scholarly journals Romaphobia in Romanian press: The lifting of work restrictions for Romanian migrants in the European Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 175048132098215
Author(s):  
Petre Breazu ◽  
Göran Eriksson

The lifting of work restrictions for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens in the EU, in January 2014, encountered much resistance both in European political discourse and the media, as these migrants became demonised and presented as social and economic threats. In this article, we show how the Romanian press dealt with such discriminatory discourses against the Romanian migrants. We conduct a thorough Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) of news items published in Romanian press, prior to the lifting of work restrictions, and we argue that the Roma emerged as the perfect scapegoats that could explain the deviant and unruly behaviours ascribed by some western media to ‘Romanians’. We also show how racism toward the Roma, referred here as Romaphobia, invokes non-racial practices and instead builds on a reverse victimhood narrative. Such discourses relate in a broader sense to well-established discursive practices in Romanian context but also to the political climate across Europe which is marked by increased intolerance toward the Roma. It is the mixture of stereotypical discourses and populist rhetoric that makes racism towards the Roma appear naturalised and increasingly more difficult to challenge.

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak ◽  
Scott Wright

This article analyses the European Union’s Futurum discussion forum. The EU hoped that Futurum would help close the acknowledged gap between institutions and citizens by facilitating a virtual, multilingual, transnational public sphere. Futurum was both an interesting example of how the EU’s language policies shape the structure of deliberative experiments and of a public debate about their relative value. We combine various quantitative measures of the discussions with a critical discourse analysis of a thread which focused on language policies. We found that although the debates were predominantly in English, where a thread started in a language other than English, linguistic diversity was more prominent. The discourse analysis showed that multilingual interaction was fostered, and that the debate about language policies is politically and ideologically charged.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312199951
Author(s):  
Ayça Demet Atay

Turkey’s membership process to the European Union has been a ‘long, narrow and uphill road’, as former Turkish Prime Minister, and later President, Turgut Özal once stated. This study analyses the representation of the European Union–Turkey negotiation process in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet from 1959 to 2019 with the aim of understanding the changing meaning of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union’ in Turkish news discourse. There is comprehensive literature on the representation of Turkey’s membership process in the European press. This article aims to contribute to the field by assessing the representation of the same process from a different angle. For this purpose, Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet newspapers’ front page coverage of selected 10 key dates in the European Union–Turkey relations is analysed through critical discourse analysis.


Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak ◽  
Kristof Savski

This chapter focuses on the synergy that researchers in language policy have developed by integrating two other subfields of sociolinguistics: critical discourse analysis and critical ethnography. The chapter begins by discussing the meanings of the three key concepts used in these approaches, albeit sometimes in significantly different ways: critique, ethnography, and discourse. It then examines how these concepts are relevant to contemporary analyses of language policy, focusing particularly on their potential to open new and innovative avenues of research. To demonstrate how an integrated critical discourse and ethnographic approach can be applied in concrete empirical research, the chapter presents an analysis of language policy and practice in the European Union before providing an overview of other relevant studies in the area.


Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was a founder member of the European integration process, namely the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) created in 1952. However, the circumstances were very different from the 2010s. Germany was a divided and defeated state until 1990. Integration provided important political and economic support to West Germany. From the 1970s, it strengthened the FRG’s foreign policy reach, for the new state was constrained by Cold War politics as well as other legacies, notably the Holocaust. European integration provided a framework for building trust with western neighbors, particularly France. The collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1989 and its absorption into the FRG through unification in 1990 brought about significant change to Germany’s relationship to European integration. The unified Germany became the largest member state. Initial concerns about German power in Europe were allayed by Chancellor Helmut Kohl pursuing deeper integration to bind the unified Germany further to integration: through creating the European Union (EU) itself and setting a course toward monetary union. Specific concerns about German power only really emerged in the 2010s, as the EU was bedeviled by several crises. In seeking to offer a comprehensive understanding of Germany’s relationship with the EU, coverage is organized around four broad themes: the historical dimension of the relationship; the substance of Germany’s European policy; the sources of Germany’s European policy; and Germany’s role and power in the EU. The historical dimension of Germany’s relationship with European integration is important as a first theme. It is no exaggeration to suggest that European integration helped emancipate the FRG from the historical legacy of turbulent relations with France, Nazi tyranny, and the opprobrium of the Holocaust. European integration afforded a complementary framework for Germany’s political and economic order. The importance of embedding German unification in a context of European integration should not be underestimated. Germany’s European policy has displayed considerable consistency up to the contemporary era. Support for further integration, for enlargement, the market order, and the development of an EU “civilian power” have been key components. These policies are important contributors to understanding Germany’s role in the EU: the second theme. The political and economic system of the FRG forms an important backdrop to understanding Germany’s policy and role in the EU: the third theme. From the 1960s until the 2010s, EU membership was subject to cross-party consensus and permissive public support. These circumstances allowed the federal government autonomy in pursuing its European policy. However, the political climate of European policy has become much more contested in the 2010s. Germany’s role was placed in the spotlight by the succession of crises that have emerged within the EU and in its neighborhood in the 2010s, particularly the eurozone and migration crises. The fourth theme explores how the question of German power re-emerged. These four themes are important to understanding Germany’s role in the EU, especially given Berlin’s centrality to its development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-53
Author(s):  
Mihail Beznosov ◽  
A. Golikov

The article examines the practice of discursive construction of the image of the Soviet (including the Soviet person) in the discourse of modern Russian sociology. As a specific empirical case, the authors choose the texts of the Levada Center (hereinafter - LC), which are analyzed using critical discourse analysis in N. Fairklough's variations, based on the study of mythologemes and discourse of the Soviet based on the developments of R. Barthes and P. Bourdieu. The discourse of the Soviet (man) is analyzed as a discourse of implicitly liberal sociology, which, while denying explicit ideology, reproduces non-scientific (in particular, mythological, ideological, worldview) structures. It is emphasized that such an implicit ideological and worldview bias, not necessarily defined as an intentional orientation, has a significant impact on both the programming of research and the objectivity of their results, and the discursive practices of their description and interpretation. Typical practices and structures of the discoursivization of the image of the Soviet (man) in the texts of the LC are presented and analyzed. A special emphasis is made on the political connotations of the nominations, discourses and denotations proposed by the authors of the LC texts. A conclusion is formulated about the limitations of the objectivity of the political and discursive representation of the image of the Soviet (person) in modern (in particular, liberal) sociology on the example of LC texts.


Author(s):  
Yana Kybich

June 2016 was marked by a landmark event - the so-called Brexit (literally from Britain’s exit ) – a referendum in which 52% of the population voted for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and only 48% - against. The significant changes that took place in the UK in the summer of 2016, finally split British society into those who are for and against leaving the European Union. The British media acted as a platform for political debates and discussions on the key issue of Britain’s stay in the EU. The most powerful media conglomerate, of course, had a decisive influence on the mood of those who voted, intensifying social polarization, which was reflected in the results of the fateful referendum. Elements of the British media played a key role in the debate over the referendum on the country’s membership in the European Union. The exit vote was influenced by a long campaign against the EU and against migration from EU countries. Throughout the campaign, virtually all media are in flagrant violation of journalistic standards of objectivity, fairness, and accuracy, becoming essentially propaganda bodies. The relevance of the study is due to the fundamental changes in British society related to the Brexit process, as well as the importance for politicians and the public of understanding public opinion and the media about Brexit. In addition, it is important to see how the view of Brexit has changed. It is necessary to find out the benefits, priorities and understanding of different scenarios, the driving forces behind these attitudes, and whether they change in response to statements and remarks by politicians and public figures. Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union is important for the whole world, as it affects the changing geopolitics of the whole of Europe. This topic is important for understanding the study of the political preferences of British society and the British media during the Brexit process. It can be stated unequivocally that both Brexit and the subsequent US election campaign in 2016 showed another example of skillful speculation in facts and figures, the successful creation and dissemination of unverified “viral information” through the media, which in the era of telecommunications has become a particularly effective tool for manipulation of public sentiment. The example of Brexit has demonstrated how to take the success of such campaigns to a new level, using all types of media (from traditional to electronic, including social networks), through which you can introduce into society binary oppositions that divide it, to introduce into the information space certain political figures, to popularize the necessary moods and slogans, to simplify the political process to the level of a show.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-376
Author(s):  
Inna Petrovna Romashova

This article proposes a typology of strategies and tactics of legitimation. The linguistic interpretation of the concepts of “legitimacy” and “legitimation”, developed in the article, is based on the following theoretical sources: on the notions of legitimacy and discursive mechanisms for its maintenance, established in the humanities; to the work of linguists studying the discursive mechanisms of legitimation in line with critical discourse analysis (CDA); to the works of domestic discourses, which analyze the means of ensuring credibility and trust in the discourse (V.B. Kashkin, N.S. Ryadovaya, A.A. Malyshev). Following the CDA experts, the author understands legitimation as discursive practices (genres, strategies and tactics) of ensuring a positive attitude of society to a social actor and its discourse. The material used was 120 corporate texts posted on the websites of companies, in corporate publications, in image booklets, and image and information materials of companies posted in the media were also used. A pragmalinguistic analysis of the texts of commercial and state structures allowed the author of the article to identify the key strategies of legitimation, describe tactics, language means of implementing one of the basic strategies of legitimation – the strategy of positive self-presentation. In general, the analysis of the texts showed that the CD uses two main strategies to ensure legitimation: the strategy of creating images of loyal target audiences (external and internal) and the strategy of building a positive image of the corporation itself. The article focuses on the second strategy, on the tactics and language means of its implementation. A wide range of identified tactics testifies to the importance of the legitimation process for corporations. It was also found that most of the texts providing legitimation relate to PR texts, which allows us to conclude that discursive PR practices are standard ways to ensure legitimation.


Author(s):  
Rocío Fajardo Fernández ◽  
Rosa M. Soriano Miras

Resumen: El objetivo del presente artículo es desvelar el relato de la prensa española sobre los migrantes que intentan cruzar la frontera de la Unión Europea pero se ven estancados en la misma a causa de la estrecha vigilancia. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo el análisis de contenido y el análisis crítico del discurso de una muestra de noticias de varios periódicos nacionales, de aquellas que informan sobre la migración irregular en el Mediterráneo. No se han encontrado grandes diferencias en el tratamiento de las noticias publicadas por los periódicos seleccionados. La construcción del discurso sigue la lógica de las políticas migratorias de la Unión Europea, que consisten en la externalización de las fronteras (la gestión de las mismas fuera de la UE) y la producción estatal y mediática del estatuto de irregularidad de la migración. En el discurso mediático los migrantes son retratados en la mayoría de los casos como agentes pasivos, como víctimas de las mafias o como objeto de atención asistencial por parte de diferentes entidades. En algunas noticias aparecen como actores que hacen uso de la violencia para alcanzar su propósito, mientras que son pocos los casos en los que aparecen como sujeto activo no asociado a conflictos. En suma, el relato dominante “desciudadaniza” a estas personas en los distintos discursos analizados. Abstract: The main purpose of the present article is to uncover the account of the Spanish press about migrants who try to cross the European Union border but find themselves at a standstill caused by the strong surveillance. In order to that, we use both content analysis and critical discourse analysis of a news sample of several national newspapers, specifically of those news which inform about irregular migration in the Mediterranean Sea. We haven’t found huge differences in the news treatment offered by selected newspapers. The way that the discourse concerning migration is elaborated follows the logic of European migration policy, which is based on the externalization of borders (the management of EU borders abroad) and the state and media production of the statute of irregularity of migrants. According to the discourse of the media, migrants are reflected in most cases as passive agents, mafia victims or assisted by different entities. Sometimes they appear as actors using violence to reach their purpose while the image of them as an active subject which is not linked to conflicts is limited. To sum up, the prevailing discourse “takes citizenship away” from these people, as we have seen in the analyses of the different media outlets.


Journalism ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146488492098572
Author(s):  
Imke Henkel

Ever since Britain voted to leave the European Union, emotions have dominated the public debate. How negative emotions, such as anger, have impacted the Brexit vote, has been widely researched. Less attention has been focused on the role positive emotions played in debating Britain’s relationship to the EU. Using critical discourse analysis and drawing on appraisal theory to investigate the representation of emotions in six sample texts from a corpus of so-called ‘Euromyths’ ( N = 334), this study argues that positive emotions were used to create a myth in Roland Barthes’ sense to naturalise a Eurosceptic ideology of British defiance and power.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 92-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Krotofil ◽  
Dominika Motak

This paper discusses the Polish Catholic Church’s perception of the recent European migration crisis by examining its discursive practices through the lens of critical discourse analysis. We focus on two of the official communication channels of the Church: the website of the Polish Episcopate Conference (PEC) and the weekly magazine ekai.pl, published by the PEC-owned Catholic Information Agency (CIA). We demonstrate that despite the official appeal of the Polish Episcopate for Christian hospitality, views of bishops participating in the public debate on the migration crisis are not unanimous, but polarised. These internal divisions on the issue parallel the ambivalent stance of the Polish Church on Poland’s place in the European Union. The negative attitude of the majority of Poles to migrants, resulting in the refusal to participate in the European relocation programme, is sanctioned not only by the ruling political party but also by some representatives of religious authorities.


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