IMMIGRATION AND THE IRISH MEDIA

One year of coverage in the Irish Times (summary of longer article)

1.1           THE ISSUE

Ireland has historically been a country of strong emigration. This tradition was particularly marked between the period of the Great Famine of the late 1840s and the mid-20^th century. Even in more recent times, with significant but painful structural changes in the Irish economy as well as demographic pressures, the late 1980s saw a new outflow of emigration. In the 1990s a dramatic change took place, with the emergence of the 'Celtic Tiger' economy in Ireland, strong job growth, falling unemployment and finally, in the mid- to late 1990s, a significant upsurge in immigration, although much of it was initially from neighbouring EU member States.

The country is therefore now one of net in-migration. While this emerging trend was foreseen by experts some years beforehand, it has only recently begun to make an impact in terms of popular perceptions and, in  particular, in media coverage and debate. Moreover, insofar as the issue of immigration has featured at all, this has mainly been related to the arrival of asylum seekers. Although the present year, 2001, has seen some change, labour immigration and related long-term issues of integration did not feature to any significant extent in media reports.

When analysing the social, cultural and political issues linked to the phenomenon of immigration, the way in which the subject is covered in the media provides important indicators not only of the relevance of the phenomenon in a country, but also of how the issue is understood by politicians and presented to the public.

Mass media influence the way social phenomena are viewed and are in turn influenced by popular public and political perceptions of those phenomena. Moreover, serious newspapers of reference frequently perceive themselves as having a campaigning role, offering coverage of events as they occur but also attempting to investigate, analyse, predict and influence emerging trends in society.

1.2           AIM OF THE REVIEW

The review aims to define and map the coverage - in terms of language used, themes covered in headlines and texts, and the quantity of material published - of the migration phenomenon in the daily newspapers. It also aims to explore the extent to which the media are setting an analytical agenda in developing new approaches to immigration in Ireland.

1.3           SOURCE OF MATERIAL REVIEWED

In the case of Ireland, the paper selected for analysis is The Irish Times, which could be described as Ireland’s unofficial national newspaper of reference. As a newspaper it does not have the same explicitly left-of-centre identification, for instance, as the Guardian in Britain; it might best be described as a ‘liberal’ newspaper, comparable, say, to Le Monde in France, Corriere della Serra  in Rome or La Vanguardia in Barcelona. Like Le Monde, ownership of the newspaper is vested in an independent trust in order to ensure freedom from political and commercial interference. The newspaper balances a generally “left-liberal” line with an editorial policy which leaves a considerable degree of latitude to its own journalists, who express a wide range of political and social opinions and could in no circumstances be described as uniformly ‘liberal’, still less ‘left’. European and international coverage is strong (bearing the size of the country and of the readership in mind), with correspondents based in a number of major capitals, including London, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, Bejing, Moscow and Washington. It is affiliated to a number of European news partnerships and subscribes to the major wire services.

The newspaper has an average daily circulation of 116,000 (source: Audit Bureau of Circulation) and its website http://www.ireland.com is consistently in the top three most visited Irish websites (currently it is the most visited site). Unfortunately the newspaper is currently undergoing a financial crisis which seems likely to lead to some redundancies, but its survival seems assured.

1.4           Coverage of immigration and related issues in the Irish Times

The Irish Times consistently carries more extensive coverage on immigration and related matters than either of the other two broadsheet dailies, the Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner. It is the newspaper of choice for opinion-formers, much of the political classes and a substantial elite readership in the public service and other key sectors. It espouses a campaigning style with an emphasis on critical, investigative journalism on specific themes (e.g. political corruption, the health service, European affairs). However its editorials, while sometimes authoritative, are uneven and could not be compared, say, with the London Times before it was taken over by the Murdoch group.

The analysis will be carried out on the issues of the paper published throughout the year 2000. A total of  490 significant items on immigration and related topics appeared in the Irish Times in the course of the year

1.5           A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON ASYLUM AND REFUGEE ISSUES

As suggested earlier, it will be evident from the detailed analysis which follows of the Irish press for the year 2000 that a marked, indeed disproportionate, emphasis on asylum seekers and refugees, as opposed to immigration, especially labour immigration, is to be noted. This is in spite of the fact that the numbers of EU immigrants and non-EEA labour immigrants consistently exceeded the numbers of asylum seekers by a wide margin (gross immigration for 2000 is estimated at approximately 44,000, while the number of asylum seekers was just under 11,000).

Immigration policy, as opposed to asylum and refugee policy, has received relatively little attention in Ireland to date. Just recently (June 2001) the Minister for Justice announced a consultation process concerning a proposed new Bill on immigration and residency, to be introduced towards the end of 2001, although the changing political landscape will almost certainly lead to some delay.  Such legislation, when passed, will represent the first major change for several decades, as the 1935 Aliens Act still constitutes the bedrock of current policy for an would-be non-EEA labour migrants. In the meantime, as detailed elsewhere, a number of measures were introduced to favour immigration of high-skills immigrants, but these did not receive much prominent coverage in the media. The management of migration flows, in particular, received very little attention, largely because the Irish approach to labour immigration, as detailed elsewhere, uses a fundamentally different mechanism.

Insofar as general issues such as racism, xenophobia, discrimination, reception arrangements and issues of integration are concerned, it is fair to say that Irish media reporting on asylum seekers and refugees may be seen as a prism through which these more general debates may be viewed. In that sense, it seems to us to be legitimate to regard reporting on asylum and refugee issues as an appropriate avenue through which to seek to understand the more general issues as seen from an Irish perspective.

One should of course also recognise the shortcomings of such an approach. In particular, coverage of asylum seeker issues in the Irish media inevitably and almost invariably reflects a concern with immediate reception issues - e.g. housing and health, while relatively little attention is paid to questions of long-term integration.

Finally, media reports in 2001, while beyond the scope of this document, already suggest a significant shift away from asylum issues and towards the broader social issues concerned with labour immigration and with the need to address integration in the longer term. Moreover, the period since the events of 11 September, in particular, has seen a process of economic retrenchment accompanied by a greater attention to the presence of immigrant workers, although some of this reporting has inevitably  been reactive in nature.

Even if one bears the recent nature of net immigration flows into Ireland in mind, it is legitimate to ask why they have not received greater attention in the media. A number of reasons may tentatively be put forward.

• First, most labour migrants have been from other EU countries and have in general encountered relatively few difficulties.
• Secondly, while it is true that Ireland has no strong tradition of diversity it is also true that the economic and social climate in recent years has not been unfavourable to the arrival of immigrant workers.
• The third and possibly most important reason is geopolitical. Ireland is a relatively isolated island off the north-west coast of the European continent, where the nature and scale of the changing nature of world migration has until recently appeared to be very remote. The Mediterranean, by contrast, constitutes a shared European-Middle Eastern-African space, a crossroads in which the perceptions and realities of migration inevitably have a more urgent, highly charged and politicised quality.

None of this is to deny the reality of xenophobia and racism in Ireland – and still less is it suggested that such xenophobia and racism might not now become much stronger. But the historical conditions, until recently, did not provide the conditions for any significant popular awareness of such issues.

The analysis presented therefore reflects a strong bias towards asylum and refugee issues. At the same time, as these were, precisely, the first occasions for many Irish people to encounter foreigners in any numbers (in part, ironically, because of the Government’s dispersal policy), it seems legitimate to treat such reports as indicative of Irish attitudes towards foreigners in general.

1.6           METHODOLOGY

The semantic analysis of headlines and articles on immigration was carried out on the basis of the recurrence of keywords and the recurrence of specific themes. The items considered were individual categories, keywords and themes.

The analysis identified and tabulated reports according to the following criteria:

a)      number of articles on immigration published in a year;

b)      keywords which appear most often;

c)      the main institutions mentioned;

d)      the main themes covered. These have been divided into three categories (i) themes relevant to asylum seekers, (ii) themes relevant to immigrants, and (iii) common themes, e.g. responses to racism.

The selected articles were then further read with a view to identifying the different positions expressed on the themes covered. The results were entered into a database with the following fields:

The institutions feature included: Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform; Department of Foreign Affairs; Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment; Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs; Immigrant and Asylum seeker associations; Trade unions; Voluntary and Community Sector; Religious bodies.

1.7       Preliminary Observations

A total of 490 press stories on immigration and related matters appeared in the Irish Times in 2000 (for full list by story headline, see press annex). Chart 1 gives the distribution on a month by month basis.

Chart 2 - Word frequencies, press stories on immigration, Irish Times 2000

It will be evident from the keyword list above that ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’ appear with a greater frequency by far than ‘immigrant’. Most of the other words which recur frequently (accommodation, deportation, dispersal, hotel, illegal, Nigerian, policy, racism, rights, Romanian) refer to aspects of the experiences of asylum seekers. Terms such as ‘bogus’ and ‘xenophobia’ do not occur often.

Editorials

The number of editorials in the Irish Times on immigration and related matters was 17. Again, it will be evident that the vast majority of editorial either address specific asylum seeker/refugee issues or concern general questions of racism. Only one editorial (2 March) specifically dealt with immigration policy in the more general sense.

Chart 3 – type of article

It will be evident from this chart that relatively few immigration-related stories made the front page. Those stories which did make the front page were almost entirely concerned with asylum (59 asylum seekers arrive in Rosslare’, 3 January, ‘74% of voters want strict curbs on refugees’ 24 January, ‘Ahern's asylum-seeker remarks spark concern’, 14 March). A small number were concerned with common themes (‘Census to have queries about ethnic identity’, 17  March) and fewer still dealt with specifically immigration-related issues (‘Attracting overseas labour unwise, ESRI declares’, 24 March).

Main press themes for 2000

The issues which stood out in the coverage of asylum issues in 2000 were as follows:

• numbers arriving and numbers granted status
• attitudes towards asylum seekers
• legal and related rights issues
• housing difficulties, including proposed ‘flotels’ and possible detention centres
• country of origin information and narratives
• political reactions and debates
• Problems of racism and xenophobia
• reception of asylum seekers in urban and rural Ireland – policies of ‘dispersal’ and ‘direct provision’
• the role of NGO and other support groups
• Costs and other issues related to welfare provision
• Anti-Immigrant activities and organizations
• European and International comparisons
• Immigration issues in general (not asylum seekers and refugees)
• Temporary immigrant labour for agribusiness, defence forces
• Government, Industry and trade union views on need for immigration
• Police training on racism and interculturalism
• Court cases and legal debates
• Views of religious authorities
• Intercultural and related initiatives
• Programme refugees
• EU cooperation, cross-channel ferries etc.
• Exploitation of foreign workers
• Minorities in Ireland; identity and exclusion
• Illegal immigration
• Detention of business visitors

Chart 4 – principal keywords

The six commonest themes are set out. Again, asylum/refugee issues dominate, along with the general issue of racism.

1.8           Month by month commentary

January 2000 (19 stories)

The emphasis in January 2000 was almost entirely on asylum and refugee issues. Apart from the monthly numbers arriving, which had reached a high of 1000 per month by the end of 1999, the main concern was with housing issues, as the Government began systematically to disperse asylum seekers outside Dublin for the first time. A major opinion poll on 24 January showed a majority are in favour of limiting refugee numbers but also showed, paradoxically, that a majority wants better treatment for asylum seekers and refugees (unfortunately, the poll design was flawed). One solitary article, on 17 January, examined the growing rate of labour immigration.

February 2000 (14 stories)

Two principle issues of concern emerged during the course of the month – the increasing use of dispersal as an instrument of Government policy and a growing concern with the danger of racism. The emergence of local asylum seeker support groups was chronicled in a number of articles, while new policy measures were criticised by human rights groups. Reference was also made to an anti-immigrant political organisation, the Immigration Control Platform, although it was clear that the group has little support.

March 2000 (85 stories)

The month of March shows a major upsurge in press coverage of asylum and immigration issues, with more than twice as many articles as January and February combined. Dispersal of asylum seekers and the housing arrangements being made for them are the main issues under discussion, as well as one major specific controversy – a visit by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Bertie Ahern, to Australia, where he made a number of ambivalent comments about Australia’s use of detention centres for asylum seekers. Several critical articles suggest that the intention of Mr Ahern’s remarks is to test likely public reaction to the use of administrative detention in Ireland. By and large the tone of these articles is hostile and a wide number of NGOs, opposition politicians and church spokespersons are quoted as criticising the remarks. The Australian debate also leads to a number of comparative articles, mostly critical in tone, on arrangements in other EU countries. Ongoing dispersal is dealt with in articles about the local reception of asylum seekers in various parts of the country. In general, while local reaction is often favourable, the lack of support and services for them is highlighted.  The national holiday, St Patrick’s Day, prompts a number of opinion pieces about the saint’s own status as a refugee and immigrant, expressing the theme that he would not be welcome today.

Several articles deal with the proposal to house asylum seekers in floating hotels or ‘flotels’ – in general coverage of this issue is critical or hostile. Only a small number of articles address broader immigration issues – some concerned with racism and a few with labour immigration. A major trade union and the official Economic and Social Research Institute are quoted as warning against the ‘wholesale importation’ of foreign workers, running against the official trend of encouraging labour immigration.  

April 2000 (73 stories)

Coverage of immigration issues is again largely confined to asylum seekers and refugees. Several concern local reactions around the country, some of it negative, as greater numbers of asylum seekers are moved to areas with little previous experience of any foreign presence. A major statement by the Roman Catholic bishops, calling for better treatment, the right to work and regularisation of most asylum seekers is extensively reported, as is the immediate rejection of the statement by the Government – a revealing indication of the robust nature of State-Church relations in modern Ireland. An increasing number of articles document anti-immigration sentiments (almost always anti-asylum seeker sentiments) by a minority of local politicians and organisations. A small number of articles reflect an emerging interest in longer-term issues of integration – a typical example concerns plans by the Gárda Síochána (national police) to develop more culturally appropriate policing practices.

May 2000 (70 stories)

Most stories continue to reflect local reaction, both positive and negative, to the dispersal of asylum seekers. Racist incidents continue to be noted but a number of articles are more positive, highlighted the development of new local support groups and services. The dropping of the planned ‘flotels’ is widely noted, while there is a continuing interest in comparisons with other EU countries, with articles on Italy, Britain, Denmark and Germany.

June 2000 (33 stories)

A substantial drop in the number of stories is to be noted, with the emphasis again almost exclusively on asylum seekers. The tragic death of 58 Chinese migrants in Dover, England, receives widespread coverage, with much emphasis on the role of trafficking. A serious racist attack in Dublin receives widespread coverage.

July 2000 (20 stories)

A fall in the number of asylum seekers is accompanied by a drop-off in the level of public interest. A limited number of articles are mainly concerned with procedural and legal issues, including proposed new legislation. Former President Mary Robinson is quoted as criticising Irish policy. One article notes trafficking in prostitution into Dublin, a new phenomenon in Ireland.

August 2000 (38 stories)

The principal themes for the months are the multiplication of racist incidents and the proposed implementation by the Government of draconian new policy measures under new legislation. One article notes trade union concern with the exploitation of foreign workers in Galway, while another deals with the shortage of key high-skill workers in the planning sector.

September 2000 (25 stories)

Several articles concern efforts by human rights, church and pro-immigrant organisations to highlight the issue of racism. The Government is criticised for its inaction. A trade union leader is quoted as pointing to the danger that racism will also have negative effects for an economy that needs foreign workers. A landmark legal decision in which a bus driver was convicted under legislation on incitement to racial hatred is widely reported but it is also noted that the legislation is flawed, with an excessive burden of proof making cases difficult to prosecute.

October 2000 (38 stories)

Coverage is again notable for its concern with the issue of racism and the announcement by the Minister for Justice of a major anti-racism initiative is welcomed. An important article by statistician and former politician Garrett Fitzgerald analyses growing labour shortages in the Irish labour economy and points to the need for more immigrants (‘Fitzgerald warns on labour shortages’, 27 October).

November 2000 (46 stories)

The full implementation of draconian new measures against asylum seekers from 20 November is given considerable prominence. Other articles concern strong local support for asylum seekers, suggesting that the Government’s policy of dispersal has had the unintended side-effect of creating a broad front of support across the country. Racism continues to be a issue of concern. Labour immigration receives a small but growing level of interest, with articles concerning a new ‘green card’ proposal by the Labour Party (not in government at present), calls to curb racism in the workplace and an article concerning the recruitment of foreign doctors.

As in previous months the Minister receiving by far the greatest amount of coverage is the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, John O’Donoghue. However a number of articles suggest a growing rift within the Government and a desire for a more liberal attitude on the part of the Minister for Trade, Employment and Enterprise, Mary Harney (Deputy Prime Minister) and the junior Minister in Foreign Affairs, Liz O’Donnell. Both Harney and O’Donnell belong to the minor partner of the ruling coalition government.

December 2000 (28 stories)

Most attention continues to be devoted to racism and to concern with the new legislation on asylum seekers.  The tone of the coverage, including statements from UNHCR, Amnesty and ex-President Robinson, is largely critical of Government policy although there is little indication in the statements of Government spokespersons of any change in policy. A small but growing number of articles deal with multicultural realities, such as Ramadan and the emergence of new African Christian congregations in Dublin. Exploitation of foreign workers is highlighted in a small number of articles.

1.9           General remarks

Asylum-seekers are undoubtedly the main focus of the media coverage and other immigrants are largely eclipsed.  Nonetheless one may note growing mention of the need for workers in various sectors in the later months of year (and to an even greater extent in 2001). Experts (economists, heads of trade unions, members of staffing boards in hospitals etc.) are all quoted as agreeing that more doors need to be opened to facilitate the entry of more migrants into the Irish workforce. Some members of interest groups call for the right to work for asylum-seekers/refugees, but an explicit connection between the situation of asylum seekers on one hand and the need for more economic migrants on the others is only made by pro-asylum seeker support groups and it does not otherwise feature.

Many articles deal with resistance to and/or opposition to the arrival of asylum-seekers/refugees into rural areas and small villages or towns. In general the Government’s handling of dispersal issue is strongly criticised.  The Government is criticised for failures in advance planning and consultation but in nearly every case a shift in attitude towards a more positive one is noticeable once the asylum seekers have arrived.

Many articles deal with failings of, and criticism of, government policy. Irish law is often viewed within European perspectives on refugee/asylum law and often accused of failing to match international standards and requirements. A number of articles concern asylum-seekers appealing refusal of status, deportations, appeals etc.

Clear evidence of racism, both physical and verbal, appears in many articles dealing with attacks and in surveys, concluding that the darker the skin, the worse the discrimination (Nigerians are the largest African group in Ireland). These cases are dealt with objectively, and put in context, by numerous opinion pieces denouncing racism. Racism is not confined to asylum-seekers and refugees only however – the problem is not of status or origin, or even the reason for being in the country. International students, foreign workers and tourists are reported as experiencing racism

Pro-immigrant elements within the Catholic Church present a liberal profile consistently but it is clear that Government ministers feel free to ignore it. Trade unions also come across as largely welcoming and accepting of asylum-seekers as well as being supportive of immigrant workers and their rights.

1.10         Concluding remarks

The Irish Times does present a fair, balanced and critical coverage of immigration issues. However, the emphasis on asylum seekers and refugees suggests that Ireland has not yet fully woken up to the reality that it is now a country of immigration and is likely to remain so.

Press coverage reflects a general concern with racism in society and with the need to promote diversity but there is as yet little coverage of the details of immigration policy, the manner in which immigration flows might need to be regulated and the specific measures needed to promote long-term integration and diversity.

In spite of the breadth and generally fair-minded nature of the newspaper’s coverage, most of it is reactive in nature and concerned primarily with short-term issues. In this, it reflects the general lack of a strategic vision in popular and political Irish discourses about immigrant and diversity. The dangers of this situation are clear: official discourses promoting multiculturalism and the positive values of diversity will merely be perceived as elitist and/or irrelevant unless they are situated within a broader, grounded debate.

Finally, it must be said that the discourses presented in the Irish Times probably reflect elite and left/liberal viewpoints to a disproportionate extent. They should certainly not be read as in indication that racism and xenophobia are in necessarily less widespread in Ireland than elsewhere (nor, for that matter, as an indication that hidden forms of racism and xenophobia are not also found in the left/liberal elite).