This research provides an analysis of the frame used by the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) for migrants coming to the United Kingdom from Romania and Bulgaria, with a focus on Romanian and Bulgarian citizens coming after January the 1st, 2014, when the previous regulations regarding the access to UK’s job market for migrants coming from Romania and Bulgaria came to an end.
Then, the research provides data concerning the fact that a certain type of framing is used not only by the Ukip, but also by mainstream media. I analyse, specifically, articles from the newspapers The Daily Mail, The Express, The Guardian and The Telegraph.
The reason why I did this research is because I find it interesting to analyse how a political party makes use of the topic of migration in its political discourse, and how it moulds the image of a specific target group (in this case, Romanian and Bulgarian migrants) through the usage of a certain framing. Political parties and mass media have an extended influence on the public opinion regarding issues of public interest, such as, in this case, immigration. If a political party provides a certain type of frame for a specific target group, and part of mainstream media as well, then chances are high that public opinion will be consequently influenced, and part of it might begin to share the same vision upon the matter at hand.
I decided to analyse the Ukip because of its fame of being quite a controversial party, but which is growing in popularity among Britons. Its statements and points of view on issues such as EU membership, immigration and welfare system access, renders the Ukip’s political discourse interesting material for framing analysis, which I develop through the careful reading of the party’s official texts and speeches, highlighting the relevant statements, problem represented, keywords and solutions provided, concerning specifically immigration from Romania and Bulgaria after January the 1st, 2014.
I also go beyond the Ukip’s discourse, and analyse mainstream media as well in order to highlight whether is the Ukip only to provide a certain framing for immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, or there is a common ground with mainstream media as well. I conduct this research through the gathering of a certain number of articles, carefully reading them and abstracting the parts concerning the topic of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria after January the 1st, 2014, analysing what is the problem represented to b and the keywords used.
What I found out is that there such share, and that the framing used by the Ukip have much in common with the framing used by mainstream media as well, in particular The Daily Mail and The Express, and The Telegraph. The Guardian, on the other hand, takes its distance from such framing and provides a more detached and critical approach towards the matter I choose to focus on, which is immigration to the UK from Romania and Bulgaria, and the end of work regulations after January the 1st, 2014.