| Abstract [eng] |
Return migration can be defined as the act or process of going back to the place of departure. However, there is no universally accepted definition of return migration. Besides, emigration and immigration concepts have been receiving attention much longer than return migration both globally and in Lithuania. European Union enlargement at the beginning of the 21st century had a significant impact on large-scale Lithuanian emigration since 2004. The United Kingdom has steadily remained the top destination country among the Lithuanian migrants. English language and a fact that it was one of the countries which did not opt for transition restrictions on job-seekers from the new Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 helped explaining why the United Kingdom was so often chosen by Lithuanians. In order to attract Lithuanians back to their homeland several return migration programmes have been designed and this master thesis aimed to analyse the communication of return migration, its programmes and measures in the media content targeted towards the Lithuanian migrants in the United Kingdom. The timeframe of this research was from January 2016 to October 2022. The framing theory which has its roots in G. Bateson‘s work together with the neoclassical theory, new return migration theory, also structural approach to return migration have been used to identify, categorise and depict content on return migration in three media sources. The concept of social frameworks, first characterised by E. Goffman was relevant while conducting content analysis of portals “Anglija.lt” and “Tiesa.com” and a TV documentary show “(Ne)emigrantai”. In addition, migration theories were intrumental in identifying content on return migration and creating a sample which encompassed eighty-one articles and five episodes. Some core aspects of the neoclasscial theory which derived from E. G. Ravenstein‘s “The Laws of Migration” were noticed in all three media sources when the former or present emigrants were explaining their motives for leaving Lithuania. Besides, this economic rationale was also observed in several episodes of the TV documentary show “(Ne)emigrantai” when the returning migrants were describing how they came back to Lithuania. Besides, operationalisation of migration theories and framing theory allowed to categorise content into three basic categories in relation to return migration to Lithuania and then later aided in detecting and defining the leading frames. Relevant research of such Lithuanian scholars as A. Sipavičienė, V. Gaidys and M. Dobrynina alongside with works by E. Barcevičius, D. Žvalionytė, I. Budginaitė-Mačkinė, I. Juozeliūnienė, I. Bielevičiūtė, M. Jastramskis, J. Ivanauskaitė and Ž. Martinaitis also influenced the theoretical and analytical frameworks of this master thesis. Even though return migration programmes and measures have previously received some attention from academia in Lithuania, analysis of how the return migration programmes are being framed in the media content targeted towards the Lithuanian migrants in the United Kingdom is a new case in the field. The major findings of this research revealed that there were some similarities in communication of return migration among all three media sources analysed such as more content in years 2018 and 2019 and frequent framing of return migration through success stories. On the other hand, it was discovered that there were differences in distribution of basic frames and specific leading frames as well as general amount of content on return migration in each media source. Thus, the research question was answered and the aim of this master thesis was achieved which also created the guidelines for potential future research. |
