Analysis of Media Discourse and Social Audienceson Refugees in the Conflict in Ukraine

Abstract

The anonymity provided by social networks offers those who promote the rejection of refugees an ideal space to publish and expand their discriminatory discourse. The aim of this research is to analyse the discourse of the social audience of the Spanish press in relation to refugees. In this sense, we have extracted and analysed the comments written by Twitter users on the news referring to refugees as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine during the month following the start of the conflict (from 24 February to 24 March 2022) by the five newspapers with the largest number of followers on this social network: El País, El Mundo, ABC, eldiario.es and La Vanguardia. A total of 1.581 comments on 232 news items. Through the critical analysis of the discourse, the positioning of the media themselves and their social audience on refugees in the context of the conflict was determined. On a quantitative level, a content analysis of the feedback received by the media was carried out to measure the impact generated by this type of news. The results obtained show the different frames in which refugees are represented, with negative frames being understood as indicators of rejection and hatred.