http://www.icar.org.uk/?lid=6866
You wait months for a media monitoring report then three arrive all at once. But unlike the buses they don’t all look the same. I’ve already noted differences in research findings about the London and Scottish press , and apparent contradictions between the Scottish media research and an ippr investigation into Scottish public attitudes to asylum.
Here’s another: ICAR’s “Reflecting Asylum” report about London newspaper coverage of refugees and asylum, based on research conducted early in 2005 found that London’s papers overall showed ‘accurate, balanced and community sensitive reporting’. This was in contrast to the results of a survey in 2004 Media Image Community Impact which found the asylum coverage of the national press frequently unbalanced and inaccurate. But it’s also at odds with the UNHCR "Refugees" magazine report mentioned in an earlier posting , highlighting the ‘unremitting nature of the anti-asylum war-drums’ in tabloid coverage of asylum.
You could say the ICAR report focused on local papers, which are known to cover more human interest stories. But it also included the Evening Standard which comes from the same (Northcliffe Newspapers) stable as the Daily Mail, one of the tabloids included in the “Refugees” survey. And the "Refugees" report only picked out tabloids which are by nature sensationalist, and from them only those not known for their sympathy with asylum seekers."
