[EN] Examining mainstream media discourses on the squatters’ movements in Barcelona and London
Examining mainstream media discourses on the squatters’ movements in Barcelona and London (peer-reviewed article) – ETC Dee and G. Debelle dos Santos (pp. 117 – 143) in Interface Journal Volume 7 Issue 1. Interface is open access and all it’s articles are free to dowload. This article can also be found here – .
Abstract: This article brings together separate research on mainstream media discourses concerning the squatters’ movements in Barcelona and England and Wales. The previous findings are introduced and then compared. Using the technique of Critical Discourse Analysis, we assess the presentations in the mainstream media of the squatters’ movements and analyse how they
individually contest these portrayals. Mainstream media discourses often present a negative stereotype of squatters which in both cases facilitated repression. These dominant narratives both shape and are shaped by public opinion, as indicated by specific examples. The findings for London and Barcelona are compared and three specific concerns are addressed, namely how squatters are presented as a deviant other, ways in which squatters
formulated new meanings of squatting through linguistic methods and how mainstream media discourses can be contested.