reporters from two british channels have caused outrage by questioning a live of migrants making the dangerous crossing of the English Channel.
The images have made the rounds of social networks, and triggered an avalanche of criticism : “images that are obscene”, “shame”, “voyeurism”… Of reactions caused by the release of two reports on Monday and Tuesday, by Sky News and the BBC, focusing on migrants in full crossing of the English Channel to illustrate the increase in crossings migration clandestine between the French and English coastlines.
READ ALSO >> Attack of the Round : “The rules are tightening, and the migrants take more risks,”
The two british channels have sent reporters in English waters to go to the meeting of the migrants, putting their lives at risk in unseaworthy vessels. First sequence of the 10 August with the BBC, when the journalist Simon Jones sees it, with twenty people on board. After explaining that the sea was “very choppy”, it launches from his ship that the escorts : “Is it going to ?”
summer Offer : Take advantage of the special offer 2 months for 1€ I subscribe
II explains, holding his microphone toward the migrants, they “are trying at this very moment to get out of the water in the boat” by using “a plastic container to try to bail out the boat”. Before insisting, facing the camera and direct : “The boat is overloaded. Even if they wear life jackets, it is quite dangerous.”
“please no camera”
A sequence similar happens the next day. This time by Sky News, broadcasting live from the Channel’s attempt to interview migrants, crammed in a rubber dinghy caught in the waves.”Hello ! Are you well ? Where do you come from ?”, lance journalist Ali Fortescue, with a thumbs up.
“It is unsettling to be so close”, she adds. Some say they come from Iran. We hear a man shouting “please, no camera”, which does not prevent the reporter from look with them with his microphone to get answers. A sequence also widely criticised on the social networks.
images criticised by the policy
members of the opposition have also responded. The deputy labour Zarah Sultana stressed that it was necessary “to ensure that people do not sink in crossing the Channel” and not the film “as if it were a reality tv show grotesque”. “This is not journalism, it is voyeurism. They make money on the misery”, has written on Twitter the member of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Stephen Farry.
The writer Owen Jones, who holds a critical weekly in the journalist The Guardian (uk), said : “Some of the most desperate on Earth, transformed into objects of entertainment. The United Kingdom, in the year 2020”.
Report a “major”
in the Face of the outcry, the two chains have responded to the criticism. A spokesperson for the BBC has estimated that this story was “a striking illustration of the significant risks faced by some individuals to achieve the United Kingdom (…) We always strive to cover the story with sensitivity”, he said to Metro UK. “In this case, the coast guard of Dover were aware of the boat before our crew don’t talk to them, and at no time neither they nor the members of the boat reported that a rescue operation was necessary.”
on The side of Sky News, a spokesperson said that this report was “a major result of the idea raised by the government of a military response, and we will continue to cover the story in a way that is responsible and humane.” He said that the team stayed with each boat to ensure the safety of migrants. Since the 1st of January, the maritime prefecture of the English Channel and the North sea was recorded in 342 attempts or crossings involving 4192 migrants.
