In this post, I will be discussing race and immigration in the media. I will be focussing on British newspapers and the channel 4 drama, "Ackley Bridge".
Immigration is one of 2018's biggest "issues" and it is represented in so many different media texts. One of the main media forms that immigration and race is represented in is newspapers. Almost every week a newspaper will have a headline relating to immigration - and race always plays a part in the reporting of many issues such as crime.
This newspaper front page comes from the "Daily Express". This is a newspaper that loves to comment on the state of the UK immigration 'crisis'. In this headline, like many others, the newspaper is very bias towards the opinions of white British writers. The headline insinuates that immigrants have taken 92% of new jobs in Britain. This is a very stereotypical headline as the writer has not taken into account why these people have gotten 92% of the jobs - because they are hard working individuals and willing to do jobs that frankly other people don't want to do.
In non of the articles that I have seen have the writers taken into account the thoughts and feelings of the immigrants themselves, they are one sided and unbalanced.
This is another article, from fellow conservative newspaper, The Daily Mail. This headline, in my opinion, is frankly awful as it is such a sweeping generalisation of the 'foreign' individuals in our country.
We have always prided ourselves in having such a diverse, cosmopolitan country however the press and media is very quick to associate these people with crimes such as rape and murder despite the fact that these get committed by white people, too.
I think that the reason these headlines are so exaggerated is purely to catch the readers eye and make them pick the newspaper up in the shop. A lot of the time the bulk of the article bares little resemblance to the headline. This shows me that newspapers do not care about providing a valid representation of immigrants, they just want to sell copies and use headlines to express inaccurate opinions on the matter.
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On the opposite end of the scale, Ackley Bridge is a British television program which has aired on Channel 4 since 2017. The show is one of the most diverse shows on TV right now and follows the integration of a all white school with a Muslim/Islamic heavy school. Featuring a cast of all genders, races and sexualities, the show is in my opinion like no other.
In my opinion, the show Ackley Bridge overs a balanced a fair representation of difference races and immigration. Some characters and story lines show disagreement with the idea of multicultural society and other storylines are based around people suffering from racist attacks and abuse due to their race. However, unlike newspapers, Ackley Bridge as a show offers opportunity for characters to grow, learn and develop their opinions in to a positive representing of immigration and race.
The plot - although in some parts exaggerated, as all TV shows are - shows both sides of the story. It offers an insight in to how immigrants lives change when they move to the UK and how beneficial a multicultural society can be.
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