Representation of different social actors in readers’ comments on immigration: The case of German newspaper articles

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26881/bp.2024.1.08

Keywords:

Critical Discourse Analysis, refugees, migrants, news media, Germany, AfD

Abstract

The article discusses how different social actors are represented in discourse related to immigration and refugees. The main focus is on the comments to the German newspaper articles in the context of the meeting of right-wing politicians and extremists, such as the members of the German Alternative für Deutschland party; during that meeting, the participants discussed controversial immigration policies. Comments posted under the articles covering this meeting and its outcomes are analysed using tools provided by Critical Discourse Analysis. This method shows that both the AfD party and migrants are passivated (migrants more than AfD), with AfD being presented as a victim of circumstances, while migrants are mostly treated as objects in most of the comments. Most blame for the situation seems to be directed towards “the democratic opposition”.

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References

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Research material

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Published

2024-06-20

How to Cite

Os, S., & Wąs, T. (2024). Representation of different social actors in readers’ comments on immigration: The case of German newspaper articles. Beyond Philology An International Journal of Linguistics, Literary Studies and English Language Teaching, (21/1), 281–310. https://doi.org/10.26881/bp.2024.1.08

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Articles