Media representations of immigrants in Italy. Framing real and symbolic borders

The “need” to build walls and barriers, restore boundaries, restraining “waves” of refugees and migrants, appears one of the most urgent priorities involving European countries. In Italian media and political debate this theme has been very important in last years also regard a peculiar kind of border, the maritime one, for the centrality acquired by Lampedusa and other coasts, also as symbolic space of construction of relationship with the “Other”. On the other hand, the media defined also “symbolic internal borders”, by focusing on certain themes or images of migrations. The contribution aims to explore and deconstruct the main mechanisms of representation and news-media construction of immigrant image in Italy. Through frame analysis (mostly carried out with qualitative and non-standard methods) will be enlightened three main discursive dimensions: a) the so-called “landing emergency” (as external border); b) the central interest on crime news where immigrants are protagonists, and c) the cultural-religious dimension of immigration (both as internal border).