A discourse-historical analysis of media coverage of Syrian refugee resettlement in Canadian liberal and conservative online news sites

Abstract

After the commencement of the Liberal-lead refugee resettlement initiative, Syrian refugees gained a great deal of attention from Canadian media. This is mainly because this issue is seen to have a direct impact on the community. Since media, politics and public opinion are interconnected in ways that could only be revealed through an exhaustive investigation of such issues as the one at hand; this study investigates the representation of social and political actors involved in the Syrian refugee resentment effort with a focus on Syrian refugees in Canadian Liberal and Conservative online news media. This study relies on the utilization of the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) and framing theory in communication. A total of 375 articles selected from three of the most visited Canadian news sites, namely the Toronto Star (Liberal), the Toronto Sun and the National Post (Conservative) published between the arrival of the first group of refugees in December, 2015 and the first anniversary of the arrival of the last group of refugees in March, 2017. A triangulation of Quantitative Content Analysis and a Discourse Historical Approach-based analysis serve as the base of this research whereby discursive strategies employed by said online sources are examined. Though Canadian press enjoys unequivocal freedom, the findings suggest that it is greatly affected by partisan politics and is in a way directed by the political elite. A distinction was drawn between the depiction of Syrian refugees in Liberal and Conservative news sources. The Toronto Star employed discursive strategies to depict Syrian refugees as mainly economically advantageous to the country, and as victims fleeing a civil war. Though they were presented as harmless, their representation was rather one-dimensional. On the other hand, othering and negative representations were more evident in the Toronto Sun and National Post where they subordinated refugees by depicting them as a burden to both the government and the public and creating a health and security risk. Interestingly, Syrian refugees were also depicted as victims but of government neglect and mismanagement. The findings of this research show that both media –in differing degrees- have reduced Syrian refugees to mere pawns to push for each party’s political agenda and validate their claims of success or failure of the refugee resettlement program. The Conservative media was more critical of the government’s efforts as compared to its Liberal counterpart. Liberal media depicted a heroic image of the Prime Minster and Liberal Party and applauded their efforts. Whereas, Conservative media did not only accuse the government of being incompetent and mismanaging the program but accused them of intentionally and maliciously misleading the public and not disclosing information about the exact amount spent on the program and their long-term plans to assimilate the Syrian refugees. Regarding the representation of the Canada and the Canadian public, both Liberal and Conservative media presented Canada as a beacon of hope and contrasted its efforts to that of other ‘less generous’ nations, thus painting a somewhat exaggerated utopian image. Similarly, the Canadian public were depicted as welcoming and eager to help. The contributions of this research are twofold. Firstly, it contributed to the body of knowledge by presenting an in-depth analysis of media discourse on Syrian refugees. Secondly, the synergy between the Content Analysis and the DHA provide valuable insight for future researchers exploring the impact of media representation on both refugees and the Canadian public.