Are Immigrants Seen as a Problem in British Media - Essay Example

Are Immigrants seen as a Problem in British Media? 1. Introduction Immigration is only natural for any country and for any individual. Not just immigration has long been related to individual’s own need for survival but also immigration is related with cultural diversification that it brings to a country and changes its past, present and future. In spite of the benefits that immigration brings immigrants are generally considered as a threat by the local population. Generally the natives tend to bear with the immigrants and their different culture until the rage against immigrants piles up to the extent of rebellion. The basic statistics still remain the same except that now an indirect blow is made on the immigrant population through media. We live in a state where our basic decisions are affected by media; our lives are influenced by media. In such a sensitive situation, any picture portrayed by media is taken very seriously. Since media is so important in our society these days, it would be only right to see the effect that media has on such an important issue as immigration. Over the past couple of year’s immigration has been a hot issue for developed countries especially US and UK. UK however has been much more famous for racism and related immigration rules. With sites like MigrationWatchUK.com it’s only anybody’s guess that immigration rules are tougher here. In a State where immigration is the hot topic over which elections are fought, it is interesting to note what the media has to say about the issue. This study focuses on the issue of immigration as it is seen by the British media. 2. Literature Review Researching the topic I came across various newspaper articles, discussions, and articles on web that discuss the topic of immigration. It can be easily guessed how huge the topic really is as there are questions related to immigration and why it is a problem on Yahoo Answers. It is not just print media that we need to consider, but since electronic media is a more popular medium especially among youngsters, it is interesting to note what the young generation feels about the topic. Further, I also came across journals that discuss representation and how representation through mediums like media affect issues related to culture. It is quite evitable that immigration was the main topic in the recent elections held and realizing the sentiments of the people Labour party even went to the extent of claiming to tighten the laws related to immigration. BBC news even started a debate on the topic whether immigration was a problem? It was clear from the debate that most people considered immigrants a nuance. They also thought that immigrants were unable to understand the local culture and they had no respect for their culture. It is generally believed that these immigrants from are illegal and are only benefiting from the loopholes in their own system. Then there are sites like MigrationWatchUK.com that claim to be “an independent, voluntary, non political body which is concerned about the present scale of immigration into the UK”. Their homepage presents following facts related to immigration: “Net immigration quadrupled to 237,000 a year between 1997 and 2007. In 2009 it was 196,000. 3 million immigrants have arrived since 1997. A migrant still arrives almost every minute. We must build a new home every six minutes for new migrants. England is already, with Holland, the most crowded country in Europe (except Malta) Immigration will add 7 million to the population of England in the next 24 years - that is 7 times the population of Birmingham. To keep the population of the UK, now 61.2 million, below 70 million, net immigration must be reduced by 50,000 a year. With balanced migration it would peak at about 65 million.” Even though the site would protest if accused for heating up sentiments against immigrants on the ground that it just promotes “balanced” migration, however, the representation of facts only mean that immigration should be completely stopped if England is to remain a stable State. Back in 1995 when racism and immigration were still a new topic, Ruth Brown had noted that “the fact that Labour Party and trade union leaders have always supported immigration controls means that racist ideas about immigration can sometimes gain a hearing among workers”. He points out to the fact that most believe immigration is only a recent phenomenon that started with migration of people from Caribbean and Indian sub-continent. Hence, everybody is under the false impression that England had always been an isolated place even though migration had been there for long through slave trading. This setup remains the same and hence people feel culturally infiltrated by immigrants especially now when even the most loved cuisine of Britain, curry, is not truly theirs. Under such intense situation if Gordon Brown suddenly claims to toughen the rules on immigration then there is going to be a debate about why this sudden need and about whether immigration is really a nuisance. Media highlights about such issues will also bring people who had formerly had no interest to become interested in the issue. I also came across books and journals that showed how representations whether through media or any other medium have a long lasting effect on the way people perceive. Stuart Hall discusses how individuals receive meaning through various means including media and that these meanings keep on changing based on the means they receive it from. Hence any representation by media tends to affect an individual but only for so long as that representation is not modified by some other medium or the same medium. In that context, any representation of culture by media and its continuous repetition leads to establishment of that representation. Read More