This joint project with the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR) has investigated changes in the contentious press coverage of asylum.
It formed part of the ICAR public images partnership, set up to undertake this research, ICAR, asyluminitiatives, MediaWise, the Refugees, Asylum seekers and the Media (RAM) Project and the Refugee Council, funded by the by Immigration and Nationality Directorate, UK Home Office.
The research was conducted by Kate Smart, with academic direction provided by Dr Roger Grimshaw, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, King’s College London and Dr Christopher McDowell the Director of ICAR. The project was co-ordinated by Beth Crosland at ICAR.
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.
