Asylum in the Media - Essay Example

? Asylum in the Media Introduction During a UN Convention for Refugees back in 1951, it was clearly agreed that all the people globally have the right to seek and claim refuge or haven without any discrimination and harassment directed to them in the countries that they have sought refuge. Currently, there has been growing concerns on the number of persons seeking haven in various countries around the world, speculating widespread misconceptions and varying media interpretations of asylum seekers. The discussion on all issues affecting asylum seekers is shaky. Humanity has to be regarded to guarantee the wellbeing of individuals who have been influenced either by natural disasters back in their home countries or political instability making them to seek refuge. However, the kind of reception that asylum seekers have been receiving is much more worrying, considering factual reasons that have made them to flee their nation .This therefore means that such misconceptions by the media and the public at large have been baseless (Andrew, 2005). In reality, asylum seekers are justified to seek refuge in any nation that they feel it’s secure for them as far as they do not contravene the laws governing that nation. In Britain, there has been media and public perceptions to try and lay bare issues of asylum seekers regarding their origin, race and their impacts on the economy of Britain. Growing misunderstanding on the level with which people and the media have been overestimating the number of asylum seekers who have been awarded the status of refugees in Britain is evident (Arey, 1989). Speculations among the people on the number of asylum seekers who have been allowed refugee status left a lot to be desired when a survey conducted in 2009, which revealed that more than 100,000 of asylum seekers had been accepted as refugees with clear and credible sources reporting that only 4,175 people had been received as refugees. This point to the status accorded to asylum seekers with marginalization and skewed numbers evident in speculations (Castillo, 2010). Compared with other destinations that asylum seekers target, UK is far much below in the acceptance rate for the haven seekers. During the period of 2001-2006 the acceptance rate for UK stood at 7.77 per cent compared to Canada which had an acceptance rate of 47 per cent during the same period. France, United States, Germany, Sweden and Canada are ranked as main countries that asylum seekers target with UK being sidelined on the verge of it low rate of giving room for asylum seekers. There has been conflicting views about asylum seekers in Britain, with a section of citizens expressing their views that it’s an identity of their country to accept asylum seekers. Others felt that the country had accepted too many of them back in 2008 with a bigger percentage believing that providing refuge to those people who have misfortunes had been a tradition among Britain. Trust in the process of accepting asylum seekers was faulted with many people speculating their uncertainness regarding the length through which the entire process was open to abuse by the authorities and the issue of UK being so accepting (Gant, 2007). This discussion will entail clear-cut assessment of the various issues that affect asylum seekers in UK and around the world, a justification of the claims and misconceptions that the media point to the asylum seekers and how international organizations and various groups of people have advised nations to reform their laws to ensure that asylum seekers are treated with all manners of humanity and respect as the international law and Conventions provide in their guidelines and deliberations which these countries are party to (Gilbert, 2006). Refugee Action and Asylum in the Media Journalists and media personnel have been keen to give reports that are conflicting and to some extent tainting the whole issue of asylum seekers. Many journalists give irresponsible reports about asylum and asylum seekers, attracting a lot of complexity and difficulty. Media coverage about asylum in UK has been negative, misinformed and give a one-side story rather. The UK media reports contain factual inaccurate and misleading language that cannot be accepted both locally and in the international level on coverage of such important issues that United Nations High Commission for Refugees has been trying to address in the spirit of ensuring that all asylum seekers are accorded the right refuge in the nations that they feel that they can get haven (Jonathan, 2010). Most notably, sections of the media in UK have staged campaigns against asylum seekers fundamental human rights as provided by United Nations. Irresponsible media reporting has negative impacts on the livelihoods of asylum seekers who for so many years have been experiencing hostility in the communities that they push on with their daily live undertakings. The danger of overlooking the issues of asylum seekers leaves their fundamental human rights hanging in the balance and prone to abuse by various authorities that direct abuse and withdrawal of protection for them. Courage and dignity in the face of stories that cannot be imagined in terms of suffering, hardship, surviving in war torn countries, and conflicts among nations need to be addressed with a lot of concerns to ensure that asylum seekers are not subjected to hostile environments. Refugee action ensures that it brings a more balanced media coverage on issues regarding asylum seekers in partnership with journalists, media personnel and more importantly the refugees themselves. The media report bestows the accountability of the information to the viewers and target group that the information is intended to reach (Kahn, 1984). Conflicting and underestimating information reported by the media send signals to the entire community about the stand and the ideas that the media have on such an issue. Consequently, this information is implanted in the minds of the people who find it necessary to practice it and give it a test. Refugee Action provides that all sections of a community have the obvious right to express their views and opinions on issues that the media report regarding asylum seekers. They enjoy rights to disagree with inaccurate, unfair and unbalanced manner of broadcast that the media has been portraying about asylum. Criticism directed to the media through courtesy could help reduce the vice. It has been noted that various newspaper editors and columnist have always put stories that are controversial and negative regarding asylum. Most of them have been regarded as either racial or inflammatory and it has been woeful to see journalists defend them. There have been no straight grounds to sufficiently regulate the press on the materials that they write about asylum (Laursen, 1998). The Press Complaints Commission had recently issued various guidelines to editors issuing warnings on the choice of language and terminologies that they use in giving reports about asylum. Such terms as “illegal immigrants” have been touted in the media to describe asylum seekers who have been in the UK in line with law. Media reports in the UK have engaged in irrational reporting which has seen racial segregation and intimidation of asylum seekers. However, this has resulted to increased and spread information about asylum seekers as ones who spearhead illegal activities in the UK and are found to drain the resources of the United Kingdom. Media personnel are bound to work and execute their tasks in a professional manner that depict credibility and respect for rule of law and the minorities who have their rights to be heard and be given conducive environment to exercise their activities in their daily undertakings. There has been growing need to practically guide the refugee community organizations and other refugee practitioners in working with the media in a bid to assess the impact of media on refugees and asylum in the UK (Lichty, 1975). Challenges affecting Asylum seekers in UK and the rest of the World Asylum seekers in the UK and in the rest of the world are faced with various challenges in pursuit of haven and in their daily undertaking in foreign nations. With growing speculations all over the media and among the people, asylum seekers have been facing hardships every day. The government does not recognize the basic rights of humans by both withholding financial aid and developing policies that do not enhance the security of asylum seekers. There have been so many challenges facing asylum seekers and refugees as discussed (MacQueen, 2007). A. Stigmatization Continued media reporting on articles and publications that discriminate against this group of people makes them vulnerable to stigma. Shelter seekers are regularly depicted in an amazingly negative light by the British press. Various headlines have been sported in British press such as Soft-touch Britain. This shows the kind of regard that the media has towards asylum seekers in the UK. These headlines fail simple tests by substituting the status of asylum for the words “black” or “Jewish” showing the irrelevance of the stories and discriminate towards this group of minorities (Marlin, 2002). The media has not been so kind on the seekers of asylum and this is evident on the kinds of titles many media houses give to stories related to seekers of asylum. This has clearly been demonstrated by many UK media houses, and this has negatively affected seekers of asylum (Castillo, 2010). Earlier back in 2011, the British Prime Minister David Cameron had faced widespread public criticism over the extent to which the media announced the public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press. This clearly showed that the press did not practice their activities with diligence hence termed as broken and needed fast fixing. In the spirit of protecting the rights of asylum seekers in the UK, PCC guidelines ruled that the use of the short phrase illegal seekers of asylum was inaccurate and unacceptable. The guidelines also did address the slight misunderstanding between immigration and asylum, explaining the need for the media and the entire press to avoid addressing seekers of asylum as immigrants that are illegal. In a poll that was conducted by the British Red Cross revealed that 72 per cent of the respondents claimed that newspaper reporting about asylum seekers and refugees were just negative (Meyrowitz, 1995). The report also revealed increased confusion created by the media regarding “refugees”, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants with more reporting indicating that the public readily associate with media coverage of refugees using words such as “scroungers”. This kind of unfair coverage by the British media stigmatizes individuals and in the same way undermine the very institution that deal with asylum. Various politicians have had interests in restoring the positive image of this group but find it difficult due to media backlash which would result to loss of publicity (Peters, 2006). Media reporting in Britain has not addressed accuracy and fairness in reporting with no protection regarding immaterial and discriminatory references to specific asylum status that represent a blind race and religion. More proactive monitoring of media standard should be done to ensure that media reporting acts in line with law. Many individuals that work with the British Red Cross have encountered many of refugees and asylum seeker who have incredible stories of tragedy that they have encountered and ready to tell. Most of the individual reporters struggle to give stories that are actually factually and ethnically robust in the face of significant pressures. But in the spirit of championing media freedom, the media should also uphold public interest and act in with humanitarianism (Raaflaub, 2007). B. Racism Asylum seekers and refugees as minorities in Britain have been faced with racism, with majority of them being sidelined due to the color of their skin as either being “black” or any other racial segregation. Statistics for ethnic minorities are a bleak. It is stated that dark men are 26 times more possible than their white partners to be halted and looked by police, while dark men and ladies in their early twenties are twice as liable to be not in occupation, instruction or preparing like what happens with the white individuals. It is evident that race is an important issue with asylum seekers and refugees face race dealings within Britain and also in other countries where race has been a problem for the black people. It is additionally obvious that dark and Asian respondents are still more prone to head off to correctional facilities than their white partners when they are declared guilty by the same criminal acts and law masters (Schlosberg, 2011). Once convicted, the blacks and Asians are more likely to serve longer jail sentences compared to the white people. In a dissection of the Ministry of Justice, many cases discovered that in 2010, 23 for every penny of white litigants were sent to jail for indictable offenses, 27 for every penny of dark partners, and 29 for every penny of Asian litigants. This is a clear indication of the harsh rule of law that is directed to the black people who are regarded as illegal immigrants and racially abused by the white people through the media and authorities. Statistics on Race and Criminal Justice System also revealed that ethnic minorities who are asylum seekers receiving longer sentences. On sexual offences, white respondents accepted a normal of only four years in correctional facility, contrasting with dark litigants who were sent down for more than five years (Smith, 2006). C. Restricted Justice to asylum seekers’ claims In a reports released by Amnesty International UK and other UK based organizations, highlighted critically flawed decisions that were made by the UKBA border officials in charge of deciding asylum claims. It was reportedly said that various decisions made upon claims by asylum were not decided well and were very inaccurate .With regard to the first instance decisions, with 25 per cent of refusals now being overturned on appeal. Refugee Council report also perceived the increased cases of wrong decision making by the UK authorities. Such shortfalls in areas such as access to legal aid by the asylum seekers and refugees, and poor making of decisions based on issues related to credibility had not been addressed by the offices based in UK. It was also evident that quite significant number of cases that had been reviewed had their decisions reversed at the appeal stage (Starr, 2004). Care for asylum women and children has been dismissed or rather offered substandard care. The Regional Council and Maternity Action reports based in UK sought information about maternal care. Experiences by pregnant women in the asylum system, based on various interviews conducted, revealed that UK Border Agency's "dispersal" arrangements were dangerous to the wellbeing of pregnant ladies and their kids. This was expected to move them in settlement around the nation, removing them from fundamental human services and their backing systems, abandoning them separated and susceptible to numerous challenges once they advance their cases of isolation and badgering to the powers (Thierer & Brian, 2008). Britain Media opinion on Asylum seekers process The UK’s capability in its ability is to ensure that abuses are prevented from the system which is often in question is high. Various groups comprised of different readerships that the system is stressed and its legitimacy is also under threat. This is actually in the notion that has been created among the people as speculated by the media and within Britain at large. Various newspaper coverages of the asylum seekers described them as in “chaos” or “out of control” with various Daily Mail articles mentioning that asylum seekers were becoming a big problem or were in problems. Various loopholes have emerged in accepting asylum seekers in Britain with a lot of discrimination being evident in authorities that govern refugees and the entire asylum (Thompson, 1999). Richard Chessum of Asylum Seeker Support Initiative Short Term argued that amongst the National Press, the whole process is negative in wholesome except in one or two newspapers such as through Independent and the Guardian. The study conducted by the initiative in analyzing the newspapers coverage of the asylum seekers revealed that a minority of articles portrayed haven seekers and evacuees in terminologies that are antagonistic and incendiary, holding errors with abuse of statistics. Most of the claims termed by the newspapers were groundless, misrepresented, confusion of comment and assumption of the facts. These inaccuracies in hostile articles represented significant amount of information that would likely have negative impact on the public opinions and possibility on community relations. Most of the information that the media relay to the people and the entire public is negative with reference to asylum seekers and refugees (Warburton, 2009). However, not all media stories depict asylum as negative. According to The Independent and The Guardian newspapers on a story that focused on a young boy who came to Britain together with his mother and was originally granted the status of a refugee, the mother and the boy got deportation orders when the authorities discovered that they originated from Pakistan and not Kuwait as earlier claimed. The newspaper depicts them as living in a no man’s land without any idea where they would head. Reporting about this article shows that the cases reported by some of the dailies are authentic compared to others like the Daily Mail which is far much negative compared to others (Wells, 1996). Asylum system close analysis shows that it relies much on the owner’s case and how they see or perceive about the asylum applicants’ situations. The applicants are put at a disadvantage by any trauma and shame they experience during the whole process where they pass through racial separation from the authorities and the citizens. Due to language barrier, the asylum finds it difficult to express themselves on issues that have been affecting them. The process that asylum seekers go through is just daunting and is complicated due to trust barriers, culture barriers and frustrating asylum seekers who are genuine in Britain. This system places emphasis on asylum seekers to prove their cases and claims to ensure that they complete the process in a very short space of time which is not sufficient in terms of compassion. The practices in the process show that the asylum system does not protect the needs of the persons who seek refuge in Britain. In a report by an organization called Justice First, it expressed concerns about the nationals of Congo who were deported from the UK to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the period between 2006-2011.The report clearly describes that shortly after they were deported in a forced manner, the asylum seekers experienced inhumane and a degrading treatment from the authorities deporting them. The Guardian as a media representative covered the story of deportation with an attitude that showed sympathy towards the asylum seekers and focused more on assertions of brutality than the more unsympathetic reaction of the UK Border Agency in spite of the inadequacy by the Daily Mail to blanket it. This shows that Britain media has differences in terms of the way various newspapers and media houses deal with the asylum seekers issue in the UK. Asylum seekers and government support With regard to revelations by ICM poll in 2010, one in four British people believe that asylum seekers migrate to Britain so that they can claim various benefits with 71 per cent of the respondents believing that asylum seekers are given 100 Euros or more every week to cover all their expenses. For Asylum seekers whose claims were being processed by Britain authorities, single persons received 36.62 every week. In addition, they are entitled to rent-free accommodation but they limited choices on where to reside and are moved from one city to another putting them in real distress. On this issue, The Sun Newspaper contrast with the statistics revealing the newspaper position saying that many asylum-seekers are almost the same as dole-scroungers. The media here represents claims that are not founded altogether. Case studies Crime continues to be one of the controversial sources of tension emanating from race between the police and the communities in UK. The use of stop and search rule for the black has remained widespread, with differences in how ethnic groups are treated by the police in law enforcement. The disproportionate numbers of black people who are stopped and searched by police remain a scandal in Britain. Dr Aisha K Gill, a reader in criminology from the University of Roehampton argues that there is solid prove that dark individuals are over-stood through the criminal equity preparation. In the most recent two decades, we have viewed a correctional movement in criminal equity arrangement, and the progressions in police drill that go hand in hand with it have negative outcomes for the BME groups. His argument shows what asylum seekers go through to get justice for their claims and to overcome racism from the Britons (Zamoyski, 1987). Tony Sewell, the Chair of the London inquiry into schools and founder of the charity Generating Genius narrates that during the 1990s, he used to teach Doreen Lawrence at adults’ college in Woolwich but by then, education was thought along how one had a better life but currently, the problem has been aspiration. There has been long period of anti-racism education but he was not convinced that it had much impact on black children. He says that the fastest improving group was the Nigerian girls, Caribbean boys and working-class white boys. This clearly demonstrates that racism whichever degree it could be, still thrives among the citizens in Britain even in the education sector. Krishnan Guru-Murthy, a Channel 4 News presenter argues that TV has changed massively over a period of 18 years in terms of diversity. He says that a few decades later of great planned drives; they could not convey individuals from assorted underpinnings at the top. There are sensible amounts of white collar class individuals from Indian birthplace in television, yet it’s very hard to energize Chinese, Caribbeans and middle class Bangladeshis. It’s a fact or obvious that we require effective mechanisms of benchmarking victory and assent when you fail to realize the differing qualities you need. It’s evident that African Caribbeans find it difficult to improve their careers especially in broadcasting. Such groups of people representing the asylum find it difficult to get ways to maneuvering in their careers unlike other classes of people in Britain. David Lammy, a labor MP for Tottenham claimed that Parliament was undergoing change on its face but no rejoice yet due to political apathy nature of such times. He explains that the Parliament looked and sounded different, which was also an obstacle. He tries to get an answer to the question of whether British politics feel any more relevance to the black man in Moss Side or the Muslim lady from Spark brook or Turkish family in Dalston that time than in 1993. The answer to his inquiry is just a No. This clearly shows that with some of the asylum seekers being in politics, there is still no relevance to the British politics. Muslims and black people here represent the races that are being sidelined in politics. Since time in memorial, there have been many forms of racism which have been witnessed on the Muslims and blacks, but human rights bodies have come strongly to counter this, and their efforts have been very fruitful because this discrimination and unfairness have reduced drastically. Gurbux Singh, a former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality explains that when he was growing up in Wolverhampton in the 1960s, discrimination was evident and in the limelight and right on someone’s face. Stephen Lawrence affair and the report documented by Macpherson changed the attitude of racism in the country. He says that many scenarios like the 2001 uproars demonstrated that specifically, there is potential for tensions and roughness. Dissatisfied young people felt that they were right at the bottom, and that engaging in a competition with another community could arouse tension again. Many years down the line since when the affair happened, there still exists differences relating to race, which Singh still feels that could recur considering the turn of events and how the media and the government have handled the issue of asylum (Schlosberg, 2011). Jazzie B, originator of Soul II Soul, music maker and business person guarantees that he just saw one dark individual in the music business. He continues and says that as years went by he was able to spot black managers and black people working in the background but never saw any signing a cheque. There was no programming on any television that represented black people in a positive light. He laments that such acts were behind time and the country, and that the industry should have moved far much ahead in terms of growth and inclusion of black people working in commissioning. It is still evident that the issues relating to black people even in music industry are still pertinent in explaining asylum. The talents of the black people are not appreciated and rarely do such people improve their abilities and talents to ensure that they improve their living standards while in UK. Zafar Khan, the Managing Director and head of aerospace and defense equity research in London explained his past experiences back in 1985, when he went for an interview. He passed the interview and got a job but he noted that one of the interviewers had asked his younger counterpart a question on how clients would relate to the face of Khan, in terms of the color. The color of persons securing a job was a problem but the younger interviewer was adamant that he could relate well with the clients of the company with no major hitches. He later explains that by then in the UK, there were many Asians who are holding senior management positions. In his own vie, black population in the UK is still under-represented, underestimated and intimidated in one way or the other due to the skin color of their bodies. Both local and international campaigns have been pushing up for job and education opportunities for both the minority and the black communities/race in the UK. Attitudes have been changing with reports of racist incidences over the last two decades soaring from around 11,000 nationwide in 1993-94 to more than 51,000 (Schlosberg, 2011). Conclusion Asylum seekers in their pursuit to achieve their objectives of a secure refuge that if free from race, intimidation stigma and all manners of negative reference have encountered many stumbling blocks. The British press has contributed greatly in fueling this animosity among the countrymen through language and terms that they use when reporting about refugees and asylum seekers. Though there has been instances of improvement compared to years back, radical reforms are needed in asylum-seeker system where every person seeking refuge is treated with respect and their humanitarian status get recognized and accorded to help them live the best live they can. Control on what the media reports is an important aspect that Britain needs to address, though various international and local groups have tried to rally behind asylum seekers to ensure that their human rights are not violated by the media and the government at large (Schlosberg, 2011). References Andrew, P., 2005. Freedom of Expression, the essentials of Human Rights. London: Sage. Arey, J., 1989. Communication as Culture. New York: Routledge. Castillo, A., 2010. Banned Books: Censorship in Eighteenth-Century England. 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