4. Examining Narrative Elements: EU and Illegal Immigration Compared

This section looks in more detail at two aspects of press coverage on immigration and immigrants: legal status and the role of the European Union.

Manual content analysis methods were used to identify specific aspects of news articles, opinion pieces, and letters from the public that corpus linguistic methods used in the previous section are less immediately suited for: do articles highlight mainly problems or achievements, which kinds of problems or successes are mentioned more often, what kinds of justifications are particularly frequent, who is claimed to be responsible for these occurrences? Drawing upon a subsample of the larger corpus, the research analysed 412 articles that dealt with either EU immigration or illegal immigration in the UK context. In the following section, where a difference between the two topics is mentioned, it is statistically significant. More details about the specific procedures used, as well as full statistical tables reporting all findings, appear in Appendix B.

When papers mention either EU or illegal immigration, they tend to focus on perceived problems rather than achievements. Coverage of EU immigration tends to mention the numbers of migrants, while articles mentioning illegal immigration highlight how existing laws are ineffective as well as increased criminality

About 7 in 10 articles (69%) mentioning EU immigration, and about three-quarters (76%) of articles in the illegal immigration sample, contained only mentions of problems. But, the types of problems mentioned in either topic differed. The analysis identified eight main types of problems in each sample (more details about each problem type can be found in Appendix B). Figure 13 shows the percentage of articles that mentioned one or more of these problems, divided by topic.

In the EU immigration topic, 39% of articles mentioned the number of migrants (either actual or potential) as a problem, compared to 20% in the illegality topic. Meanwhile, 41% of articles in the illegality sample argued that existing laws and rules were weak, abused, or ineffective, whereas only 20% of articles in the EU sample did so. In addition, 41% of the articles in the illegality sample (compared to 10% in the EU sample) mentioned crime and insecurity in the UK as a problem.

Under this Government £30 million less is being spent on protecting our borders than five years ago and for seven years the Home Office has not checked how many illegal immigrants are in Britain. These figures suggest that the Government is simply not serious about cracking down on what it is a flagrant and widespread act of criminality. When illegal immigrants come here, many of them take on cash-in-hand work which robs the Treasury of tax income but these immigrants also frequently become involved in organised crime. (Midmarket, 2014)

Figure 13

(Note: percentages within topics do not total 100% because articles could be assigned up to two problem types).

Meanwhile, much of the debate about EU migration has centred on its scale and anticipated impacts.

Tougher controls on migration could include curbs on freedom of movement to delay an exodus from new EU countries, David Cameron said yesterday…He acknowledged fears about an influx of non-skilled workers from Romania and Bulgaria when restrictions are lifted on January 1 and condemned Labour for giving Poles and other eastern Europeans instant access to British jobs in 2004. (Midmarket, 2013)

Whether regarding EU or illegal immigration, articles place the blame for problems—as well as the credit for successes—with the government in power. But, migrants themselves are also portrayed as the causes of problems with illegal immigration rather than EU immigration

Articles often attribute responsibility to specific groups or people when they report a problem or success. In both topics, articles usually put the spotlight on the government in power or one of its agencies. This happens in nearly half (49%) of articles mentioning a problem related to EU migration, and a similar proportion (46%) in the illegality sample. Meanwhile, when an article mentioned a success or achievement, about a third of the time (34%) in the EU sample it was the government that got credit. This happened a quarter (25%) of the time in the illegality sample.

But a distinction emerges in who or what gets blamed for problems specifically associated with each topic, as seen in Figure 14. Migrants tend to be cast as the cause of problems related to illegal immigration (28% of articles), much more than EU migration (9% of articles). Although there also is some evidence suggesting that the press blames smugglers and traffickers in the illegality sample, blame is attached less often to this group than to migrants themselves. Conversely, EU bodies and other European states are blamed for problems relating to EU migration (10% of articles) rather than illegal immigration (fewer than 1% of articles).

Four illegal immigrants sneaked into Britain in the back of a lorry carrying Tony Blair’s new armoured car. The asylum seekers slipped into the truck shortly before it was shipped across the Channel in a ferry…A police spokesman confirmed four men were arrested for alleged immigration offences on Tuesday. The asylum seekers have now been handed over to the immigration service. Sources said they will soon be released into the community while their asylum applications are processed. (Midmarket, 2007)

Non-EU migrants have swamped France. Instead of deporting them, France aims to offload them on us. Most are delighted to come, since our economy and benefits are better. And France is using our EU contributions to ease their passage. It is truly insane. (Tabloid, 2015)

Figure 14

(Note: percentages within topics do not total 100% because articles could have multiple actors blamed for problems or credited for successes).

Meanwhile, when articles report on a perceived success or achievement, the only significant difference between the two topics appears in regard to the police or security services. In 23% of successes mentioned in the illegality sample, compared to none in the EU sample, the police receive credit for achieving something. Closer inspection revealed that articles attributing success to this group are generally mentioning the successful arrest of illegal immigrants.

Two Brazilian illegal immigrants who set up Britain’s biggest fake passport factory were jailed for five years yesterday…When police raided it last November after a tip-off from a Central London stationers, officers found ‘wall-to-wall machinery’ along with 12,000 passport covers, hundreds of passport photographs, driving licences and utility bills. Detective Sergeant Tony Lynes said the passports could easily have been used in benefit, credit card, loan and mortgage fraud. (Midmarket, 2006)

Whether dealing with a problem or success, the people identified as the source of the main message are most often the article authors themselves

The analysis identified who says that something matters, or the messenger of an issue. In nearly half of both samples (about half of articles mentioning either EU or illegal immigration), the author of the article is the person who is communicating the main issue—asserting whether it is problem or success. This includes instances of opinion pieces, commentaries, and letters. (In articles where the author was clearly writing as a representative of a particular group, such as a business, it was coded as part of that group). The second-most frequent group that articles use to transmit a message consists of MPs or other politicians: for example, 18% of EU and illegality articles containing a problem cite politicians as the messenger (Figure 15) .

Figure 15

By way of example, the first of the following two quotes shows a case in which the author of the article is the ‘messenger’ of the problem, while the second shows a case in which the messenger is a politician.

Violent extremism, illegal immigration, climate change and rising food prices are not problems we can address by acting only within our borders. Aid focused on tackling poverty and nurturing civil society can play an important part in tackling the root causes behind such challenges. (Broadsheet, 2014)

Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, has been quick to recommend his approach to Europe after hundreds of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean. “The only way you can stop the deaths is to stop the people smuggling trade. The only way you can stop the deaths is in fact to stop the boats, “he said. “That’s why it is so urgent that the countries of Europe adopt very strong policies that will end the people smuggling trade across the Mediterranean. (Broadsheet, 2015)

Other actors outside of government agencies or Parliament do not appear to be prominent as messengers in discussions of problems or achievements related to EU or illegal migration.

Assertions in media coverage also tend not to be accompanied by other sources—either in support or contrast to the main points.

Authors have the option to bring in other actors, whether through passing attribution or explicit quotation. But in the cases of both topics, articles tend to lack references to additional sources. This happens more often in the context of illegal immigration (56%) rather than EU immigration (41%). When sources do appear, they tend to be politicians (mentioned in 23% of articles in the EU sample; 15% of articles in the illegality sample), or civil servants (19% of articles in the EU sample, and 12% of articles in the illegality sample). Although the samples include some genres of newspaper content that might be reasonably assumed to naturally feature the author’s own voice—one-off opinion pieces or regular columns, for example—the fact that other sources tend not to be brought in to complement or strengthen the author’s arguments highlights the significance of journalists’ roles in framing migration narratives.

In both topics, problems and successes were most often justified on the basis that the UK’s own prosperity and well-being should come before others. But, justifications related to public order and security were very strongly associated with illegal immigration rather than EU migration. Meanwhile, arguments based on sovereignty were common in the EU sample

Another key part of press coverage involves how issues are ethically framed, or how authors draw upon different kinds of values to make their arguments. Some of these values might place more emphasis on the host country’s own welfare (‘domestic prosperity’), while others might highlight the importance of states being able to govern themselves (‘sovereignty’). In nearly half (48%) of articles mentioning EU immigration, the authors justified their argument on the basis of domestic prosperity, or the idea that ‘immigration should be controlled to deliver the best possible economic, social and welfare conditions for citizens’ (Balabanova and Balch 2010: 384). A similar proportion of articles in the illegality sample (44%) also contained justifications based on domestic prosperity.

Figure 16

(Note: percentages within topics do not total 100% because articles could be assigned up to two justification types).

The following two examples illustrate how ‘domestic prosperity’ is communicated by emphasising differences between interests in the UK’s own economy and society and the interests of those outside Britain.

There is no doubt that Britain needs to address its skills deficiencies. Improved education and training programmes are crucial. There is, of course, another way of tackling the problem, and that is by importing skilled labour. This has happened to a considerable degree over the past two years as a large number of people from Eastern Europe have migrated here. There is no doubt their presence has been a fillip for employers and helped to hold down inflation by restraining wage increases, if not undercutting wages. On some estimates, they contributed about 1/2%, possibly more, to GDP growth in 2005 and a similar contribution can be expected for 2006, thus bolstering the Chancellor’s GDP data. But large-scale immigration cannot be the long-term solution to our skills problems. There are too many downsides in a crowded island. (Broadsheet, 2006)

The Commons home affairs select committee’s damning report on immigration controls…says that the Home Office is clearly ‘not in a position’ to think through the wider implications of immigration on labour markets or society and that a cross-government committee should take charge of this. (Broadsheet, 2006)

Previous research by Balabanova and Balch (2010) measured the quantities and types of ethical framings that appeared in British and Bulgarian coverage about EU migration in 2006. They found that in nearly half (48%) of all framings identified in their UK sample (52 out of 108), the main justification was ‘domestic social justice’, which corresponds with this report’s code of ‘domestic prosperity’ (see Appendix B for full details of each code). Subsequent research that compared coverage in 2006 and 2013 (Balch and Balabanova 2016) found that the emphasis towards domestic concerns had intensified over the period.

As seen in Figure 15, the kinds of justifications made between the two topics differed, too. Arguments citing the value of public order—that is, the claim that any action on immigration should preserve safety and the rule of law as well as combat anti-social behaviours—appeared most in the context of illegal immigration (40% of articles containing a problem) rather than EU migration (12% of articles containing a problem).

More than 50,000 illegal immigrants who were told to leave the country have been granted a ‘de facto amnesty’ after officials admitted they had no idea where they were. [The director-general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office] added that because the department had a ‘limited amount of enforcement resource’, it was used to pursue those immigrants whose location was known and who were considered to be likely to cause harm. ‘If there is any evidence that they are causing harms, i.e., criminal offending, then of course we would pursue them’, she said. (Broadsheet, 2014)

Meanwhile, arguments based on the justification of sovereignty, or the belief that actions should be based on Britain’s right to act according to its own rules and laws, frequently appeared in connection with discussion about the problem of EU migration: 18% of articles in the EU sample contained this justification, compared to 8% in the illegality sample.

Non-EU relatives of EU citizens currently need visas before they can come to the UK even if they are living within the community. But the European Court of Justice has ruled that Britain has had no right to enforce travel controls on non-Europeans who have been granted a residency permit by another member state. The EU court’s ruling, expected to be upheld in the New Year by Britain’s own High Court, is a fresh blow to the Government’s border powers. (Midmarket, 2014)

These results about the kinds of values and justifications used in news coverage about EU and illegal immigration suggest reasons why these topics matter as either problems or successes. Illegality is strongly linked with ideas of criminality and the need for keeping the public safe, while EU immigration is coupled with concerns about how the UK’s ability to govern itself.

Summary

The analysis in Section 4 shows that discussion of EU immigration tends to focus on the scale of migration, while coverage mentioning illegal immigration highlights how existing laws are ineffective (Figure 13). Across both topics, the journalist themself is most often the “messenger”, rather than simply reporting a third party’s concerns. The government receives most of the blame for problems—although migrants themselves also receive blame in reference to illegal immigration, while EU states and organisations are also implicated in problems relating to European immigration (Figure 14). And, in line with previous research (Balch and Balabanova 2010; 2016), many claims about achievements or problems relating to these topics were based on arguments that emphasised the UK’s own domestic prosperity, whether in economic, social, or security terms (Figure 15).