Expert backs public over racist reporting

A LEADING expert in media studies has attacked the "racist" promotion of "extreme nationalist sentiment" in newspaper reports centred on asylum seekers.

His claims come as a new Mori Scotland poll, published today, shows the majority of Scots believe reporting on the issue is inaccurate and unfair.

Professor John Drakakis, from Stirling University, said it was "outrageous" the way asylum seekers were marginalised by the press. "It's ridiculous. It does suggest nationalist sentiment, of which the most extreme aspect is the British National Party," he said.

The poll, commissioned by Oxfam as part of an ongoing media monitoring campaign, asked 1000 Scots in face-to-face interviews whether they thought reporting of asylum issues by newspapers is fair and accurate. Only 27% agreed.

Judith Robertson, acting head of Oxfam in Scotland, said the findings "dispel the myth that press coverage of asylum issues merely reflects public understanding of the issue."

Okwiri Rabwoni, an asylum seeker from Uganda and the head of the forum for Africans in Scotland, said he found much of what he read difficult to accept. "It seems that the extreme right wing has stolen the whole show," he said.

Some papers "deliberately paint a very bad picture" because they think the British are anti-asylum. "I understand that is not the case," he added.

Paul Holleran, Scottish organiser of the National Union of Journalists, who will chair an Oxfam conference on asylum reporting next week, said the poll showed the responsibility the press has. He said many editors believed "lurid headlines" would sell papers but "if they came at the cost of accuracy", they would lead to continuing mistrust of newspapers.

Dr Anthea Irwin, a media analyst from Glasgow Caledonian University said people "read intelligently". But she added that most people only read one paper, and the effects of this should be considered.

Copyright 2004 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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