Making the Headlines: EU Immigration to the UK and the Wave of New Racism After Brexit

Abstract

This chapter explores the most discussed immigration-related topics in the news media during the EU referendum campaign in the UK (April-June 2016) and after (July-September 2016) and identifies a pattern of covering immigration topics during and after the EU referendum. The chapter argues that attitudes anti-EU immigration are a wave of 'new(s)' racism (van Dijk, 2000) in the UK and EU immigration is frequently used as an umbrella term for Eastern European immigration being often mixed with non-EU immigration and the Refugee crisis. The results both replicate and extend the findings of earlier work showing how news media have shaped people's attitudes during the EU referendum leading to general hostility to immigration. Our data shows that the prevalence of negative news stories has led to a distinctive immigration-narrative, confirming Hoffner and Cohen (2013)'s claim that members of minority groups are almost always associated with violent and threatening media content. Reflecting on the results of the EU referendum, we argue that 14 years of negative media exposure shaped the public's beliefs, confirming Gerbner (1998)'s theory and also Busselle & Crendall (2002)'s and Fujioka (2005)'s studies, that indicate that exposure to negative media messages can influence the perception of minority groups by the majority.

News media representation on EU immigration before Brexit: the ‘Euro-Ripper’ case

“…The media accounts of this case enacted the drama, hysteria and anxieties of irregular migration practices in the EU and focused on the fear of the 'Other' (see Krulichová, 2019) brought about by the lack of security managed by this migratory flow of people. I therefore argue, in line with other studies (Goode and Ben-Yehuda, 1994;Mawby and Gisby, 2009;Griffiths, 2017;Fox, 2018) that the logic of news formats promotes the reproduction of relationships of power and alarm and, encourages the public sphere to think about whom we should fear. Specifically, how our collective memories of crime are imagined?…”

“…While several researchers have focused on traditional media portrayals of migrants and crime, in the context of assessments of Brexit (see Dorling, 2016;Gurminder 2017;Benson, 2019) there has been less research into its effects and practices that affect public attitudes (see Griffiths, 2017;Fox, 2018;Hutchings and Sullivan, 2019). This paper is interested in demonstrating how newspaper articles and personal comments written in response thereof, represented creative and media-driven anxieties about 'opening' borders in the EU.…”

“…After 47 years, the UK has now left the EU. Until now, the British media has never ceased to stress the destructive impacts of the 'migratory crisis' (Griffiths, 2017;Fox, 2018;Hutching and Sullivan, 2019).…”

Hope or Fear? A Contemporary Portrayal of Immigrants in British Regional Newspapers

“…However, British citizens did not hold much different opinions regarding the EU and the non-EU immigrants in the UK (Eurobarometer, 2016). Moreover, their concerns regarding immigration are not exclusive to the EU immigrants, but immigration as a whole (Fox, 2018). Nevertheless, reasons behind Brexit do recall UK's historic controversies regarding European integration, which also suggest a weak sense of European identity among British citizens (Carl, 2018).…”

“…3 (51) (Ipsos MORI, 2014). Media reports claim the above factors to be directly affected by immigration (Fox, 2018). British political party agendas and campaign promises, as well as the growth in popularity and public support for parties such as the UK Independent Party (UKIP) also reflect these concerns towards immigration.…”