Research Project: UK Media's Portrayal of Refugee Children in 2015

This research paper explores the impact of the 2015 refugee crisis on refugee and migrant children, focusing on the framing of information by a leading British newspaper. A qualitative analysis, using framing theory, examines the newspaper's presentation of data concerning children's conditions during August and September 2015. The study investigates the newspaper's tone and themes, revealing a neutral tone with an ecological frame to appeal to humanitarian sentiments in the UK. Secondary data from the newspaper is analyzed thematically to understand British media's reporting on children during the crisis. The research aims to critically analyze British media reporting on children affected by the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe in 2015, with objectives including understanding the crisis, analyzing media frames and themes, and examining visual representation.

<University>
<Research Project: Media Studies>
by
<Your Name>
<Date>
<Lecturer’s Name and Course Number>
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Abstract
This paper explores the impact of refugee crisis of 2015 on refugee and migrant
children based upon the information farmed by the leading Britain newspaper. A qualitative
analysis of framing concept describes the presentation of data in the newspaper about the
condition of children during August and September 2015. Detailed study of newspaper in the
terms of framing theory, tone and themes is conducted which help in understanding the media
studies. The condition of children during the refugee crisis is displayed in a neutral tone with
ecological frame for appealing humanitarian from UK people. In addition, by utilizing the
secondary data collected from secondary source like newspaper, British media report on
children have been analysed. Further, with the use of thematic analysis technique, entire data
of newspaper is analysed in a systematic manner. The conclusion is drawn with a clear
description about the achievement of aim and all the objectives.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract..........................................................................................................................3
Part 1 – Introduction.......................................................................................................4
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................4
1.2 Background..........................................................................................................5
1.3 Purpose of the Study............................................................................................7
Research Questions....................................................................................................8
Research Aims and Objectives...................................................................................9
Part 2 – Literature Review.............................................................................................9
2.2 Describing the media coverage of the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis by
European media..........................................................................................................9
2.3 Analysing the reporting done by UK media.......................................................12
2.4 Assessing the coverage of refugee, displaced and migrant children in the crisis
by UK media............................................................................................................16
Part 3 – Theoretical Framework and Methodology.....................................................19
Theoretical Framework............................................................................................19
Methodology............................................................................................................22
Research Design.......................................................................................................27
Part 4 – Findings and Discussion.................................................................................28
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4.1 Data Results........................................................................................................28
4.2 Analysis and Discussion.....................................................................................31
4.3 Limitation of the study.......................................................................................36
Conclusion....................................................................................................................36
Reference List..............................................................................................................40
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Part 1 – Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Throughout these years, the media have turned into trustworthy sources of information for the
people around the world. The reason is that, pubic searches for the information regarding the events,
which is occurring worldwide, and media is the major source for gaining the insight about those
events (Hartley, 2012). Thus, it is crucial to learn the different ways through which media frame
prominent news information. Similarly, British Media has captured and framed the news about the
2015 migrants and refugees of Europe where the reporting has been done on how the refugees and
migrant children have been affected by this crisis.
According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there were 65.6 million
individuals forcibly displaced worldwide because of persecution, violence, conflict or due to
violation of human rights (Brennen, 2012). However, most of the refugees have been migrated
towards the developing countries and a substantial number of them headed for Europe where they
risked their lives on the Mediterranean Sea. This news coverage has been done by the British Media
and the media framed the condition of refugee children in 2015. Further, in September 2015, one of
the photographs of a child went viral, which draws attention to the so-called refugee crisis at
Europe’s gates (Hamm and et al., 2015).
This research project is focused about The 2015 Migrant and Refugees in Europe and the
British Media coverage of Refugee and Migrant Children, which are affected by the crisis. Further,
this news has been framed in the media by using the framing theory. According to Vivar 2016 the
‘framing’ concept have been used in this study could be used for tracing back to the idea of
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distinctive understanding patterns which are located in different parts of the communication process
that is within the political system, journalists or media institutions and with the individual citizen.
Thus, the major role of these frames or patterns is to select and focus upon certain aspects of reality.
During the emphasized laid on media, these frames is understood as a distinctive as well as
recognizable patterns of news coverage which works for highlighting definite aspects of an event
over the others (Ruths and Pfeffer, 2014). This way, media frames provide suggestions about specific
judgements, attitudes as well as decisions about the individual and that results in a ‘framing effect.’
Studies of media framing effects generally assess two types of frames viz. issue-specific frames and
generic frames. In this study, framing effect for issue-specific frames has been done by British Media
report because the media have identified a particular issue of children’s condition in the crisis of
Refugee and Migrant in 2015.
Furthermore, this research study is focused primarily upon this topic and for that, qualitative
research is conducted. Moreover, data gathering is done using secondary sources and the researcher
does analysis of the collected information (Watson and Hill, 2015). Further, for doing research on a
selected topic that how did British media report about the refugee and migrant children affected by
the crisis in 2015, author has studied all the articles and journals which talks about the refugee crisis
and impact of the crisis over children. Most importantly, focus has been laid upon the photo of a
three-year old drown Syrian boy.
1.2 Background
The European migrant crisis or the European refugee crisis is that term which has been given
to a period beginning in 2015 (Fargues, 2014). It is the time when large numbers of people arrived in
the European Union by travelling across the Mediterranean Sea. The folk of people includes the ones
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who were seeking asylum but there were also like economic migrants, some hostile agents as well as
Islamic State militants who were disguised as refugees or migrants (Gulland, 2015). Among these
migrants, most of the people were those who came from Muslim-majority countries of South & East
Europe, which includes Western Asia, South Asia as well as Africa (Carrera and et al., 2015). Due to
religious affiliation, the major group was of Muslim (mainly Sunni Muslim) and the smaller group of
people was consisting of non-Muslim minorities that includes Yazidis, Assyrians, Mandeans, etc.
As per the information from UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the top three
nationalities of entrants arrived between January 2015 and March 2015 and those were Syrian
(46.7%), Afghan (20.9%) and Iraqi (9.4%) (Yazgan, Utku and Sirkeci, 2015). Among these migrants
who arrived by sea in 2015, adults male were 58% who aged above 18 years, 17% were adult females
over the age 18 years and 25% people were minor who were under 18 years of age (Albahari, 2015).
In April 2015, the number of deaths at Mediterranean Sea rose to the record level. Five boats sank in
the sea, which was carrying 2000 migrants to Europe, with a combined death toll, which was
estimated at more than 1200 people.
The majority of migrants were of Syrian because the conflict in the country Syria continues
to grow. Whereas, the ongoing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, abuses in Eritrea, while poverty in
Kosovo, also encourages people to look new lives elsewhere. Further, not all these migrants are
arriving in Europe claims for asylum but most of them did (Heisbourg, 2015). As per the news,
Germany received the more than 476,000 application for asylum in 2015. Further, Hungary was
placed second for receiving asylum application because many migrants made their journey through
Greece and the Western Balkans. This nation has 177,130 applications by the end of December
(Abbasi, Patel and Godlee, 2015).
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The International Organization for Migration identified that migrants got into Europe
through two ways. It was estimated that more than 1,011,700 migrants arrived by sea in the year
2015 and almost 34,900 arrived to the continent by land (Bojadžijev and Mezzadra, 2015). The
external border force, Frontex, have monitored different routes, which have been used by migrants,
and numbers arriving at the border of Europe and put the crossing into Europe in 2015 was estimated
at more than 1,800,000. Most of them headed for Greece took relatively short voyage from Turkey to
the Island of Kos, Chios, Lesvos and Samos through flimsy rubber dinghies or wooden small boats
(Berti, 2015). As per the IOM studies, more than 3,770 migrants were dies while crossing the
Mediterranean in 2015. Mostly people died while crossing from North Africa to Italy and 800+ died
in Aegean crossing from Turkey to Greece. In the month of summer, most fatalities occurred because
it is regarded as the busiest time for migrants as they attempt to reach Europe. However, in 2015, the
deadliest month for refugees and migrants was April in which a boat was sank which was carrying
800 people in the sea of Libya. Overcrowding was regarded as one of the reasons for the disaster
(Guild, E. and et al., 2015).
Out of all the European countries, Hungary was the most affected due to these migrants
because it has the highest in proportion to its population. Although, the country closed its border with
Croatia for stopping the flow in October but nearly 1800 refugees per 100,000 of local population of
Hungary claimed the asylum in the year 2015 (Veebel and Markus, 2015).
1.3 Purpose of the Study
This study have been conducted with the purpose of identifying the impact of refugee and
migrant crisis of 2015 on children and how this have been reported in the British media. Further, the
research aimed at assessing the importance of refugee and migrant children in European news media
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(Ruths and Pfeffer, 2014). There are many articles, which depicts the condition of children during the
2015 crisis. Focus of some of the news articles were towards the children and made them as a strong
object for appealing humanity. The reason was that, most the migrant children were prone to death in
this crisis. The media also helped in raising humanity appeal with the help of children (Watson and
Hill, 2015). The photo of 3-year old drown Syrian boy was viral worldwide with the help of online
media and this demanded the start of humanity. For identifying the important of children in UK
media reporting, the research has been carried out.
Further, the media has used the framing theory for publishing the news regarding the refugee
and migrant crisis in 2015 (García Carrasco and et al., 2015). For analysing the pattern of frame used
by the journalists for reporting this news, the researcher has conducted this study. Some of the
articles have used issue-specific frame for highlighting the particular event happened in Europe
during 2015 (Atkisson, 2012). Furthermore, the research has been carried out for recognizing the
themes and tone used by the media for covering the children affected by this crisis. In addition to
this, the purpose of this research also defines that analysis has been done on the visual representation
of the news of children. For instance, printing of picture in newspaper or online posts in a manner
that it directly appeals the people to help the refugees and migrants as well as their children who are
starving for food, shelter and livelihood (Park, Holody and Zhang, 2012).
Research Questions
1. How important were the refugee and migrant children in UK news reporting?
2. What were the themes, frames and tone of media coverage of children impacted by this
crisis?
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3. How they were visually represented?
4. How the refugee and migrant children were affected by the crisis?
Research Aims and Objectives
Aim: To critically analyse the British media reporting about the affected children by Refugee and
Migrant Crisis in Europe, 2015.
Objectives:
1. To understand the concepts of Refugee and Migrant crisis in Europe, 2015.
2. To critically analyse the major frames, themes and tone of the media coverage of children
impacted by the Refugee and Migrant crisis in Europe, 2015.
3. To analyse the visual representation of British media regarding the affected children in this crisis.
Part 2 – Literature Review
2.2 Describing the media coverage of the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis by European
media
According to Cissel 2012 media plays an essential role in individual’s life because it keeps
the people updated regarding the events happening in and around the world. Further, if the coverage
is displayed in different nations, then it motivated the groups that are doing good. Thus, media
coverage can bring the life to humans if covered in an appropriate manner. For this aspect, framing
concept is required to be adopted by the journalist for presenting the new to the audience in a proper
frame.
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Moreover, as per the analysis of Wasike 2013 framing concept is an idea of distinct patterns
of understanding placed in several parts of the communication process that is within the system, with
journalists or media and with the individual citizen. The major role of these frames or patterns is to
choose and emphasize over certain aspects of reality. It can be said that they perform the function of
organization. Rose and Baumgartner 2013 supported the content and described that in a more specific
manner, frames provide the definition of problems, diagnosis of the causes, making of moral
judgements and suggesting the remedies. Additionally, framing effects research generally focuses on
cognitive framing effects like influencing the specific opinions of individual or their underlying
attitudes.
Similarly, European media have used these frames to display the condition of refugees and
migrants during 2015. The research of Waterton and Watson 2013 reveals that a variety of issue-
specific frames was used in immigration and integration debates. A key finding was that immigrants
and minority groups are presented as either threat to the host society or being illegal/criminal or as
innocent victims.
The European media played a central role in framing the arrival of refugees and migrants to
European shores in the year 2015 as a crisis for Europe (Scheufele and Iyengar, 2012). However, the
coverage of “the crisis” had been characterised by significant diversity, or new arrivals were seen as
outsiders and different to Europeans as vulnerable outsiders or dangerous outsiders. In this, framing
of the coverage was regarded as “the crisis” which means that the immigration of the outsiders were
considered as a crisis for the Europe because they could be either vulnerable for the country or as the
innocent victims (Pettorelli and et al., 2016).
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Throughout this period, UNHCR as well as other humanitarian organization were engaged in
a series of large-scale media advocacy with an aim at convincing European countries for providing
more help to the migrants. The European media set the tone of dramatic rise in attention towards the
refugee crisis, which was followed, in the second half of 2015. However, Cheng and et al., 2014
argued that, media was far from united in its response about this event. Further, the media of Europe
played an essential role in framing the public debate on the “refugee crisis” that was heightened in
autumn of 2015. Hoskins and Nguyen 2014 in his study, identified the narration developed by print
media in eight European countries and their contribution to the public perception of the “crisis”;
which got shifted from careful tolerance in the summer to an outpouring of solidarity and
humanitarianism in September 2015 and to a debate of securitisation and a narrative of fear in the
month of November 2015.
As per the studies of Pauly, Varcoe and Storch 2012 the major trends used by the European
media for covering the news of refugee crisis are regional trends, temporal trends and media trends.
In regional trend, it defines that there are significant differences in the news coverage across
European nations. At the beginning of “the crisis” and throughout the crisis, there was a contrast in
between the East and the West media coverage and between receiving and non-receiving countries
(Waterton and Watson, 2013). In temporal trends, there was a change in the narration of the coverage
in the Europe during 2015. The sympathetic and empathetic response of the European press gradually
changed from suspicion to hostility towards refugees and migrants. Lastly, in the media trends,
promotion of hate speech and hostility towards the migrants and refugees was done through press
coverage by European media. Moreover, the media has provided very limited opportunities to
migrants and refugees speak directly about their sufferings and experiences.
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On the contrary, media of Europe framed the children of refugee and migrant as a similar
threat like that of adults. Further, there was a certain specific coverage by media about the children
and even the coverage of three year old drown Syrian boy couldn’t generate the humanity among the
citizens of host country. The reason was that, media left very limited scope for the people to take the
decisions in favour of refugee (Peifer, 2013). It is because, media struggled over word choices and
the media used the terms migrant, refugee, and asylum seekers interchangeably for depicting the
current crisis. Moreover, it also used smuggling and trafficking in an interchangeable manner.
Therefore, it changed the mindset of people of different countries across Europe and migrants were
started treated as threat to the national security, threat to community, hate speech were started against
them.
Sirin and Rogers-Sirin 2015 defined that children do the functioning of aid ads as
quintessential recipients that mobilized parental feelings. Many authors have an optimistic view
regarding the essential role of children to be a part in the development of human behaviour and
restoring the hope for fuelling the humanitarian sentiment. Therefore, the media coverage of three
year old drown Syrian boy, fuelled the humanity among the souls of citizens. However, it did not
stayed for longer because the hate speech of European media again wiped it off. On the contrary,
UNHCR with the help of few media used the children for depicting the suffering, which are faced by
refugees and migrants (Eide and Hjern, 2013). This slightly changed the minds of people. Further, the
children were not much focused by European media as they wanted to start the campaign against the
refugee and migrants because they regarded them as a threat to the country. Moreover, the negative
description, usage of loaded and inappropriate language as well as stereotyping, at the end resulted in
dehumanization of refugees and this consequently did the contribution in increasing the direct,
structural and cultural violence against refugees (Catchpole and Coulombier, 2015).
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This study is based upon the framing theory and framing research defines that how stories are
portrayed by media. Freyenberger 2013, explained that media framing is based upon the notion that
characterization of an issue in news report can have an influence upon the interpretation of story by
the audiences. The manner in which individual classifies the information also adds to the framing
theory and framing is regarded as macro level as well as micro level construct. As a macro level
construct, the framing term is referred to as the modes of presentation, which journalists use for
presenting information in certain manner, which resonates with an existing underlying schemas
among their audiences. The major purpose of using framing theory is to reduce the complexity of the
story. Similarly, the media of Europe and UK have used various frames for depicting the stories of
refugee crisis and the audiences form them in such a way that it is easily recognizable. However, this
formed the pubic opinion about the refugees.
2.3 Analysing the reporting done by UK media
The migrants and refugees tried to enter the UK as well which resulted in the similar event
what happened in other parts of the Europe (Pachocka, 2015). Moreover, the British media also have
done the coverage of the issue in a similar manner like other Europeans. However, there are certain
aspects, which have been farmed by the British media in such a manner that it raised the
humanitarian among the citizens and this lead to the welcome of refugees by the residents of the
nation (Finch, 2015).
As per the views of Nougayrede 2015 media plays a crucial role in forming the perception of
public during the conflict. Moreover, media has this much power to help the needy people for making
out the meaning of their situation. Similarly, they also have a power of setting agendas and tones.
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Nancheva 2015 defines that media frames the story line using framing concept so that public can take
out the meanings of the events. Research by Bačić Selanec 2015 shows that there is a correlation
between media frame importance and public interpretation because not only the public opinions
impacts the media but media plays a role in shaping the opinion of the public. Therefore, only media
can alter the opinions of public by displaying the fact about the events.
During the migrant and refugee crisis in Europe in 2015, British media along with other
European media did the coverage of event by framing it as “the refugee crisis” (Van Baar, 2015).
Media depicted this event as a threat for the country and their citizen and this lead to the inhuman
treatment with the refugees. Further, it also reached to the direct, structural and cultural violence by
the people of Europe. Some of the major news or reporting companies like The Guardian and The
Daily Mail has reported very disturbing coverage, which changed the mindset of people across
Europe and Britain.
According to the news article, which was published in The Daily Mail, says, “mass migration
to the borders of Britain is allowing terrorists to sneak into the EU border (Seker and Sirkeci, 2015).
The Paris attack is a proof that jihadists were exploiting the refugee crisis and the Frontex agency
logged a record that more than 1.80 million illegal crossing were held into the EU in the year 2014.”
From this excerpt, it can be concluded that, Britain media was posting similar content
regarding the refugees and migrants during the crisis in 2015. This led to the removal of humanitarian
among the citizens of Britain and other European countries for the migrants and nobody cared about
their suffering (Bruno, 2015). Moreover, The Daily Mirror also depicted “that migrant crisis is here
but in a year it might be a WAR.” It means that media has portrayed the refugee and migrants as a
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terrorism threat. Thus, the British media were considered similar at this point for covering the issue
of refugee crisis during 2015.
However, Ramel, B. and et al., 2015 defined that British Media was the one who broke the
stereotype of the refugee crisis by fuelling up the humanitarian among the people of Britain and
Europe. For the first time, UK reporters used the children in appealing the UK audiences’ for
humanitarian communication. As per the views of Huemer, Karnik and Steiner 2009 children are
depicted in humanitarian communication at high frequency and this provide the evidence about the
widespread belief that children are highly effective in grabbing the attention of audiences. Some
authors believe that childhood has high potential in media reporting because it displays the object of
all our collective good intentions. Due to this, UK media did appealing for humanitarian through the
children.
After this article, media changed their perception and headed towards the building of
humanity among the UK people and this happened because the picture of 3 year old drown Syrian
boy was viral by the media (Vervliet and et al., 2014). This changed the perception of media and it
walked towards the path for awakening the world for supporting refugees. Furthermore, The
Guardian wrote an article for pointing out the government’s shameful determination for not opening
the borders for refugees who are fleeing from the war. It also mentioned that international treaty
obligation and the prompting of the collective conscience entails to offer a sanctuary when
humanitarian catastrophe unfolds before our eyes.
The media also argued that why it has taken so long for the Syrian to enter the EU gates. The
war in Syria is going from four years and there are no chances of getting any better, therefore, more
refugees are expected to enter at EU borders (Jensen, Skårdalsmo and Fjermestad, 2014). Therefore,
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the EU must welcome them all by opening their gates. On the other hand, Daily Mirror printed that
Britain has provided the true contribution in helping out the depurate refugees. Moreover, when the
humanitarian crisis was introduced, more and more refugees are entering the border of Europe.
According to the report of International Organization for Migration, 7000 people per day are landing
the island of Greek.
Despite of the predominant narration in media coverage about refugees, some fine journalism
helped in awakening the humanitarian among the citizens. People in Europe walked out in a
campaign particularly named as welcoming campaign, which represented the “We Help”. They also
created a page on Facebook “Friends of the refugees”, etc. This depicted that British Media has
covered the positive part of the crisis and this helped in changing the opinion of the public, which
resulted in the welcome of refugees in different parts of Europe. This has been done by appealing
humanity through children who were starving for death and one small child already dead (Vervliet
and et al., 2014). Therefore, the effect of the crisis on children has led to the risen of humanity among
the people of Europe.
2.4 Assessing the coverage of refugee, displaced and migrant children in the crisis by UK
media
The UK media covered the entire report of refugee, displaced and migrant children in the
crisis because they wanted to appeal humanitarian to the UK audience through the medium of
children (Wright, 2014). According to “The Guardian”, while migrating from Syria to European
borders through Mediterranean Sea, 6000 children went missing. Moreover, the news reporter
interviewed the children of refugee and migrants and found out that children are making the journey
alone towards the new life. As risk for the refugee is vast while crossing Mediterranean Sea but for
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an unaccompanied minor they are inconceivable. However, still many more children are being forced
for taking that risk (Hutchison, Bleiker and Campbell, 2014).
Similarly, The Telegraph also reported that Thousands of Syrian children have been left alone
for surviving a life of a refugee when they become orphan or separated from their parents during the
Syrian conflict (Doersch, Gupta and Efros, 2015). It also covered the point that UNHCR Special
envoy called on to ease the restrictions of borders and to increase the support for the children, whose
lives have been shattered due to the civil war. This message has been conveyed to the neighbouring
countries of Syria and to the international community. Thus, the media of UK has spread these words
to the news by proper coverage about the kids (Wright and Kapler, 2015).
Before 3 September 2015, the news reporter of UK used to cover about the crisis, which has
hit the European border where, refugees and migrants are relocating to the European countries from
Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, etc. Moreover, the media reported the refugees as a threat to the national
community and to the nation’s security (Agrawal and et al., 2014). Further, they were also presented
as the terrorism, which eliminated the humanity among the citizen of UK, and they started a direct as
well as cultural violence against the refugees.
However, on 2nd September 2015, a picture got viral through social media and it depicted a
Syrian boy who was lying face-down on a Turkish beach new Bordum. He was 3-year old and his
name was Aylan Kurdi (Vis and Goriunova, 2015). His mother and elder brother also drowned in the
sea and only his father survived somehow. The family belongs to Damascus and they were heading
towards Europe in a smuggler’s boat. This picture made the people realized about the suffering and
pains of the people who are migrating from Syria (Barnard and Shoumali, 2015). Within days, the
photo of Alyan’s body migrated from social media to news feed and even newspapers. When the
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media did so, the story was evolved beyond the tragic fact of death of Alyan by focusing upon the
rapid astonishment at which the image of the child was circulated on media and it provoked the
widespread anguish and outrage.
In fact, this response rendered the fate of the boy as newsworthy and this dominated the press
reports. The human rights advocacy group and humanitarian NGOs hoped that the image of Alyan
would go transnational and push the grassroots political movement beyond national constituencies.
Further, Drainville 2015 defined that the meaning has been constructed through Alyan’s image by the
media and it has insistently keyed to contemporary concerns about the ongoing refugee crisis and
Syrian civil war. Morabia and Benjamin 2015 also depicted that a significant change has been viewed
in the UK media report after the dead body of Alyan Kurdi found half drowned at the shore of sea.
The media have now bent towards the refugee children and they are more focused towards the shelter
and food for the migrated children who are mainly alone. Those children are seeking for asylum by
their own and media mow emphasize the government to provide the shelter to these kids (Burns,
2015).
Further, the media like The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Guardian, etc. have now appealed
to the UK audience through visual representation. The narration of the coverage appeal an emotional
aspect of human but the images of the condition of these refugees and migrants snatches the quick
attention of the audiences (Vis, 2015). Therefore, media used the benefits of visual representation and
presented the report to the people through online feed and print newspaper. Through this, they
grabbed the attention of maximum people and this way they seek the help from UNHCR to rescue the
children. Furthermore, the visual representation of refugee camp and asylum seeker has given a birth
of humanity again among the UK audiences.
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In addition to this, humanitarian emerged and evolved in tandem with the help of
photographic technologies. Humanitarian photos were composed, narrated and lastly they were
circulated within few minutes through social media after the occurrence of this incident. After this
incident, UK media wrote several articles where they used children as an object for appealing
humanitarian from the citizens of UK (Vis, 2015). Moreover, they also conveyed the message to the
British government about the opening of border gate for the refugees so that they could find the
shelter for their family. The daily published in the newspaper regarding the help for the refugees. An
interesting fact happened after the major incident that news frames began to change from “refugee as
a threat” to “save the refugees and migrant’s children.” Rodgers 2015 defined that picture of Alyan
Kurdi came as a revolution for the Media coverage and this helped in changing the public opinion
regarding the refugee and migrant who have migrated because of genuine reason.
Media coverage highlighted that these migrants were already suffering from long time in
Syria and Afghanistan due to civil war and now as a refugee, they are suffering and receiving
extreme pain because of loss of their loved ones, unaccompanied and were not even permitted to live
in European countries as migrants (Withnall, 2015). Therefore, through the medium of newspaper
and other online media, news reporter wanted to bring this into the notice of political leaders to ease
the formalities at borders and other legal formalities for seeking asylum so that they can get the
shelter and food in new nations. This way they can start the journey of their life in a better way
(Boonen, A.J. and et al., 2014).
Despite the increasing number of framing studies, the tenets of framing theory are applied
majorly for analysing texts. The idea of framing firstly appeared in the minds of Goffman’s seminal
work in 1974, which postulated that the context as well as organization of the message influences the
subsequent thoughts and actions of audiences regarding the messages. However, visual frames put
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more emphasize over the thoughts of audiences because it displays the actual report of the situation.
As per the thoughts of Rodriguez and Dimitrova 2011, frames derive more power from their
symbolic significance because they utilize recognizable myths and metaphors in the narratives.
Further, drawings, photographs, illustrations, image illustrations as well as other graphic devices are
referred to as visuals or images, which can be examined or evaluated for the frames, which convey
the information. Thus, the images of Aylan Kurdi speak the truth about the refugee condition as it
took the heart out of the people and this raises the humanity among the people. Therefore, the media
of UK used the images of children for appealing the humanity. After the incident of Aylan Kurdi,
media using visual representation provide most of the information about the refugee and in that,
images of children were posted to appeal the humanity.
Part 3 – Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Theoretical Framework
This chapter defines the theoretical framework for the media coverage in various frames. For
learning about the media frames, it is very crucial to understand the concept of Communication for
Development. Later the theories and assumption of the framing concept will be described in this
section.
As it is known that in recent years, the field of development studies has emerged into a
broadly defined interest in social change. Therefore, the development study is not only limited to ‘the
developing world’. For instance, the approach to refugee theme is regarded as an issue of social
change as well as development interventions (Ardèvol-Abreu, 2015). A small act of reporting on this
particular topic is a form of intervention and hence, the communication intervention has started
receiving more attention in a developmental field. Furthermore, theories are formulated for
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explaining, predicting and understanding phenomena and in several cases for challenging and
extending current knowledge under the limits of critical bounding assumptions. Further, theoretical
framework is regarded as a structure, which can hold or provide support to a theory of a research
study (Pacitto and Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2013). Moreover, the theoretical framework gives an
introduction and defines the theory, which explains the existence of the research problem under
study.
Similarly, this research study has also comes with research questions and aim and to prove
their existence, theory has been described for its support. For the current research on British media
report on impact of children due to refugee crisis, framing theory and agenda setting theory has been
described, which will answer the questions of the research.
Further, the theory related to the concept of media coverage is Agenda – setting. This theory
relies on the assumption that media has an ability to influence the thinking of the people and that they
could set the ‘public agenda’ (De Vreese, 2012). By putting emphasize on certain issue, mass media
could influence the people for conceiving a certain subject. For instance, if media starts posting about
the refugees as a threat on a continuous basis then people will start taking it as an essential topic
without knowing a fact behind it.
Secondly, the framing theory is also linked with the Communication for Development
because media reporters frame the news to communicate with the audience and forms their opinion.
Framing concept is widely used but it is not defined in a uniform manner. Gromov and et al., 2015
defines the frame as a central organizing story line, which provides meaning to unfolding strips of
events. Further, the frame suggest about the controversy and about the essence of the issue. Borah
2011 also describes that framing is to select various aspects of a perceived reality and to make them
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more salient in way that it communicates with the reader. This is done to promote a specific problem
definition, moral evaluation, recommendation and casual interpretation. Framing theory leads to the
assumptions that media texts are not regarded as a neutral instrument but it based upon the fact that
which words have been chosen and how the story has been narrated (Scheufele and Iyengar, 2012). It
means that particular event can be presented in various ways and choosing one method over the other
holds a particular meaning.
It can be assumed that newspapers did not set the debate during the refugee crisis but they
also played a significant role in the construction of a particular meaning. Pictures are used in framing
the news and are used as an instrument for supporting a specific interpretation (Cheng and et al.,
2014). For instance, an article was accompanied by photos of innocent refugee children then people
will be sympathized more with those portraits. Thus, framing is not only a mere text but also when
the picture accompanies it, it becomes worth reading.
Framing concept is now somewhat clear and it can be assumed that there are certain
commonly used frames, which the media uses for influencing the readers/audiences. Some of the
commonly used frames are; outcome frame, ecology frame, ‘As If’ frame, backtrack frame, contrast
frame, relevancy frame and open frame (Wasike, 2013). By using these frames, media reporters do
the coverage of news in newspaper and in news feed. Furthermore, every frame depicts distinctive
understanding and based upon that public opinion is formed.
Methodology
This section of the research project gives an overview of the research that has been conducted,
the methods used for carrying out the investigation and material used for analysing the objectives and
the choices made by the researcher (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Before moving on to the
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research part, it is important to explain the notion “children affected in refugee crisis”. The reason is
that this notion may provide the suggestion of an implicit value judgement. Further, for limiting the
scope of this study, researcher has decided to emphasize mainly on the newspaper article. There are
number of reasons for selecting newspaper as the only medium because there numerous other media
like TV channels that broadcast news but there are few newspapers, which are widely read. Further, it
is easier to find out the news related to this topic rather than TV news (Lewis, 2015). Lastly, to obtain
previous years newspaper is an easier task, so combination of all these reasons has led the researcher
to focus upon newspaper readings for finding out the impact of refugee crisis on children of refugee
and migrants in 2015.
Further, there are several research methodologies used by the author for reaching to the point
and analysing the data. These methodologies have been described below.
Research Approach
For making overall decisions, research approach is used by the researcher to identify that
which approach will lead to the appropriate result (Flick, 2015). There are generally two types of
research approach, which is used by the investigator for analysing the research study based on its
nature. One is inductive approach and the second is deductive approach. By using any of the two
given approach, researcher perform its study in either general manner or in specific manner.
Deductive approach particularly moves from general context to the more specific aspect and that of
inductive approach goes from specific point to general part. Based on the nature of research,
researcher utilizes any one approach for carrying out their study (Panneerselvam, 2014).
For present study “How British media report about the refugee and migrant children impacted
by the crisis of 2015”, researcher has used deductive approach where he has analysed the general
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content in detail and then moved towards the specific ones. The general content in the study is about
the media coverage about the refugee and migrant crisis of 2015 by European media and then it
moved towards the British media coverage about the affected children of refugee and migrants.
Further, researcher have analysed the leading British newspaper frames of August and September
2015 and then the results have been presented (Neuman and Robson, 2014). Therefore, the
newspaper readings have provided effective answers to the research questions. For that aspect,
researcher has used deductive approach for the current study.
Research Technique
To construct the answer of asked research questions, researcher uses the research technique.
There are generally two types of research techniques based on which the research type is decided.
One is qualitative research technique and the other is quantitative research technique. These two
techniques have an essential role to play for carrying out an effective research on a given topic (Gast
and Ledford, 2014). Qualitative techniques help the author is putting a light over the theoretical
aspect of the study and also in understanding the subjective concept of a given topic for the study. On
the contrary, quantitative research technique helps in fulfilling the numerical concepts of the
research. When the data collected is numerical in term than researcher applies quantitative technique
to the research study, whereas, the collected information is theoretical in nature then it uses
qualitative research technique for the given study.
The present study contains both type of data that is theoretical as well as numerical terms,
therefore, researcher will apply quantitative and qualitative technique to the present study. The
quantitative term in the investigation is about the number of children migrated to the Europe from
Syria, Afghanistan and other countries; number of children affected due to this crisis; and how many
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children were found dead in the refugee crisis (Smith, 2015). Therefore, investigator has used
quantitative technique for the current research project.
On the other hand, for analysing the impact of refugee crisis on children, newspaper articles
have been analysed. Therefore, this regarded as the qualitative or theoretical data, so researcher will
also use qualitative technique for analysing the result there on. For that aspect, both type of
techniques have been used in this research study (Bauer, 2014).
Research Design
Research design is regarded as the blue print of the entire research study. For making a blue
print for the research, there are various types of research designs are used based on the type of
research (Billig and Waterman, 2014). The different types of research are diagnostic, explanatory,
descriptive, content analysis design and experimental research design. Each design has its own
significance and is used in different types of research according to its nature and type.
Furthermore, for carrying out present research study, author will use content analysis research
design. It is considered as a technique for describing the written, spoken or visual communication in
a systematic manner. Most often, content analysis provides quantitative description but many content
analyses uses media such as newspaper and News feed for describing the research content. There are
numerous reasons behind the selection of this research design. One is the data is rescorded using
leading newspaper articles of August 2015 and September 2015 and these articles have been analysed
and reviewed in an appropriate manner by using written and visual communication of that
newspaper. Further, the design lay emphasize on the condition of the refugee and migrant children
during the crisis. Thus, to present the review of the topic in a proper manner, researcher has adopted
this research design (Choy, 2014). Two, for providing proper review of the investigation of written
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and visual representation of the topic, this design will provide great help to the researcher, as this will
record the communication of British media about the migrated children towards Europe through
Mediterranean Sea, condition of children at refugee camp, number of deaths of children occurred
during this time period, etc. Thus, these are the reasons for which content analysis research design
has been used by the author.
Data Collection Method
This is a primary activity of any research study because without this activity, research cannot
give an answer to the asked research question. There are two types of data available in the world and
they are used as per the requirement of the research aims and objectives (Bryman and Bell, 2014).
One is primary data, the other is secondary data, these data are collected using two sources that are
primary source, and the other is secondary source. To be more precise, primary data are those, which
are collected for the first time and are regarded as fresh information. In addition, if the data is
collected using primary source such as through survey method, observation method or focus group
method then it is considered as primary data.
On the other hand, data collected using secondary source such as books, journals, magazines,
business reports, newspapers, internet, etc. then it is termed as secondary data. Those information
which already been searched by someone and the researcher is utilizing the already available
information for its research then it is regarded as secondary data (Reynolds and et al., 2014). Thus, it
can be said that primary data are newer information, whereas, sandarac data are already existing
information which is used by the researcher for answering the research question in a similar field.
For the current research study, researcher have used secondary data that have been collected
using secondary source of information “Newspaper or News Feed”. The reason for using secondary
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information is that, author is conducting a research on the topic, which has already occurred in the
past, and the primary data could not be collected from the people about the past event (Riedl, Davis
and Hevner, 2014). Therefore, by reading the news articles of the year 2015, research questions are
answered and research objectives have been fulfilled. For gathering the information, leading British
newspaper has been used like The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mirror and
The Daily Mail.
Data Analysis
This is the most important section of the research study where collected data is analysed and
the result of the entire study is generated. It is crucial for the researcher to use this section in an
effective manner because this is the only section for which research has been carried out. Further,
analysis of data is done so that outcome can be presented to the audience through two methods. First
method is thematic style and the other method is statistical presentation (McCusker and Gunaydin,
2015). Generally, thematic method is used in analysing the qualitative secondary data and in this,
themes are formed and those themes are answered to fulfil the aim and objectives of the study. On the
other hand, statistical method is used for the quantitative data in order to present the numerical terms
in a statistic form. This analyses the qualitative information in a more precise manner.
For the present study of the topic “British media report on the refugee and migrant children
affected by the crisis in 2015”, thematic method has been used for analysing the data. It is because,
the data gathered is of secondary in nature and it is mainly theoretical. Thus, by making themes of the
information, analysis could be done in a more effective manner (Isaacs, 2014).
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Research Design
As discussed above, there several types of research design, which are used by the researcher
to accomplish the research aim and objectives. For the present research study, content analysis
research design has been used and this design has helped in recording and reviewing the content of
the major British newspaper – “The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mirror
and The Daily Mail.” The content is about the migrant and refugee children and the impact of the
crisis on those children during August 2015 and September 2015 (Mukhopadhyay and Gupta, 2014).
From the newspaper of The Daily Mirror on 29 August 2015, it has been found that three
young children were found with dehydration in a critical condition when the refugee truck was
stopped in Austria. Among 26 refugees from Middle East, the children were close to death. It can be
assumed that children did not have food and water from longer time. It also reads that four children
were among the dead and they are presumed to be from Syria (The Daily Mirror, 2015). Moreover,
the images of the children in the newspaper provide the visual representation of the content. These
images have been reviewed for analysing the analogical quality of the images. The analogical quality
of the images refers to as the fact that association in-between images and its meaning are based on
similarity or analogy.
The Guardian displayed in its September 2015 publish about the shocking images of a Syrian
boy who was found drown at the Turkey beach. The line says “the full horror of the human tragedy
unfolding on the shores of Europe was brought home on Wednesday as the images of lifeless body of
a 3 year old boy, one out of 12 Syrians who drowned while attempting to reach the Greek island
depicts that refugees are taking extraordinary risks for reaching the west.” This news of Aylan Kurdi
went viral within few hours under the title, Humanity washed ashore (The Guardian, 2015). The
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visual representation in this news is highly influencing, thus, it can be reviewed that the researcher to
identify the type of frame has done visual analysis.
Further, the news line from Independent newspaper says that, lost children who were split
from their parents have become vulnerable to trafficking and abuse. Children and unaccompanied
young ones have lost their loved ones during the long journey to Europe and they have being left to
fend for themselves (Independant Newspaper, 2015).
Moreover, The Daily Mail has also used the visual framing concept to demonstrate the
children news in its media. It commented that “A humanitarian crisis 15 years in the making.” This
way the media has conveyed to raise the humanity among the people to accept the refugee in the
continent (The Daily Mail, 2015). Apart from this, British media was continuously capturing the
condition of refugee children in order to appeal the humanity among the people, whereas, The
Guardian showed on 1st September 2015 that “Hungarian TV told not to broadcast images of refugee
children”. This shows that British media was breaking the stereotype and appealing the humanitarian
among UK people (The Guardian, 2015).
Similarly, one more article of The Guardian on 4th September 2015 displayed the visual
representation in its publish where a refugee children is standing half inside the border gate and half
outside it and its frame reads “Syrian refugee crisis: why has it became so bad?” This article has also
displayed the images of children resting on the road while keeping their head on the bags (The
Guardian, 2015). This is the method of doing visual framing in the newspaper and the media has
done this to show the actual condition of the refugee children during the crisis.
From the above news lines, it can be analysed that children are the ones who have been
affected most by this crisis. During the interview with refugees and migrants by the British media, it
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was found that most of the refugee and migrant children went missing (Wernesjö, 2014). Further, the
unaccompanied children are more in number as they lost their loved ones during the journey towards
Europe. Many children were found starving and dehydrated which depicts their condition that they
are close to death. Moreover, the incident of Aylan Kurdi occurred in September when the refugee
migrants were at peak and this helped the media to appeal humanitarian to the audiences through the
medium of children using written and visual communication. Moreover, through the content analysis
design, it can be reviewed that the British media has captured the condition of refugee and migrant
children and it described that their condition was horrible they were affected most due to this crisis.
Further, the coverage of media presented the condition of the children and through this; media have
showed the real suffering and pain of the migrant children to the world using visual representation as
well as through written communication (Ramel and et al., 2015).
Part 4 – Findings and Discussion
4.1 Data Results
The result of the data is presented based on the information gathered by the researcher.
Further, the result must be presented in an appropriate manner so that it provides the clear outcome,
which came out of the research. Thus, this section provides the results of the gathered data in
previous section.
The result of the qualitative data has been done by the researcher in this section, which is
completely based upon the analysis of the content in the above section. In the previous discussion,
author has analysed the newspaper articles published in August and September 2015. Number of
major British newspaper report has been assessed in the above section regarding the impact on
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children due to refugee crisis in 2015. Further, this content has been analysed and reviewed and the
result is presented in the similar manner using content analysis method.
The major British newspaper, which presented the report of affected children during August
and September 2015 are The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mirror and The
Daily Mail. They have presented the condition of the children during the immigration of refugees
from Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, etc. towards Europe. Moreover, they also described that how the
children have been impacted through different ways while traveling from Syria to European borders.
Further, each newspaper has focused their coverage towards the condition of the children because
they could appeal for humanitarian to the public through children in a more influencing manner.
The Daily newspaper reported that three children with extreme dehydration in a critical
condition when they spotted a refugee truck at Austria. Those children were close to death because
they were starving and completely dehydrated, as they did not get any food and water during the
journey. This shows that elders could survive without water and food for some days but children
could not hold on so long. Further, they were already suffering from long time in Syria due to civil
war, and during this journey, their suffering became intense. The reason is that, large number of
people migrated from Middle East to Europe and the quantity of food and water was very limited at
camp so this lead to the starvation and dehydration among the refugees (mainly children). This
happened generally during August and September when the refugees were moving in large numbers.
Therefore, this crisis left a major impact on the children. Thus, this condition of the children reported
by The Daily newspaper filled the people with more humanity.
Further, the news flash of almost all the newspaper of UK on 3rd September 2015 displayed
the image of Alyan Kurdi who was a 3-year-old Syrian boy, who was found face down at the beach
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of Turkey. He drowns while crossing the Mediterranean Sea for reaching the Greek Island along with
his mother and elder brother. Somehow, his father survived and the report about the child was taken
from him. The pictures of Alyan Kurdi left the people with a great shock and it enlightened the
humanitarian spirit among the people of UK. The news coverage by The Telegraph displayed the
condition of Syrian children as a vulnerable. Moreover, it also presented the number of deaths of
children during the immigration of refugees from Middle East to European countries.
One other newspaper, The Independent, framed the news in September 2015 about the
unaccompanied children who have become vulnerable for trafficking and abuse. This showed that,
children who were alone and had lost their loved ones were seeking more the asylums by their own
and their condition is so worse that the people who are into trafficking they misuse the children for
their beneficial purpose. Thu, the loneliness and unaccompanied of the children lead them into
vulnerable situation resulting into the devastating condition of them. Further, it also defines that there
are numerous children who were split from their parents in the chaos and they are forced to continue
their journey alone and vulnerable.
Further, the report covered in media resulted in the identification of the children in such
condition. This helped the UNHCR and other humanitarian NGOs to find out the unaccompanied
children and provided them the shelter and food to survive. Moreover, it has also been identified in
the coverage that how children are used as for self-purpose and they became the target for the
trafficking and other abasement. In addition to this, the media coverage also aided in enlightening the
humanity among the people worldwide, when the horrific images of Alyan Kurdi was published in
leading newspaper of British media. In addition to this, the data resulted in providing the shelter to
the around 10000 alone refugee children. Thus, it has been inferred from the above content is that
during the refugee crisis in 2015, the children’s condition was devastating and this has been
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identified only through British media as they were the ones who published the news about the
situation of children in this crisis.
4.2 Analysis and Discussion
Data analysis section in research study plays a crucial role in assessing the collected data by
applying appropriate method. This part presents the data analysis of the gathered information from
newspaper of Britain. In a general manner, data analysis is a process of observing, cleansing,
transforming and modelling data with the aim of discovering valuable data, suggesting decision and
supporting the process of decision-making. Further, analysis of data process has more than one facets
as well as approaches that encompasses diverse techniques under different names and business
domains.
For analysing the collected data, it is very important to analyse it using appropriate methods
so that proper result can be generated. There are mainly two types of data analysis method which is
used by the researcher based upon the type or nature of research study. One is thematic method and
the other is statistical method. Thematic method is considered as a most common method for analysis
in a qualitative form of research. In this, themes are formed on the basis of objectives and literature
review and then emphasize is laid upon pinpointing, examining and recording patterns in a data.
Further, this type of analysis method is best described as an umbrella term for various types of
approaches instead of any single method. Number of versions of the thematic analysis has been
underpinned by several authors and philosophical and these are divergent in terms of procedure. The
widely cited approach to thematic analysis was developed by two psychologists, Virginia Braun and
Victoria Clarke. The major usage of this analysis is in qualitative research and it emphasize over
examining themes of a gathered data. This analysis goes beyond the simple phrases and words in a
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text and moves over identifying implicit and explicit ideas within the information. Lastly, this
analysis takes its concept from grounded theory (Unterhitzenberger and et al., 2015).
For the current study of British Media report about the refugee and migrant children affected
by the crisis, qualitative data has been collected from secondary sources. For analysing the data of
newspaper coverage, thematic analysis technique has been adopted by the researcher (Völkl-
Kernstock and et al., 2014). The reason behind the selection of this technique is that data is of
secondary type and descriptive in nature which has written as well as visual representation. For
analysing the usage of frames, themes and tone in the media, thematic analysis will be used because
it has examined the data in a clearer manner and this has helped in the generation of appropriate
results. The analysis of the above mentioned content analysis has been described below.
Data Analysis
For analysing the British media coverage about the refugee and migrant children affected by
the crisis, various themes have been formed and they are examined accordingly.
Theme 1: The issue of refugee and migrant children in UK news media was highly prominent
After assessing all the newspaper of leading Britain newspaper (specifically of August and
September 2015), it has been found out that major data was focusing upon the condition of refugee
and migrant children in and around Europe. When The Daily Mirror newspaper was scanned by the
researcher of date August and September 2015, one out of five articles was about the refugee
children. How their condition is and how they are surviving in a tough situation. Furthermore, it also
reported that 34, 250 were the refugee children out of 137000 refugees. Moreover, the news also
depicted that more than 10,000 refugee children went missing during the crossing of European
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borders. Because of the chaos, they were split from their parents. Furthermore, The Telegraph
newspaper used to report major part on children. This newspaper provided the information about
Alyan Kurdi who was found dead at the shore of Turkish beach while crossing the Mediterranean
Sea. Along with that, Independent newspaper reported that unaccompanied children were prone to
trafficking and abuse which lead them into vulnerable situation.
By providing news about the children and by visually presenting the news of refugee children,
UK newspaper media waned to convey the humanitarian towards the refugee. They took children as
the emotional appeal object for raising humanitarian among the UK people. Every day newspaper has
information about the children’s condition. The Daily Mirror Newspaper of date 29th august 2015
reads that three young children were found in a critical condition and they were close to death. Thus,
it has been inferred that many children had died in this crisis and through a research, it has been
found out that around 1200 children died in the year 2015 only. This crisis made the situation for the
children worse. This information has been provided by the UK media. This coverage raise the
humanity among UK people and the NGOs of UK forced the government to provide the shelter to
alone and unaccompanied children at UK borders and ease the border formalities. Therefore, it
depicts that refugee and migrant children were the prominent topic in UK media news.
Theme 2: Ecological frames were there of the media coverage of children affected by the crisis
It is learned earlier that there are various types of frames that are commonly used by the
reporter. There frames are used by them in making the newspaper article attractive and worth
reading. For publishing any news in the paper, it is very important to develop effective frame for that
news so that reader could infer the content from that frame and it lure them to read the whole article.
The commonly used frames are outcome frame, ecology frame, open frame, As If frame and many
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more. The UK media has mainly used ecology frame for reporting the article about the refugee and
migrant children. Ecology frame generally looks at creating change in the audiences and though the
medium of these news articles, UK media wanted to bring change in the public opinion about the
refugee’s pain and suffering and they showed through the way of children. They wanted to convey
the condition of the children during refugee crisis, thus, they have used ecology frame for bringing
change in the opinion of audiences.
Theme 3: Primary sources were used by the media
There are majorly two types of sources, one is primary and the other is secondary. Newspaper
reporters sometimes opt for primary sources and in many cases they use secondary sources for listing
down the information about the event. However, for reporting the coverage of information about the
refugee and migrant children in the newspaper, UK media has used the primary or direct source.
They either directly interviewed the children or have visited the camp for identifying the condition of
the children. By talking directly to the kids, they have gathered true and lot of information regarding
their condition. The news reporter came to know that children are starving and dehydrated and this
lead them closer to the death. Moreover, they also asked their parents about their whereabouts and
jumped to the conclusion that more than 10,000 children went missing in this crisis.
The Daily Mirror covered the news about the 3 dehydrated young ones by looking at the real
situation, the Independent newspaper asked the younger ones and teenagers about the situation and
they informed them about trafficking and abuse with them because they are lonely. However, the
information about Alyan Kurdi was a secondary source because the images of the boy were found on
social media. But, the maximum information has been gathered by the reporters by own. Thus, it can
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be said that UK media has used primary sources for covering the news about the impact of the crisis
on the refugee and migrant children.
Theme 4: Neutral tone has been used for the coverage
For reporting the overage in newspaper, media uses different types of tone for presenting the
article in an attractive manner. Different types of tones are positive, negative/critical and neutral. As
per the nature of the event, reporter utilizes the tone of the headlines or frames. The event of refugee
crisis was presented in a negative/critical tone in early 2015. However, when the UK media started
covering the condition of children then it had used neutral tone. For example, “Three young children
with dehydration found in critical condition after another refugee truck stopped in Austria.”;
"Shocking images of drowned Syrian boy show tragic plight of refugees.”; and Refugee crisis: Lost
children being split from parents left 'vulnerable to trafficking and abuse'. This can be analysed that
news reporters of all the UK newspaper has used neutral tone for depicting the condition of the
children in Europe.
Theme 5: There were no differences in the coverage depending on the type of newspaper and
political affiliation
The data has been gathered from almost all the leading newspaper of UK and it has been
analysed that content does not differ. In fact, every newspaper has focused upon the devastating
situation of the children. Moreover, they have used children as a medium to convey the humanitarian
and sought for the help for the refugee and migrant children from political bodies and other NGOs
supporting humanitarian. Therefore, it has been analysed from the collected data from newspaper that
there were no coverage difference based upon the newspaper’s type as well as political affiliation.
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4.3 Limitation of the study
Every study has some or the other limitations in it and it happen because of the uncontrollable
factors in the hands of researcher. Similarly, this study also contains limitations as there are also
some factors which cannot be controlled by investigator while doing the research study. The
complete data about the crisis has not been obtained due to the limited availability of the information.
Due to which, accurate result cannot be generated by the author. Further, time constraint was another
factor which limits the study about the impact of crisis on the refugee children. Moreover, the area of
research was specific which make this research study about the refugee and migrants incomplete.
Conclusion
Conclusion has been drawn from the above file “The refugee and migrant crisis 2015: British
media report about the refugee and migrant children affected by the crisis” in following manner. As
the aim of the research project was to critically analyse the UK media reporting about the impact on
children of this crisis, and it has been inferred that aim of the study has been promptly achieved.
Critical analysis of the media have been done in the above sections and it has been proved that earlier
media was not in support of refugees and migrants but after analysing the situation of the children,
the media spoke in the favour of refugees and sought for the help for the children to get the shelter
and food. By the medium of children, it appealed regarding the humanitarian among the UK people.
Further, there are three objectives of this research and each objective has been accomplished
by the author in an effective manner. The first objective is of understating the concept of refugee and
migrant crisis of 2015 in Europe. The whole event has been described in a detailed manner by the
author so that reader could gain enough information about the real incident. Moreover, the concept
also describes the number of refugees travelled to European borders in the year 2015 and how may
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among them were children. Along with that, the description has been given about the number of
children went missing and the number of them were found dead. Along with that, it also explains the
devastating situation of the children during the crisis.
Second objective of the research study is the critical analysis of the major frames, themes and
tone of the media coverage about the children affected by refugee and migrant crisis in 2015. After
analysing the collected data, it can be concluded that the second objective of the study has been duly
achieved by the researcher. After collecting data from different newspaper about the coverage of
children who were affected by the crisis, it has been inferred that ecological framing has been used
by almost all the newspaper and the reporters has adopted the neutral tone for depicting the condition
of the children at borders. The newlines of The Daily Mirror, The Telegraph and The Independent
newspaper depicts that they have not used the negative/critical tone about the children and they could
not use positive tone because, there was no ray of hope. Therefore, the neutral tone has been used by
the media of UK. Moreover, the usage of ecological frame infers that media wants to create a social
change by displaying children in their news coverage as this will enlighten the humanitarian among
the UK people.
The last objective is to assess the visual representation of British media about the affected
children in crisis. Thus, it can be concluded that, visual representation has been done in a most
effective manner by the UK media because it appeals emotionally and sympathetically for the
humanity for the refugees as they are suffering with high pain. Visual representation described the
clear situation of the children; most of them were alone and were searching for the asylum without
any one’s help. They were starving and were close to death because of hunger and thirst. In addition
to this, the visual images of Alyan Kurdi could be regarded as the best example for visual
representation. Thus, it can be said that UK media has depicted the images of the Syrian boy in an
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effective way which directly appealed the humanity to the UK people. Through this it can be
concluded that visual representation of the British media was remarkable and it helped in raising the
help for the children who have been affected by this crisis.
Moreover, it can also be concluded that, children were highly prominent in the British news
mainly during August and September 2015 because that was the time when major part of the refugee
arrived to European borders and children were split from their parents and that put them into
vulnerable situation. In addition, British media has used more positive coverage about the refugee
and its children than any other European media. Due to the British media, refugee has been
welcomed in the European countries and UNHCR provided the support to homeless children. At last,
conclusion has been drawn that British media has framed the report of refugee and migrant children
in an excellent manner with the support of visual representation so that it trigger the humanity among
the people. Furthermore, this crisis has impacted the children in a worst manner and this has been
covered by the UK media in their newspapers.
Further, there is certain scope for this study for other researcher in a similar field. Scopes for
the study are defined as the outside factor that is in reach of the researcher and investigator can again
made the research in similar field with more expanded area. As this study is focused about the impact
on children due to this crisis in 2015 but further study could be done on the situation of children and
females during this crisis. Moreover, the authors could also search about the current situation of the
affected children in 2015 refugee crisis. In addition to this, the research was focused upon the media
studies and single media have been taken for analysing the whole incident. However, researcher
could also make use of other media like TV and flyers that were used for depicting the refugee and
migrant crisis in 2015. Additionally, the scope also lies in the area, for further studies in this field,
author could analyse the media of entire Europe and then it can compare the framing concept of all
 <Your Name> 2017 41 of 54

those newspaper coverage. Furthermore, the same research could be done by using statistical analysis
for data analysis section.
 <Your Name> 2017 42 of 54

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