Framing Transit Migration: Media Discourses and Power in North Africa

This study examines how transit migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa are represented and framed in mainstream media across Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, three key North African countries along migration routes to Europe. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines framing analysis with multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), the study considers framing as an exercise of power, emphasizing the role of competing actors and framing sponsors in constructing public discourse on Sub-Saharan transit migrants. To this end, the paper addresses three key questions: (1) What dominant frames characterize media coverage of Sub-Saharan transit migrants? (2) What discursive strategies construct these frames? (3) What power relations are embedded in these representations? The findings reveal a dominant emphasis on security and responsibility frames, often reinforced by discursive strategies that dehumanize migrants and obscure the structural drivers of migration. The study further demonstrates how media representations are shaped by racialized and biased discourses, where state actors instrumentalize North African news media for legitimacy building. These dynamics are compounded by broader regional power asymmetries, particularly the European Union’s efforts to externalize border control to North African states.