Migration discourse in Croatian news media

Abstract

This paper investigates migration discourse in Croatian news media by combining corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis approach. It first focuses on the phraseological and grammatical context of the terms migrant, imigrant, izbjeglica and azilant, whereupon it investigates the background of such linguistic behaviour. The latter is examined by means of critical discourse analysis, hence, by taking into account the non-linguistic context. This includes the analysis of historical, cultural and political context or sometimes even the relevant case law and standards of protection guaranteed in international humanitarian and human rights law. Results of the study suggest that discrimination does not occur only in the most obvious acts of inhuman treatment, such as pushbacks, but also in the language the media use when reporting on migration process.