Different refugees, different portrayals. A GDELT-based comparative analysis of the mediatic portrayal of Syrian refugees in 2015 and Ukrainian refugees in 2022 across seven European countries

Abstract

This study examines how European media portrayed Syrian refugees in 2015 and Ukrainian refugees in 2022, across seven national contexts. Drawing on the GDELT database of news articles and its automated sentiment analysis, the study compares the tone and salience of coverage surrounding two highly symbolic mediatic events: the death of Syrian child Alan Kurdi in 2015 and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022. Results reveal stark disparities: Ukrainian refugees were consistently represented more positively than Syrian refugees and non-Syrian/non-Ukrainian refugees. These findings provide quantitative evidence of how cultural, racial, and geopolitical proximity shape refugee representations in European media, thereby confirming previous literature. While some prior scholarship has demonstrated these dynamics, this article contributes to existent literature by offering a large-scale, cross-national, and event-based comparative analysis.