People of color are more likely to be portrayed as immigrants or immigrants receiving less sympathy, an analysis of news articles and parliamentary debates between 2019 and the general election in July 2024 has found. The race equality thinktank, the Runnymede Trust, found that the use of language by both the media and politicians about race and immigration has contributed to the rise of reactionary political views and backlash against efforts to combat race issues which has emboldened the far-right in the country. Researchers studied more than 63 million words from 52,990 news articles and 317 House of Commons debates on immigration between 2019 and 2024.
The most commonly associated word linked to migrants in these discussions in 2010-2014 was “illegal.” The majority of this is highlighted in association with the word historically being used in official documents on the ground of being a migrant. The report says that the defining characteristic of migrants has been associated as being “illegal” over the past decade.
“The right wants us to think Britain is on the verge of ethnic conflict. The truth is worse than that | John Merrick” related to UK news on immigration. This situation has been described as potentially reactionary towards an event in which ethnic conflict was seen. Politicians are more likely to humanize refugees from Ukraine than any other refugees during recent parliamentary discussions. For residents of the UK, refugees are associated with “criminal” , “Queer” , and “Other” along with being ethnically diverse, according to research findings. With this, politicians continue to depict immigration as a threat to the British way of life.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/02/language-on-immigration-in-uk-news-and-politics-found-to-have-shaped-backlash-against-antiracism
