Abstract
Research indicates that news images of refugees have become increasingly negative, often portraying them as either innocent victims, who lack political agency, or as security threats, with the potential to threaten the host country's national security and identity. This article explores how Syrian refugees have been visually portrayed in the U.K. online media by employing a visual quantitative content analysis of 299 photographs of Syrian refugees in The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Independent. It looks at photographs published after images of Alan Kurdi, a young Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, made global headlines. The findings suggest that Syrian refugees are regularly securitized and cast by the media as “Others” who exist in the state of exception.
Notes
1 Miles & Depetris (2017).
70 Neuendorf (2003), p. 145.
87 This includes the 2.1 million Syrian refugees registered in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, the 2.7 million registered in Turkey, and the 29,000 registered in North Africa. It does not, however, include the refugees registered in the European Union.
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Notes on contributors
Annabelle Cathryn Wilmott
Annabelle Wilmott holds a Master of Science degree in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics. Her research focuses on protection issues in the context of forced displacement and the role of faith-based organizations in humanitarian crises. E-mail: [email protected]
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