Reporting asylum: The UK Press and the Effectiveness of PCC Guidelines

By the ICAR public images partnership for National Refugee Integration Forum, Community and Media Sub-Group and Funded by Immigration and Nationality Directorate, UK Home Office

The Centre has investigated changes in the contentious press coverage of asylum. The project was intended to discover if guidelines issued by the Press Complaints Commission, in the interests of public safety, were being observed.

The research analysed the content of 50 newspapers including national, regional, faith and ethnic community papers from across the UK during a ten week period at the beginning of 2005. The report contained recommendations for editors, journalists, the Home Office and Press Complaints Commission. It was welcomed by the PCC and the Home Office. Academics, refugee organisations, and others discussed the report's findings at the launch in the Houses of Parliament in March.