The Daily Telegraph's front page headline on Wednesday 26th August was, “8 million foreigners living in Britain”. The report was on a study conducted by Oxford University. It is extremely shocking that a leading daily publication used inappropriate terminology to describe the scenario; words such as “8 million foreigners” is the title was uncalled for and inaccurate. Such description does not encourage community cohesion.
According to experts from the University of Oxford, the UK's foreign-born population may have been pushed to 8 million.
The Oxford report reveals that the foreign-born population increased from 6 million to 7 million in the three years to 2009, although it took five years for the figures to rise from 7 million to 8 million.
The figures of the report includes British citizens who were born abroad to parents who were already British citizens, British servicemen and women, as well as immigrants who have become UK citizens.
Although the figures include British citizens who were born outside of Britain, the coverage of this news have been misleading by certain sections of the media, as many have emphasised 8 million “foreigners”, rather than “foreign-born residents”. It may give out the wrong notion that the nation are being inundated with 8 million foreigners who have conveniently forayed into this country.
Headlines by well-reputed and established newspaper publications, such as The Times and The Daily Telegraph, which makes no qualms in highlighting how “foreigners” and “foreign-born” people are swamping into Britain, overpopulating their land. Even if the purpose of the article was not to emphasise the increase in Britain's population thanks to “immigrants”, the title, nevertheless, gives out a negative notion.
The articles from The Times and The Daily Telegraph mention that the reports include British citizens who were born abroad to parents who were servicemen and women, and immigrants who consequently became British citizens, however, they have failed to establish the fact that there were people who came from countries that were part of the British colony, which made them British. Imperialism and colonisation have not been mentioned. There is more stress upon the figures of 8 million foreigners, which seems like a cause of concern to them.
On the other hand, the headline of the article in The Times, (Wednesday 26th August, page 2) “EU migrants push number of foreign-born residents to 8m”, was more coherent with the subject of the article. Although the headline mentions “foreign-born”, it gives more of an indication that the figures are because of the new EU migrants, unlike the headline for The Daily Telegraph, which comes across as though 8 million foreigners have made their way into Britain together, or 8 million unwanted people of foreign heritage are living in the UK.
As prominent publications, it is their duty to produce reliant and coherent journalism. No doubt, they have mentioned the fact that there has been an increase in the population. But again, the emphasis has been on “foreigners” causing this rise, which can give the readers the wrong indication that illegal immigrants may have caused the increase in population.
The UK has already tightened up its immigration policies and have made it extremely difficult for those who wish to migrate to this nation, especially difficult for those who wish to enter British territories illegally.
But the articles could lead to further segregation within the UK, making the “foreign-born” British citizens feel unwelcome, as well as feel as though their home is not their own. There seems to be a certain obsession within the media circuit of pinpointing the outsider and making feel delinquent of something that may not done. They may be a proud British and a true patriot, yet they will always be considered and labeled as a “foreigner”.
