Photographs of Refugees in Polish Daily Newspapers—Critical Discourse Analysis

This paper describes the way in which the European migrant crisis is depicted in the Polish daily press. This topic seems to be important because of the current political situation in Poland, which presents right-wing and anti-immigrant views, and because of the ongoing conflict concerning this matter between the Polish government and European institutions. The analysis includes articles about refugees published in the selected months of 2015 and 2017 in three daily newspapers presenting opposing political sympathies. The paper employs critical discourse analysis and its discourse-historical approach describing strategies of presenting refugees in press photography. The analysis encompasses types of photographs, their functions, the relationship with their captions, and most importantly, topoi which constitute the focal point when addressing the relationship of power, knowledge, and discourse which is significant for critical discourse analysis (CDA).