Authors: Palina Salei, Tetiana Koroi
Abstract: Migration has become a prominent and often contested issue in European economic and political discourse, particularly in relation to labour-market dynamics, public expenditure, economic growth, demographic change, and social welfare. News media play a significant role in shaping public understanding of migration by selecting particular linguistic expressions, emphasizing specific economic consequences, and constructing narratives that frame migrants as economic contributors, labour-market competitors, fiscal burdens, or essential resources for economic development. This study aims to investigate how migration is framed in European economic news narratives through an integrated linguistic and economic perspective. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and framing theory, the study examines lexical choices, metaphors, evaluative language, agency representation, and the use of economic statistics in news coverage. It also explores how these linguistic strategies construct competing representations of the economic costs and benefits of migration. A comparative analysis of selected European news outlets may reveal variations in migration framing across national contexts, editorial orientations, and economic circumstances. The proposed study adopts a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods approach, combining linguistic and thematic analysis with quantitative content analysis of selected news articles published within a defined period. By connecting media language with economic narratives, the research seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of how news discourse mediates public perceptions of migration and its economic implications. The findings are expected to advance interdisciplinary scholarship in media linguistics, migration studies, and political economy while highlighting the role of news framing in shaping debates on migration policy and European economic development.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23338237
