Climate Migration on the Southern Border: Narrative Fragmentation and Structural Silences in the Press

Sara Parra Ferreras and Liisa Irene Hänninen
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Sara Parra Ferreras: Department of Theories and Analysis of Communication, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Liisa Irene Hänninen: Department of Theories and Analysis of Communication, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Politics and Governance, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: The intersection between climate change and human migration is emerging as one of the most complex challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. In the current context of increasing extreme weather phenomena, social polarization, and political debate on migration, it is crucial to construct media narratives that promote the “right” social understanding of climate migration. The current research analyses media discourse on the topic at the Southern border of Europe in 2025. Using a methodological approach that combines content analysis with critical discourse analysis, this study examines the prioritisation of information, interpretative frameworks, and strategies employed by six leading newspapers in Spain, namely El País, elDiario.es, El Mundo, ABC, Canarias7, and Diario Sur. The results show that the press decontextualises climate migration, portraying it in remote scenarios and prioritising the voices of institutions over those of the victims themselves. This narrative generates a “climate paradox,” understood as a contradiction that highlights external vulnerability whilst concealing industrial causes, avoiding delving deeper into the debate on the need for legal and structural reforms. The phenomenon is thus reduced to an isolated biophysical problem or an aesthetic drama, reinforcing a bureaucratic view that sidesteps transnational climate and financial justice.

Keywords: climate migration; discourse analysis; journalistic frameworks; media coverage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v14:y:2026:a:12430

DOI: 10.17645/pag.12430

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