Populism in the Media Representation of UKIP

Abstract: Populism is a phenomenon gaining popularity throughout Europe and has been enhanced by the current economic crisis. The aim of this thesis is to examine the image of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in the media and analyse whether it can be qualified as populist. I have included an overview of previous researcher on populism, in order to define it. In addition to the theories of knowledge, there is a look at media analysis theories, which would be used for the research. The study is of a qualitative type and it depends on the qualitative content analysis as a research method. The data sources chosen are “The Telegraph”, “The Guardian” and “BBC News”. The media have some differences in the way they frame UKIP, but the results from their analysis are closely similar. All of them use the same dimensions to construct the image of the party, with only minor differences, thus managing to qualify it as a populist one.