The UK during the Brexit years – the language of immigration in broadcast news. A critical discourse analysis of BBC News and ITV News prior to general election 2015, the referendum on membership of the European Union 2016, and general election 2017

Burns, Deborah (2022) The UK during the Brexit years – the language of immigration in broadcast news. A critical discourse analysis of BBC News and ITV News prior to general election 2015, the referendum on membership of the European Union 2016, and general election 2017. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

Drawing on analyses of mainstream political manifestos and broadcast news footage between 2015, 2016 and 2017, this study explores how immigration was mediated in the UK by the major television news broadcasters, BBC news and ITV News during the ‘Brexit years’.

This thesis contributes to the existing body of knowledge on media coverage of the issue of immigration during national ballots in the United Kingdom. The period under analysis for this study is of great consequence as the implications of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016 is of immense political significance, certainly within Europe, and perhaps beyond. Research on media coverage of the period surrounding the referendum, and research into media coverage of UK general elections is extensive (Phillips, 2020; Deacon et al., 2018; Moore, 2018; Al Nahed, 2017; Carr, 2017; Crines, 2017; Cushion and Lewis, 2017; Berry, 2016; CRCC, 2016; Cushion et al., 2016; Deacon et al., 2016; Cushion and Sambrook, 2015). Through comparative content and thematic analyses this study adds an understanding of how the two major broadcasters in the United Kingdom, BBC News and ITV News mediated the issue of immigration in the final week of campaigning during the three national ballots which occurred during the period of political turbulence surrounding Brexit. Additionally, a Critical Discourse Analysis of the broadcast footage contributes a deeper insight into the representation of immigrants by the BBC and ITV News during this time.

The mixed methods research design facilitates both diachronic and synchronic analyses, in that it is possible to draw comparisons between the two channels at one point in time, and also to compare the evolution of key themes and/or language use over the period. From this, a deeper understanding of the role of the two major broadcasters during this crucial time is derived. The study adopts a critical approach (Hardy, 2014) to analysis of the data and seeks to establish the degree to which political logic or media logic (Altheide and Snow, 1979) is operating during each of the case studies.

The thesis finds that there were striking similarities between the two broadcasters and the manifestos of mainstream political parties on the political right, namely the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party. This was most evident in 2016 and 2017, and more so on the BBC than ITV. Issue salience for immigration on the broadcast news channels peaked in 2016 (CRCC, 2016) during the campaigns around the referendum on Membership of the European Union, and evidence suggests that intermedia agenda setting played a significant role, as well as the adoption of a ‘strategic balance’ (Phillips, 2020: 151) approach to inclusion of views as opposed to the standard ‘due impartiality’ (Ofcom, 2017) approach which is traditionally imposed by the media regulator, Ofcom. Analysis of the sourcing patterns found a highly limited range of perspectives, and a notable degree of journalistic control over contributions. The Critical Discourse Analysis, which was conducted using the Discourse-Historical Approach, analysed the nominative and predicative strategies adopted by the broadcasters on the subject of immigration, and established that representations of immigrants on broadcast news in the UK remain consistently negative, with dominant topoi representing immigrants as a danger or threat to British society.

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