German Media And Securitization Of German Identity In National Discourse On The European Migration Crisis (2015-2020)

It is an undeniable fact that media, especially during the pandemic time, has become an essential element of political communication and communication in general. Everyone daily uses different informational sources and platforms for participating in the unstoppable exchange of data. With the emergence of such situations as crises, wars or fundamental changes in the governmental order people are getting more perceptive and vulnerable to propaganda and other manipulations. This work is devoted to the study of one of such cases where German internet media securitize the German identity during and after the European migration crisis that has begun in 2015. The goal is to understand, which tools are used for securitization and whether German media sources differ in this process. For data collection, the most popular internet media were chosen. The method of the research is critical discourse analysis and discourse theory that allows understanding the usage of language in the discourse within the published articles from 2015 until 2020 about German identity and migration crisis. The results show the way how German identity was securitized by media and help to define the political nature of selected informational sources. This study is important for awareness of other European countries with similar political contexts and of mass media power in contemporary time with its manipulation of ontological security of the society.