coverage, public opinion and media literacy
- Editorial introduction. Representations of immigrants and refugees: News coverage, public opinion and media literacy
- Refugees in the news: Comparing Belgian and Swedish newspaper coverage of the European refugee situation during summer 2015
- The Syrian refugee crisis in Scandinavian newspapers
- Who drove the discourse? News coverage and policy framing of immigrants and refugees in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
- Welfare restrictions and ‘benefit tourists’: Representations and evaluations of EU migrants in the UK
- The relationship between media use and public opinion on immigrants and refugees: A Belgian perspective
- Critical media literacy through making media: A key to participation for young migrants?