Time press highlighted immigration successes

Media expert John Jewell assesses the reporting on those seeking asylum and refugee status

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AS WE wave goodbye to a balmy summer we can reflect on a period in the UK when there has been some civil unrest over what has become known as the “small boats” crisis.

Indeed, many cities, towns and rural locations have seen public demonstrations against the high number of “illegal immigrants” crossing the English Channel, many of whom have reportedly been housed in hotels.

There is no doubt that number of people coming across has reached alarming proportions. In 2024, according to the Migration Observatory, 37,000 people were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats and since Labour came to power in July last year Home Office figures show that more than 50,000 people have arrived.

But the ways in which this undoubtedly serious issue has been reported in the right-wing press (the Daily, Mail, Express and the Sun, in particular) has continued the pattern of demonisation of asylum seekers and refugees which has become depressingly familiar over the last 20 years or so.

Barely a week passes without reports of “boat people” crossing the channel. They are, we are told, seduced by the lure of state offered riches, superior housing and a life of luxury. For the right-wing tabloid press in Britain, the greatest threat to the social fabric of the country is the continual influx of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.

A great deal of media attention focuses on numbers and cost to the taxpayer. And these outsiders, invaders and criminals are a threat to the social harmony of Britain, we are told. They are taking food from the mouths of the deserving poor, homes from British citizens.