Unspoken: African Dialogues

Migration and Media

With the UK government reversing its own ‘open door’ policies to redefine what it meant to be a British citizen, news publications like The Sun and The Daily Express played on stereotypes of African people to exacerbate racially-motivated attitudes towards immigration.

The legacy of colonialism has created a perception amongst young Africans that anything Western is superior to their home, which has resulted in migration to both Europe and the USA for what people believe will allow for a better life with more safety.  Media coverage in their country of origin does not show what other countries think about migration, which has resulted in migrants being shocked by the reaction of some of the host country population’s openly anti-migrant rhetoric. 

The media is well known for creating bias in how it reports about migration and the influence it has on societies in European countries who receive migrants.  It is common in the media to present those who are migrants as travelling to Britain illegally and that they commit crimes once they are here.  Identifying the country of origins of those who have committed crimes in the media has had dire consequences.  In recent times, Britain has seen a series of protests across the country in response to crimes committed from a small percentage of migrants.

The media’s coverage of migration has created serious consequences, with migrants becoming the victims of racism, discrimination, xenophobia, violence, exploitation and persecution.  It cannot be said that the media alone is creating the anti-migrant rhetoric.  Politicians are increasingly using the increase of migration to Britain to further their political agendas and the media exacerbates this by reporting their views.

References

African Union: African Centre for the Study and Research on Migration, ‘Migration and Media: changing the African migration’s narratives

Available at: https://www.acsrm-au.org/work/migration-and-media-changing-the-african-migrations-narratives/

Accessed: 06/11/2025