Representations of Syrian refugees in the British tabloid press: An illustration of Aylan Kurdi's tragic event. (1st April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Raja, Irfan; Alotaibi, Nasser N.
• Is Part Of: Journal of Arab & Muslim media research. Volume 11:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 61
• Page End: 82
• Publication Date: 2018-04-01
• Subjects: Mass media -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Arab countries -- Periodicals; Communication -- Arab countries -- Periodicals; Islam -- Periodicals; 302.23089927
• DOI: 10.1386/jammr.11.1.61_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-9411

Abstract

Ever since the Syrian crisis broke out, the media representation of the Syrian refugees fleeing political persecution, war and malnourishment has become a central focus of political debates and academic inquiry. Since 2011, the British press reporting of refugees has been mostly problematic, although occasionally it does reflect a diminutive evidence of sympathy. This article aims to analyse the representations of Syrian refugees in the British tabloid press particularity in the wake of Aylan Kurdi's tragic death. The Framing Analysis approach has been applied on a corpus of 40 articles including features, news reports, editorials and comments pieces from The Sun and Daily Mirror that are of dissimilar political orientation. Initial findings show that the concept of 'humanity' is the most distinguished British value supported and endorsed by The Sun and Daily Mirror. At the same time, both tabloids ignored the notorious role of the British government in escalating the Syrian conflict, which resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the destruction of a country. Given the circumstances of the little boy's death, this article supports the contention that news is a 'constructed reality' that is a product of various social, political and cultural factors including deviant circumstances. This study argues that certain events often receive more media attention than others, whilst many events of a similar nature are mostly ignored.