Reporting Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the UK: The Myths and the Facts

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to examine how the failure of the British media to practice human rights journalism has contributed to the failure to provide protection to asylum seekers and refugees within the context of the cosmopolitan-based human rights. This chapter draws on research I conducted as part of consultancy work commissioned by the Bristol City Council in the summer of 2009, in order to rewrite the ‘Asylum Seekers and Refugees’ myth-busting booklet aimed at addressing public hostility towards people seeking sanctuary in the UK. In the past decade the debate surrounding immigrants, and asylum seekers and refugees in particular, has climbed up the agenda. It has now become a perfect punch bag for politicians who use it to score political points. Small wonder that it can become a primary political issue whenever Britain holds elections. The asylum seeker and refugee debate is generally characterised by highly distorted stereotypical representations, which have implications for the promotion and protection of the rights of people seeking sanctuary.