Just five years ago Lionel Morrison, of the NUJ's Ethics Council, wrote

Negative media coverage - the same old story

'Xenophobia and racism are based on the age-old desire of man to find a ready scapegoat and the dislike of anyone who does not readily conform, whether in behaviour, colour or religion. To perpetuate racism and xenophobia through our media is not only antisocial and grossly irresponsible, it is well nigh criminal.

The attitude of our newspapers and broadcasters is a crucial element in race relations and opinion-forming on asylum seekers. Immigration or colour prejudice can be materially affected by the way these media handle stories concerning them.

This observation is not new and, sadly, neither are racist and xenophobic articles and news reports new to our newspapers.'

The article reflects how, for two weeks in 1976, readers were subjected to almost constant news coverage on Asian immigration and asylum seekers from all the newspapers -- and those two weeks turned out to be only the precursor of a long summer in which immigration, race relations and black people provided a major portion of news coverage.

"The problem, it seems, always lies with the asylum seekers, and not in white racism"

One of the headlines

"'Queue Jumping' Rumpus" -- Express, 8/5/76

could just have easliy appeared in 2009
and something similar in fact was!

"Labour backs down on promise to stop migrants jumping house queue"
Mail online 31st July 2009


With the expansion of the EU British papers carried such headlines as
'BRITAIN HERE WE COME' and 'WE CAN'T COPE WITH HUGE GIPSY INVASION' to accompany stories that all the gypsies in the states joining the EU in May would come to the UK and claim benefits.

This massive resurgence of xenophobia resulted in NUJ Journalists on Express Newspapers in London condemning their own paper's 'racist' coverage of immigration and demanding a 'conscience clause' to allow them to opt out of working on such stories

The shameful Islamophobia at the heart of Britain's press

- examples of inaccurate and downright lying in the tabloid press in recent years

On Thursday 26 February 2009 the London bus driver described in one of these 'stories' accepted £30,000 in damages from the Sun over a claim that he ordered passengers off his vehicle so that he could pray. report

But how many people read - and believed - the original version?