Bad News for Refugees

Greg Philo is Professor of Communications and Social Change at the University of Glasgow, and Director of the Glasgow University Media Unit. He is the author, with Mike Berry, of 'More Bad News from Israel' (Pluto, 2011), and co-author, with Emma Briant and Pauline Donald, of 'Bad News for Refugees' (Pluto, 2013).

Bad News for Refugees analyses the political, economic and environmental contexts of migration and looks specifically at how refugees and asylum seekers have been stigmatised in political rhetoric and in media coverage.
Through forensic research, conducted through interviews and analysis of media accounts, a history of contemporary migration and asylum is written. The authors examine the various catalysts for migration, in doing so reveal how economic migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are often conflated by the media. They explain negative reactions to new arrivals, describing the benefit cheat, criminals and job stealing narratives that dominate anti-migrant discourse. Case studies reveal how hysterical and inaccurate media accounts act to legitimise political action can have terrible consequences both on the lives of refugees and also on established migrant communities.

Based on new research by the renowned Glasgow Media Group, this book is essential reading for those concerned with the negative effects of media on public understanding and for the safety of vulnerable groups and communities in our society.