Coverage of migration in the media intensified during 2015 against the
backdrop of a largescale European refugee crisis. Using corpus
linguistics and critical discourse analysis, we explore the
representation of refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and migrants from
September to November 2015, in UK and Irish newspapers. Data was
collected from Nexis, using the Baker et al. (2008)
RASIM framework. Using corpus linguistic techniques, we identify how
these groups are represented, before drawing on CDA to examine the data
sets further. Frequency lists of the UK and Irish corpora were compared
across variety followed by more detailed diachronic analysis of the most
frequently occurring items. The extent to which the issue of migration
is refracted through a discourse of terrorism in Irish and UK coverage
is compared through cluster analyses and a close CDA analysis of
randomised downsamples of the Irish and UK sub-corpora drawing in
particular on the DHA approach.