Guilt by association? The criminalisation of sea rescue NGOs in Italian media

The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rescuing migrants off the coast of Libya have been increasingly criminalised. We investigate discursive underpinnings this process by analyzing all articles on sea rescue NGOs published between 2014 and 2019 two major Italian newspapers located at opposite sides political spectrum: Il Giornale La Repubblica. Our discourse analysis shows that media salience increased enormously following first public allegations against humanitarians peaked in after some standoffs government, when number rescued had already dropped to a minimum. This inflated heavily politicised coverage contains both direct indirect criminalisation discourses. Though sometimes directly accused colluding with human smugglers profiting from irregular migration, more often indirectly criminalised through same framing devices typically used stigmatise mobility large, namely associational links, metaphors, frame-jacking, othering.