Asylum “chaos” and mass migration are popular topics in some sections of the UK’s press. Stories about foreigners purportedly taking “British” jobs and reports of the UK’s changing national identity frequently appear in the media. To a journalist, this may seem like a justifiable exercise in free speech – but inaccurate and belligerent reporting can have a devastating impact on refugees.
The wide-spread belief that foreigners – and the refugees among them – have come to the UK to “sponge” off the system and “take” jobs, can stir hatred and even lead to acts of violence.
Such reports are not only misleading and false, but they violate a refugee’s basic freedoms. If used to describe an ethnic or religious minority, this type of stereotyping and pejorative imagery would be considered discriminatory, and even racist. But as asylum seekers and refugees do not belong to a particular race or religion, they are not protected by race-relations laws.
It is within this context that UNHCR and other concerned organisations pressed the Press Complaints Commission to issue in October 2003 a guidance note for journalists on the reporting of asylum and refugee issues. Shortly afterwards, UNHCR in partnership with the National Union of Journalists, the Mediawise Trust and the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees issued advice on appropriate terminology, sourcing stories and how to approach the wider, often politically and personally sensitive issues behind forced migration.
UNHCR has also supported the establishment of award schemes to recognise good practice. In London, the Local Press Awards were set up in 2005 in response to a growing body of research illustrating the negative coverage provided by the national press, vis-à-vis the local, community, ethnic and minority press. The initiative is led by the Mayor of London and encourages journalists to explore the human face of asylum and focus on the international context of refugee issues as opposed to just scare-mongering statistics. In 2007, the Asylum Positive Images Network – a collaboration between various charities and the National Union of Journalists – followed suit and hosted an awards ceremony for journalists who have contributed exceptional and fair reporting of asylum in Scotland.
Media treatment of asylum seekers has even become a concern for the UK Parliament. In March 2007, its Joint Committee of Human Rights issued a report condemning “hostile reporting” of asylum issues and called for the Press Complaints Commission to provide further practical guidance to the profession on “complying with its duties and responsibilities in reporting matters of legitimate public interest and concern,” reflecting many of UNHCR’s concerns.
As the number of asylum applications in the UK drops to the lowest levels in almost 20 years, the public debate has shifted to economic migration, particularly in light of arrivals from ‘new’ EU countries. But even if refugees are less in the media’s glare, the damage has arguably already been done, with asylum now a side issue caught up in wider debates on migration and terrorism. In response to this, UNHCR repeated its call for the strengthening of Press Complaints Commission guidance, more in-depth analysis and context of refugee issues, as well as a more balanced political voice that makes positive statements about the UK’s tradition of offering the persecuted refuge in a submission to Parliament in late 2007.
January 2008. By Hanna Hindstrom and Clare Graham, UNHCR London
For more information on this topic, please visit
: www.unhcr.org.uk/press/reporting
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