Refugees and “Refugees” in Greece : Differential Media Discourses in 2015 and 2022 Refugee “Crises”

Abstract

In this thesis, I analyze the different media discourses in Greece towards the refugees from Middle Eastern and African countries in 2015 and the Ukrainian refugees of 2022. By conducting Critical Discourse Analysis on two politically opposite websites in Greece, it becomes clear that media discourse in both periods concentrates on the following themes: i) news reports that use neutral language on migration and refugees; ii) news reports that focus on and overuse migration statistics; iii) opinion articles that focus on the culture of migrants; and iv) reports that victimize refugees. This study shows that the Russian invasion of Ukraine changed the perception of the word refugee by victimizing Ukrainian refugees and amplifying the symbolic practice of European border controls, which include and exclude based on racialized, cultural and religious terms. Moreover, the role of religion for influencing Greek and European public discourse on the issue is also examined. In the Greek case, the role of religion is considered of primary importance due to the historical presence of Islam in Greece, which often becomes a scapegoat for Greek nationalism.