Emotion and Narrative Construction

An Analysis of UK Mainstream Media Coverage of Refugee Policies

Bibliographic Data

ID24216987
AuthorsPeiying Lv (Southeast University)
Year2026
Pages1-16
Publication date2026-09-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1556-2948 • E-ISSN: 1556-2956
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15562948.2026.2736526
OpenAlexW7214999194
LanguageEN
References cited22

This study examines how UK newspapers The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph construct refugee policy discourse on Homes for Ukraine and the Rwanda Plan in 840 articles published between March 2022 and January 2025. Using VADER, BERTopic, and qualitative narrative analysis, it examines sentiment polarity, topic salience, and narrative organization across policy cases and newspapers. Coverage of Homes for Ukraine had a higher share of positive sentiment than coverage of the Rwanda Plan; descriptively, policy differences exceeded outlet differences. Their narratives centered on government responsibility, partisan competition and policy legitimacy, and humanitarian obligation and differentiated constructions of refugee deservingness.

British press · Daily Telegraph · humanitarian obligations · media coverage of refugees · news narratives · policy legitimacy · refugee policy · refugee resettlement · Sentiment analysis · The Guardian · Media Discourse and Social Analysis · Media Studies and Communication · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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