This thesis explores the response of locals towards Mexico’s migration crisis. The primary objective was to determine how the local people in Tapachula responded to the new form of mass migration, known as migrant caravans, over the last 10 years, between 2014 and 2024. A qualitative method was employed, consisting of the usage of a self-developed tool of analysis for the empirical material to measure collective emotions of solidarity and rejection. The results indicated that the local response towards migrants in Tapachula has evolved from more frequent acts of solidarity to more constant responses of rejection over the last decade. The study concludes that the responses of solidarity or rejection appear to be derived from the situation people live in, and not necessarily against the individual migrant. Situations of uncertainty about what could happen with this new form of mobilization lead to mixed responses with more solidarity, while situations of frustration towards the migration crisis in Tapachula lead to a tendency of rejection responses. With these findings, this study reveals important aspects of the influence of news articles on the formation of public opinion towards vulnerable groups of newcomers and highlights areas for future research on understanding the drivers of solidarity and rejection responses.

This study analyses the frames and discourses in different news media reporting on the same events in news outlets in Canada, the US, and Sweden. This was done by analysing both digital-born media and legacy media. The theoretical framework consists of theories about discourse, framing, media logics, the economic prerequisites for journalism, and environmental journalism. The aim is to find what frames, discourses, tone and what voices are being heard in the news coverage of Greta Thunberg’s climate protest, the migrant caravan, and the UN report on climate change released in 2018. Also, differences in the different media are analysed. This is done through discourse analysis by using Fairclough’s CDA and the three-dimensional model, combined with tools from critical linguistics. The analysis of the news texts found that the discourses in the coverage of the three events followed previous research on journalistic values, production and the way that climate change events were reported (or not reported) on. The study also found some themes, frames, that were producing new discourses in climate change journalism. Among these was the way that Greta Thunberg and other young voices were heard on a subject that previously has been heavily focused on politicians, scientists and NGO’s. Thunberg and the migrant caravan were also covered more extensively by the news media included than the UN report, not framing climate in the articles, even though they are about climate change events.