10.13125/CH/3437
The British vote to leave Europe rests largely upon fear of migrants. British media can be shown to have contributed to this by dehumanising migrants through news coverage. Discourse analysis of stories during the ‘European migrant crisis’ (2015) will show how dehumanisation occurs via Orientalist discourses (Said, 1979), presenting migrants as a threat to security, Western values and economically burdensome. Theories regarding news production and elite agency will be applied to understand the media’s role in manufacturing consent (Chomsky, 1994) thus legitimising policies. This paper focusses upon online news coverage surrounding an attack at Westminster, which became amalgamated with migration. Since media discourses must be analysed to understand the devices used, philosophical and journalistic insights will be applied to answer the questions: what methods are used to dehumanise migrants? What mechanisms operate behind this? What is the result? Suggestions for supporting university students in counteracting media influence will be made.
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Nina Arif
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Critical Hermeneutics
Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration:  How the British Media Dehumanises Migrants in the Context of the Syrian Civil War
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2018-08-10
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Nina Arif
2018/08/10
10.13125/CH/3437
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Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration:  How the British Media Dehumanises Migrants in the Context of the Syrian Civil War
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Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)                     submitted: 6/8/2018
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http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/ecch/index            published: 10/8/2018
ISSN 2533-1825 (on line); DOI 10.13125/CH/3437


 Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration:
 How the British Media Dehumanises Migrants in the
                    Context of the Syrian Civil War


                                        Nina Arif




Abstract
The British vote to leave Europe rests largely upon fear of migrants.
British media can be shown to have contributed to this by dehuman-
ising migrants through news coverage. Discourse analysis of stories
during the ‘European migrant crisis’ (2015) will show how dehumani-
sation occurs via Orientalist discourses (Said, 1979), presenting mi-
grants as a threat to security, Western values and economically bur-
densome. Theories regarding news production and elite agency will
be applied to understand the media’s role in manufacturing consent
(Chomsky, 1994) thus legitimising policies. This paper focusses upon
online news coverage surrounding an attack at Westminster, which
became amalgamated with migration. Since media discourses must
be analysed to understand the devices used, philosophical and jour-
nalistic insights will be applied to answer the questions: what meth-
ods are used to dehumanise migrants? What mechanisms operate
behind this? What is the result? Suggestions for supporting university
students in counteracting media influence will be made.
Keywords: Orientalism, manufacturing consent, terrorism, media,
students
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




1. Background: Media and Politics of Migration in the UK
We are currently witnessing the highest recorded numbers of dis-
placed people worldwide, with estimates at around 68.5 million (UN-
HCR UK, 2018). Reasons for this are numerous and range from wars
and conflict to environmental factors such as drought. But perhaps
one of the most significant events which propelled the issue of migra-
tion to the forefront of the Western psyche was the Syrian Civil War;
in addition to the displacement of 6.1 million within Syria, more than
5.6 million fled the country as refugees (World Vision), many of
whom sought sanctuary in the UK and other European countries.
      While the British-Somali poet Warsan Shire remarked, ‘no one
puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land’, a
less empathetic response was exhibited in much of the British media
from 2011 onwards. It regularly ran stories about the large numbers
of migrants en route to Europe in conjunction with frequent debates
among politicians, social commentators and populist figures over
what was dubbed in 2015 the ‘European migrant crisis’. The then
Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about a ‘swarm’ of migrants
headed towards Britain, while the populist Sun newspaper columnist
and LBC Radio host Katie Hopkins likened migrants to ‘cockroaches’
in her article entitled ‘Rescue boats? I’d use gunships to stop mi-
grants’ (Sun, April 17 2015).
      Following the conception of the ‘European migrant crisis’, hostile
attitudes and rhetoric surrounding migrants also formed part of the
campaign for Britain to leave the European Union in 2016, known as
Brexit. Prominent Leave campaigner and former head of the UK Inde-
pendence Party, Nigel Farage unveiled an infamous poster depicting a
long line of Middle Eastern and Asian-looking men with the words
‘breaking point’ as means of highlighting the apparent burden on the
state caused by migrants.




28
                                                 Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




    Also noteworthy was media coverage which ‘regularly conflated
asylum seekers and refugees with other categories of migrant via in-
accurate labelling’ (UNHCR, 2015). This conflation is problematic not
only from a journalistic perspective in regard to principles of accurate
reporting, but also in terms of a possible result being the negation of
public sympathy which might otherwise have been felt towards asy-
lum seekers who have fled conflict. Thus, for the sake of clarity, the
following definitions of the conflated categories are provided here
(source: Amnesty International):
    Asylum seeker: ‘Someone who is seeking international protection
abroad but has not yet been recognized as a refugee’.
    Refugee: ‘A person who has fled their own country because they
are at risk of serious human rights violations there’.
    Migrant: Someone who ‘moves from one country to another, of-
ten to find work’.
    The subject of migration levels depicted through words such as
‘invasion’ in conjunction with the conflation of statistics from different
categories, created the perception of an unwanted burden on the
British state caused by migrants. This issue was highlighted earlier in
a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the
British press:


    …parts of the press seek deliberately (or, at least, reckless-
    ly) to conflate statistics for asylum and immigration to imply
    a growing ‘wave’ of asylum seekers coming to the UK, de-
    spite evidence that the number of asylum seekers has fallen
    significantly since 2002. This view is also shared by the Joint
    Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, which contends that
    the motive may be a political one… asylum debates tended
    to focus heavily on statistics and figures which were un-
    sourced (The Leveson Inquiry, 2012).



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Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




Accordingly, focus on a ‘political response / policy’ to deal with migra-
tion also featured extensively in the media’s coverage in spite of the
reality that migration, rather than being a liability, benefits the British
economy: migrants constitute more than 20% of the British labour
force, and a 1% increase in the migrant population creates an extra
2% GDP per capita in the long term (IMF 2016). In order to make
sense of the negative portrayals of migrants which are unconducive
to the facts, Spencer (2016) suggests migrants are used as scape-
goats to detract from the problems created by economic and social
policy.
      It must be noted however that misleading information on migra-
tion is nothing new. Following the initiation of the New Labour gov-
ernment (1997-2010) and the introduction of various policies aimed
at curbing migration and deporting unwanted migrants, news narra-
tives echoed the same idea that migration was problematic. Similar
to the present situation, the term ‘crisis’ was often deployed (Moore
2013), ‘Throughout Labour’s period in office migration issues were
presented as if the system was in perpetual crisis’ (Mulvey 2010:
456). It will be later shown that this impacts significantly on public
opinion both at a societal level in regard to an increase in far-right
sentiment and hate crime, as well as at a state level: the introduction
and legitimisation of hostile government policies on migration.
      In tandem with the construction of the idea that Britain is being
‘swamped’ by migrants, the securitisation of migrants in terms of
their perceived criminality or links to terrorism was also a frequently
featured theme in media coverage. In a Sky News interview following
an attack at Westminster in March 2017, former UKIP leader Nigel
Farage remarked, ‘If you open your doors to migration from Middle
East countries, you’re inviting terrorism’, thus associating Syrian mi-
grants with terrorism. Such ideas point to the existence of Orientalist



30
                                                Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




notions about ‘the other’ (Said, 1979) so it is clearly necessary to use
other sources than media itself, in order to analyse the language
used by media.


2. Theories on Media and Power
Writing about the effects of media communications, McLuhan (1962)
explains that culture, society and the human psyche are influenced
greatly by technology and media – terms he uses interchangeably
due to their interconnectedness. While his ideas about media com-
munications was largely in reference to the telegraph, radio and tele-
vision, his ideas are applicable to modern-day media: computers,
mobile phones and the internet (Benson, 2011). McLuhan describes
media as ‘the architects of nationalism’, which could have the effect
of making human beings ‘tribal’ – a threat which looms unless we are
educated about how the media operates. He warns that unless we
understand media, we stand to become ‘passive victims’ of it. This
idea of media producing homogenised or ‘tribal’ thought, is demon-
strable in the recent example of media coverage surrounding Brexit:
research into the coverage, particularly the use of nationalist rhetoric,
was found to have impacted considerably on public opinion, stoking
notions of ‘us’ and ‘them’, as will be discussed.
    McLuhan’s ideas also correlate with Marcuse’s (1964) theories
regarding the ‘political character’ of technology and accordingly the
connection between technology – especially mass media communica-
tions and totalitarianism:


    One-dimensional thought is systematically promoted by the
    makers of politics and their purveyors of mass information.
    Their universe of discourse is populated by self-validating
    hypotheses which, incessantly and monopolistically repeat-




                                                                            31
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




      ed, become hypnotic definitions of dictations (Marcuse,
      1964: 40).


He elucidates that in an era of constant mass media communications
on a global scale, the opportunity for independent thought or even
the silence to be permitted the space for thought is diminished. Thus,
the result is unified thought (as opposed to diverse opinions), which
has profound implications on freedom: ‘There is no free society with-
out silence, without the internal and external spaces of solitude in
which the individual freedom can develop’ (Id., 2004: 117).
      This idea also ties into McLuhan’s warning about human depend-
ency on technology, with Benson (2011) connecting this to the mod-
ern phenomenon of people being addicted to their mobile devices.
Ironically, in an era of mass communication which is said to draw
humans closer to one another, distance is in fact being created as re-
al human contact is reduced by hegemonic digital technology. Seen
within the context of media discourses around migration, this dis-
tanciation created by technology arguably becomes more detrimental,
given that media is the dominant means by which the public obtain
their ‘knowledge’ about ‘the other’. Thus, media holds a monopoly on
discourses about migrants, and if these discourses are unfavourable
or dehumanising, as is argued by this paper, then we may be enter-
ing into the realm of necropolitics.
      Drawing on Foucault’s concept of bio power, i.e. ‘the domain of
life over which power has taken control’ (Mbembe, 2003: 12), in his
essay ‘Necropolitics’, Mbembe connects power with notions of sover-
eignty explaining how this is utilised in dictating how people should
live and die. In his view, not only is necropolitics about the right to
kill, but also the right to impose civil death, political violence and en-
slavement. His ideas resonate when the media’s generous coverage
of far-right figures adverse to sending out rescue boats or allowing



32
                                                 Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




migrants into the EU, is juxtaposed alongside images of dead and
drowning migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Also evoked by Mbem-
be’s ideas are images of migrants in privately-run immigration re-
moval / asylum centres in the UK which have received criticism over
factors including indefinite detentions, poor living conditions, ill
treatment of detainees including children and the withholding of med-
ical treatment (Redress, 2014). Mbembe’s ideas suggest these types
of practices are sanctioned by power through prescribed notions of
sovereignty.
    While the abovementioned theorists help in elucidating the rela-
tionships between media, power, influence and impact, this paper fo-
cusses on Said’s ‘Orientalism’ (1979), and Chomsky’s ‘Manufacturing
Consent’ (although there is synergy amongst many of the ideas dis-
cussed). Said’s theories provide a framework through which to un-
derstand how and why dehumanisation of ‘the other’ occurs and
proves particularly applicable due to the distinctly racialised element
in media coverage of migrants. Meanwhile, Chomsky’s theories reso-
nate in regard to the corporate dimensions of media: the connection
between political and corporate elites and thus the propaganda func-
tion media serves to sustain elite hegemony. Focus on the role of the
corporation is also apt given that neoliberalism seems to be the dom-
inant ideology proliferated around the globe, and which (particularly
through economics), achieves its far-reaching ‘socially transformative’
objective, disempowering the many, while profiting the few (Harvey,
2005). Amongst the few are university students, prolific users of so-
cial media and yet usually uncritical of the digital manipulation exert-
ed upon them as we see with the recent Cambridge Analytical deba-
cle. Students are privileged yet careless and will ‘inherit’ this situation
that is now perceived by many older social commentators as a crisis.




                                                                             33
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




3. Analysing Media with and for students
University students – as future innovators who when equipped with
knowledge and understanding may herald in necessary change - are
proposed in this paper as a potentially influential group who need to
be supported to understand and counteract media influence. Rogers
(1983), whose seminal work on the diffusion of innovation has been
used in numerous programme designs and empirical studies, argues
that innovation diffuses through a population as a normal distribution.
Innovators and opinion leaders, making up about 2.5% of the popula-
tion, take on new ideas first and assist in the diffusion of these to
other parts of society. These innovators are younger in age, higher in
social class, have greater financial resources, have large social net-
works including other innovators, and have access to scientific
sources. It is clear that university students share many important
characteristics with innovators: they are more flexible when it comes
to activity changes than those older than them and more knowledge-
able than their less educated peers. They are also freer to protest as
we know from social movements in Paris and Prague 1968, for exam-
ple. After establishing a family, people need more stability and have
different responsibilities than their younger student selves. For all
these reasons, students are an important group to reach to innovate
ways in which people respond to media coverage of refugees and mi-
grants. The role of student will therefore be addressed in the conclu-
sion.


4. Orientalism: The ‘Othering’ of Migrants
In ‘Orientalism’, post-colonial scholar Edward Said (1979) explains
that the West’s relationship with the Orient has always been intrinsi-
cally connected to its usefulness to Western interests. Although root-
ed in colonialism, this Western-centric way of looking at the world ex-
tends far beyond armies and the physical domain, entering into the



34
                                               Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




realm of the ideological via literature, academia, anthropology, film
and media narratives. Through discursive and other practices, the
West tells a story about the Orient and its inhabitants, with a suppo-
sition that they cannot, or rather should not represent themselves.
Thus, the Orient is homogenised and framed in fixed representations
depicting it as strange and ‘other’. Western narratives include por-
trayals of ‘the other’ as mysterious and exotic at best, and at worse –
uncivilised, barbaric and a threat to its antithesis: the West which
purportedly represents civilisation, democracy and a vast array of
other virtuous principles (Said, 1979).
    While such stereotypes may be contradicted by the facts of his-
tory, they arguably remain prevalent and are amplified in media to-
day. Thus Said later extended his notion of Orientalism specifically to
the field of media in ‘Covering Islam’ (1997). As the title suggests, it
is an account of media coverage of Islam and Muslims, and also im-
plicit is the notion that the true picture is concealed through the cov-
erage. Commenting on Western media coverage of Islam and Mus-
lims, Edward Said remarked that,


    the sense of Islam as a threatening Other - with Muslims
    depicted as fanatical, violent, lustful, irrational - develops
    during the colonial period... The study of the Other has a lot
    to do with the control and dominance of Europe and the
    West generally in the Islamic world. And it has persisted be-
    cause it's based very, very deeply in religious roots, where
    Islam is seen as a kind of competitor of Christianity (Said,
    1997; cited in Barsamian, 2004: 454).


While Said’s critics lambast him for supposedly victimising and ho-
mogenising the people of the Orient (Ahmad 1992), numerous cases
of the media’s coverage of migration stories gives credence to his



                                                                           35
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




theory. For example, a report by King’s College London (2018) identi-
fied dominant words featured in the coverage of refugees and mi-
grants around the Brexit referendum period, as being: ‘floodgates’
and ‘waves’ in relation to dangerous water, and ‘flocking’ and ‘swarm-
ing’, reminiscent of animals or insects. The effect of language argua-
bly creates a sense of the ‘other’ as being subhuman.
      In synchrony with Said’s ideas about the silencing of non-
Western voices, the Ethical Journalism Network (Suffee 2016) noted
that migration stories in the British press are rarely told from the per-
spective of the migrant. Additionally, a cross-European press content
analysis of migration stories (LSE report), found that refugees were
seldom given names in press coverage, nor were details given about
their profession, gender, or age – features which humanise subjects
enabling readers to relate the them. On the other hand, their nation-
alities were very often provided with the effect of emphasising their
dissimilarity and thus their separation from European readers. The
report also found that government officials and politicians were given
a significant platform while the voices of asylum seekers seldom fea-
tured.
      The above is indicative of the media’s agency in ‘othering’ and
accordingly dehumanising by removing voices and identities, in con-
currence with parroting anti-migration sentiments of political figures
and far right voices as opposed to challenging such hegemonic ha-
tred. Such figures are often provided with platforms and not subject-
ed to robust challenging by journalists (as will be demonstrated in the
coverage analysis). Thus, the image of the migrant as ‘the other’ is
reinforced, rather than being deconstructed. The media, Said argues,
is a form of neo-colonialism, with its content fashioned by powerful
commercial and political interests – an idea expanded on by Chomsky
in ‘Manufacturing Consent’.




36
                                              Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




5. Manufacturing Consent
Chomsky (1994) explains that when states can no longer use vio-
lence to control people (as in free societies), they strive to control
opinions and thoughts instead: thus, his view is that media serves a
propaganda function. He used the term ‘manufacturing consent’ to
explain how political and corporate elites work in conjunction with
media to control public opinion, ensuring the subjugation of the
masses and accordingly the hegemony of elites. The term derived
from ‘engineering consent’ – an expression attributed to Edward
Bernays, a pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda,
who was also the nephew of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoa-
nalysis. Bernays spoke about engineering consent as a method for
elites to ensure they were not threatened by the masses.
    In concurrence with Said’s ideas about ‘othering’, Chomsky pro-
duces the categories of ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ victims to explain
how media seeks to evoke support and sympathy for some, while
demonising others,


    … worthy victims will be featured prominently and dramati-
    cally, that they will be humanized, and that their victimiza-
    tion will receive the detail and context in story construction
    that will generate reader interest and sympathetic emotion.
    In contrast, unworthy victims will merit only slight detail,
    minimal humanization, and little context that will excite and
    enrage (Chomsky, 1994: 35).


Migrants arguably fall into the ‘unworthy’ categorisation as it has
been demonstrated that their voices are seldom heard. The Ethical
Journalism Network also substantiates the above idea, revealing that
migration stories are often devoid of context, thus distancing readers




                                                                          37
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




from the subject (Suffee, 2016). In addition, research has found that
the failure to provide political context can,


     … leave audiences badly informed about the factors behind
      refugee flows. For instance, audience research carried out
      by the Institute for Public Policy Research in 2005 found that
      ‘virtually no participant mentioned events such as the wars
      in Iraq or Afghanistan as potential drivers of asylum (Lewis,
      2005; cited in Hatton, 2012: 22).


Chomsky also points to biased media choices in that right-wing think-
ers are preselected and tend to dominate discourse. This idea is an-
ecdotally supported by a YouGov survey (2016) which found the Brit-
ish press to be the most right-wing in Europe, and additionally by
content analysis of European press coverage of the refugee and mi-
grant crisis which revealed the prominence, particularly in tabloids, of
right-wing and anti-migration voices,


      politicians also tended to appear early in news reports with
      the effect that they set the initial terms of debate. In addi-
      tion, political sources were more likely than other sources to
      be used as definers of policy options. Overall this means
      that their voice has more weight… (UNHCR, 2015).


Chomsky sheds light on a range of techniques used in media such as
selective and controlled coverage that forms part of agenda-setting
geared at preserving elite power, rather than informing the public us-
ing a range of sources, as is widely thought to be the remit of news.
And while claims of ‘conspiracy’ have been levelled at Chomsky for
his assertion that there is collusion between elites to affect public
opinion via propaganda and thus keep the masses in subordination,



38
                                                Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




many of his ideas are shared among academics in the field. Van Dijk
(1993) for example, argues that media engages with other elites to
reproduce hegemonic discourses shaped by ideological notions. Even
Brian Henry Leveson QC, the British judge at an inquiry into press
conduct ‘accused newspapers of manufacturing stories to suit their
anti-immigration political agenda’ (Suffee, 2016), thus giving cre-
dence to the possibility of political interest being central to media re-
porting.
    In further deconstructing the ‘myth’ of ‘free media’, Chomsky
highlights that only a handful of corporations retain ownership of
most of the major media outlets in the USA and asserts plausibly that
this translates into the type of reporting which serves the owners’ in-
terests. Direct parallels can be drawn with the UK where 71% of na-
tional newspapers are owned by three companies, while five compa-
nies own 81% of all local newspapers (Media Reform Coalition). Re-
sponding to claims that media impartiality exists (in spite of the issue
of corporate ownership), Chomsky explains that the appearance of a
free press is not to be conflated with reality: ‘democracies’, he says,
must allow enough critique and enough opposing voices in order to
appear objective, balanced and fair, but not enough that will viably
challenge the dominant powers. Thus, stories which contradict the
dominant view will emerge but only occasionally. A good example of
this is the coverage of the death of the three-year-old Syrian boy
Aylan Kurdi, whose body was found washed up on a beach – the im-
age of whom momentarily changed the tone of reporting, from hostile
to sympathetic. As Chomsky argues, the obverse is much more prev-
alent i.e. as already analysed, the selection and telling of stories that
will reinforce and perpetuate existing political interests. This can be
understood clearly from an analysis of the so-called Westminster ter-
ror attacks.




                                                                            39
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




6. Media Coverage Case Study: Westminster Attacks
In March 2017, a British man – Khalid Masood, drove a car into pe-
destrians along Westminster Bridge in London, after which he fatally
stabbed a police officer before being shot dead. Six people were killed
in the attack, which was described as ‘terrorism’ by most media re-
ports. This story is selected for analysis here because it became asso-
ciated with migration although the attacker was not a migrant. How-
ever, the incident was utilised by far-right figures as means of vali-
dating their anti-migration position. The story is an interesting exam-
ple of how Orientalist modes exist in so-called liberal, or centre-left
media too, which is largely regarded as more nuanced in its reporting
in comparison to the tabloid press.
      Two popular online news websites have been selected for analy-
sis presentation: The Guardian (centre-left) and the Independent
(liberal). It is acknowledged that the validity of the analysis is open to
challenge due to its qualitative nature, as well as its selectivity. How-
ever, the analysis is to be combined with the other research findings
mentioned, in order to provide a broad, general and persuasive pic-
ture of the power of British media.


      1. Analysis: The Guardian newspaper online coverage
      Headline: Anti-immigration politicians link London attack to mi-
grant policy
      Subheading: Marine Le Pen calls for tighter borders, while Nigel
Farage says London attacks prove Trump’s hardline policies are right
      The article features a large photograph of the French far-right
leader of the Front National party, Marine Le Pen, which is captioned
with her words ‘we must control our borders’. The article comprises
almost entirely the views of eight different far-right voices. These
are: 1. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. 2. Poland’s Prime Minis-
ter Beatamedia Szydło. 3. Ukip donor Arron Banks. 4. The pro-Brexit



40
                                                Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




website Leave.EU. 5. The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage. 6. Daily
Mail columnist Katie Hopkins. 7. A British writer on the US ‘alt-right’
website InfoWars. 8. The executive editor of the UK section of Breit-
bart News (now one of Donald Trump’s most influential advisers)
James Delingpole.
    The article simply reproduces the views of each of the above re-
garding their linking of the attack at Westminster with migration.
With the exception of Breitbart News’ James Delingpole, direct quotes
are provided from each of the mentioned persons, accompanied with
occasional paraphrasing of their comments. The only instance of the
Guardian’s offsetting of the far-right narratives, is the remark that Le
Pen made the connection ‘despite the attacker being British’. The only
other comment which casts doubt on the validity of the views is the
word ‘xenophobic’ to describe Farage’s language. Aside from this, the
article provides no challenge or criticism either in the form of alterna-
tive/opposing voices, or its own comment.
    Within the views expressed, there are recurring themes that can
be categorised as ‘far right’ because they are exclusionary, discrimi-
natory and framed implicitly around threats to supposedly autochtho-
nous peoples. These threats include: the link between migration and
terrorism/security and controlling borders, criticism of pro-migration
politicians and EU migration policies which demand that countries ac-
cept refugee quotas (this is also an example of the conflation of the
categories of 'refugee’ and ‘migrant’), the idea of a clash of cultures
caused by migration and a threat posed by Islam to the West; the ar-
ticle ends with the view from Breitbart News: ‘James Delingpole, the
executive editor of its UK section, wrote a column declaring that Is-
lamic terror attacks could end western liberal values’.
    There is poignancy in ending the article with the above quote,
particularly as it follows a tirade of emotive far-right rhetoric with
words such as ‘illegal’, ‘terror’, ‘radicalisation’, ‘extremism’. On the



                                                                            41
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




topic of the language and terrorism discourse, Scott-Baumann (2017)
provides textual analysis to demonstrate that within the UK govern-
ment’s counter extremist strategy, definitions of extremism are un-
clear and thus its ideology is ‘unstable’. This, when compounded with
the media’s prolific use of emotive terrorism-related vocabulary be-
comes problematic as it subliminally creates an association between
groups of people, i.e. Muslims and the notion of a threat. For exam-
ple, in the use of the words ‘Islamic’/ ‘Islamist’ or ‘Muslim’ preceding
‘extremism’, which consequently encourage prejudices that threaten
to typecast innocent people as a risk to national security and thus in-
crease the likelihood of their referral to counter-extremism divisions.
      In spite of the Guardian being a centre-left leaning publication,
no real challenge is provided to the abovementioned views and ideas
which encompass orientalist notions. This is particularly apparent in
the sections which suggest that migrants and Muslims, i.e. ‘the other’
constitute the enemy within, for example, Farage’s reference to a
‘fifth column’ and references to ‘culture’ and ‘multiculturalism’ as be-
ing problematic.
      The views expressed in the Guardian article encapsulate Said’s
theories about the West’s construction of Muslims as threatening and
violent. His ideas are particularly potent in illustrating media discrimi-
nation against migrants and autochthonous ‘others’, since many of
the (non-white/European and thus identifiable) migrants, refugees
and asylum seekers covered in media have been of Muslim descent.
Mass displacement from the Syrian and other wars also thrust the
Muslim identity factor (i.e. the ‘otherness’) into the foreground, par-
ticularly when the issue was merged with the subject of Isis terror-
ism. Hence it evoked the notion of a ‘clash of civilisations’ as envi-
sioned by the orientalist historian Bernard Lewis and which was then
further exploited by another orientalist thinker – Samuel Huntington.
This continuity of such ideas is in synchrony with Said’s assertion that



42
                                               Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




the West’s domination has persisted from the colonial period to the
present day through ‘knowledge production’ methods – the media be-
ing an important part of this.


    2. Analysis: the Independent newspaper online coverage
    Headline: Nigel Farage blames multiculturalism for London terror
attack
    Subheading: 'I'm sorry to say that we have now a fifth column
living inside these European countries,' says former Ukip leader
    Beneath the headline and subheading, the Independent provides
a video featuring a clip from Nigel Farage’s Fox News interview about
the Westminster attacks, during which he made the connection be-
tween terrorism and migration. Within the clip, Farage also blames
‘multiculturalism’ and the apparent failure of policies from the previ-
ous Labour government which he says invited migrants to Britain.
    Below the video, the first two sentences reproduce the word
‘multiculturalism’ twice, reiterating the message of Farage and the
remainder of the story consists predominantly of his comments para-
phrased as well containing quotes. Farage’s message is that there is a
threat posed by migrants who are the enemy within (‘fifth column’),
that culture of the ‘other’ is problematic (‘diving communities’) and
there is a focus on migration policy with reference also to Donald
Trump’s policy of ‘increased vetting’ of migrants.
    While it can be argued that the article is largely a reflection of
what was said, the impact of simply regurgitating Farage’s messages
upon a media platform arguably serves to endorse them (Chomsky
1994), especially given that no scrutiny is offered, nor is an alterna-
tive voice available. The only exception is the Independent’s sen-
tence: ‘The UKIP MEP failed to mention the fact many of the victims
of the attack were in fact foreigners themselves’, along with the na-
tionalities of the victims provided. The article ends by explaining that



                                                                           43
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




the Metropolitan Police are deploying extra patrols ‘to provide protec-
tion and reassurance in the aftermath of the tragedy, which investi-
gators are treating as an Islamist-inspired terror attack’.
      It is proposed here that the terminology connecting criminal acts
to variants of the word ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslims’ (commonplace in media
coverage) is problematic in that it creates an association between the
religion and its followers, and violence. It is notable that violent at-
tacks which do not involve Muslims contain almost no mention of the
attacker’s faith: a study by the University of Alabama revealed that
attacks by Muslims receive an average of 105 headlines, compared to
others which receive just 15. This is in spite of the reality that right-
wing and white terrorists carried out nearly twice as many terrorist
attacks as Muslims between 2008 and 2016 (Guardian 2018).


7. Media, Public Opinion and Policy
In 2017, the British public voted to leave the EU after a viciously
fought campaign during which migration debates dominated. A King’s
College report (2018) concluded that most of the media’s coverage of
Brexit was framed by Leave campaign leaders and that it was ‘acri-
monious and divisive’ and ‘overwhelmingly negative’. The potency of
negative stories arguably manifested themselves in the final vote for
Britain to exit the EU, as post-Brexit opinion polls revealed migration
to be a key concern of most leave voters: one poll revealed 73% of
leave voters worried about migration (Independent, 2017).
      A Pew Research Center survey (2016) revealed that most Euro-
peans think an increase in the number of refugees across Europe
equates to an economic burden threatening their jobs and social ben-
efits. This is in spite of the fact that migrants actually benefit the Brit-
ish economy as mentioned previously. The survey also showed that
most Europeans think an increase in migration raises the terror
threat. This is in spite of a UN report concluding there was no evi-



44
                                               Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




dence of a connection between the two, and which also warned that
anti-refugee laws (such as building fences and carrying out push-back
operations) could drive people smuggling and ‘may ultimately assist
terrorists and lead to increased terrorist activity’ (Emmerson, cited in
UNOHR, 2017). Similarly, a Europol report (2016) concluded there
was no evidence that ISIS used the refugee crisis to smuggle fighters
into Europe, following the prevalence of far-right voices forging a
connection between migration and the terrorist attacks in France in
2015.
    There is clearly an iterative relationship between the prevalence
of anti-migrant sentiment among the population in Britain and the
negative and inaccurate press coverage of crimes and migration is-
sues. Perhaps the primacy of negative attitudes towards migrants
among Britons can then be connected to the British media’s coverage
of the ‘migrant crisis’, which was among the most aggressive in Eu-
rope (UNHCR, 2016). However, the views alone may not appear
problematic until the societal impact and other (political policy) re-
percussions are realised: according to Amnesty International’s brief-
ing paper ‘Tackling Hate Crime in the UK’, there was a notable in-
crease in reported hate crimes in England and Wales during the Brex-
it referendum period, which was suggested as being connected to the
divisive and anti-immigrant campaign rhetoric:


    The language used – ‘taking our country back’, ‘breaking
    point’– may have sent signals that emboldened those who
    would perpetrate hate crimes, encouraging them to think
    that these views are acceptable and opening the door to
    more extreme rhetoric and actions (Amnesty International
    UK, 2017).




                                                                           45
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




      The rights group Amnesty International also reported an increase
in hate crimes targeting asylum-seekers, Muslims and foreign nation-
als. Furthermore, it suggested that the topic of immigration seemed
to be a catalyst for, and the legitimiser of hostility towards minority
ethnic and faith communities. It also mentioned the British govern-
ment’s ‘hostile environment’ campaign, which was geared at making
unwanted migrants feel unwelcome, with Home Office commissioned
advertising vehicles carrying the message: ‘go home’ and a threat of
arrest. Government propaganda also encourages members of the
public to report suspected illegal migrants, leading one immigration
barrister to remark,


      we now effectively have in-country immigration controls,
      carried out by private citizens on each other… Black and
      ethnic minority people are disproportionally affected too – a
      landlord will ask for your papers if you look or sound for-
      eign. We know this is happening in practice (Guardian, 17
      April 2018).


Chomsky’s notion of manufacturing consent is relevant here: while
anti-immigration policies point to political agendas, the media holds
agency in reiterating as well as propagating the same ideas. Thus,
they arguably create consensus within the public psyche for an ac-
ceptance of hostile migration policies which might otherwise have
seemed unreasonable and unjust. Incidentally, Britain’s policies to-
wards refugees have been criticised for being among the harshest in
western Europe, as it


      takes fewer refugees, offers less generous financial sup-
      port… forces people into destitution and even homelessness
      when they are granted refugee status due to bureaucratic



46
                                               Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




    delays… A recent home affairs select committee report into
    asylum housing said the quality of accommodation provided
    to asylum seekers was ‘disgraceful’... (Guardian, 2017).


Moreover, the King’s College London report into Media coverage of EU
referendum concluded with a connection between the divisive rhetoric
from politicians and media, and government policy:


    The implications of a divisive, antagonistic and hyper-
    partisan campaign – by the campaigners themselves as
    much as by many national media outlets – is likely to shape
    British politics for the foreseeable future (King’s College
    London, report 2018: 168).


8. Conclusions and Proposals for Change: Media Literacy


    In straits like these, the wrestler with destiny is tempted to
    look for bugbears and scapegoats to carry the burden of his
    own inadequacy (Toynbee, 1947: 190).


Arnold J. Toynbee spoke about scapegoating as being one of the indi-
cators of a civilisation in decline. While this notion may seem grandi-
ose, it has been conceded that at a time when the British govern-
ment’s popularity is waning significantly (Ipsos Mori, July 2017), de-
flecting attention towards ‘the other’ seems apt rather than focussing
on economic and social policy as being the cause of public dissatisfac-
tion (Spencer, 2016). Regardless of the validity of this idea, it re-
mains incontrovertible that an undue focus has been placed on mi-
gration through media coverage aligned with the rhetoric of political
figures. Chomsky’s ‘manufacturing consent’ provides a useful frame-
work through which to view the media’s agency in propagating par-



                                                                           47
Nina Arif, Consenting to Orientalism when Covering Migration




ticular ideas about migrants in terms of the media’s association with
political and corporate elites which shape its discourses. His thinking
also sheds light on some of the forces which dictate the remit of news
such as ownership of press outlets.
      The evidence presented and analysed here has highlighted some
dominant modes of dehumanisation which allude to Said’s Oriental-
ism theory. Research and analysis have revealed that ‘othering’ of
migrants occurs through the media’s coverage by: providing plat-
forms to anti-migration views unchallenged while silencing migrant
voices, removing context which would provide an increased under-
standing and possible sympathy towards migrants, using derogatory
words and phrases to portray migrants as unworthy victims, conflat-
ing statistics from different categories to create the false impression
of an influx and citing migration in terrorism/crime stories. Collective-
ly the media discourse creates the impression that migrants pose a
threat thus implicit justifying their securitisation. The discourse also
insinuates that migrants are an economic burden and that their cul-
ture is strange and incompatible with British culture.
      If we are to use our democratic agency to act upon Chomsky’s
theories about the hegemony of elites in media, politics and corpora-
tions, then, rather than seeking to bring about change within the
hegemonic media industry, it seems more realistic and effective to
equip people with the knowledge which will allow them to deconstruct
false narratives. Thus, I propose that there is an urgent need for me-
dia literacy workshops which inform students about the mechanisms
in operation within media and news production, which extends be-
yond media textbook descriptions about the political orientation of
different outlets. Instead, students must be informed about corporate
interests connected to media ownership and other forms of controls
by interest groups as well as private donors and editorials. Additional-
ly, media literacy workshops will also equip university students with



48
                                               Critical Hermeneutics, 2 (2018)




the ability to identify dehumanisation strategies employed in media
coverage. After developing a heuristically powerful mode in universi-
ties, a long-term proposal for change is the introduction of this type
of education into the school curriculum especially given that in a fast-
paced digital era, children and young people are more exposed to a
vast array of information than their elders. Thus, it is essential that
young people are involved in developing such programmes so that
they understand the modes through which this information has been
filtered.




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