This research article explores the textual and visual representations of climate change induced migration within online news media in the UK. This article innovates in two-senses: it demonstrates how images interact with text to co-construct and present specific discursive packages to the general public, and also by pinning down their content more precisely to understand how they might affect policy and public understanding of the issue. Despite their differences, similar policy options emerge in relation to divergent discursive packages. The figure of climate migrant/refugee is depoliticised and divested of context and complexity, and as such it resembles the referent objects of securitising claims. This article suggests that this may work in favour of xenophobic sentiments and policies and, ultimately, deepen existing migrant and refugee integration challenges in traditional host societies.
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