“This boat heading to Dover and so we’ll shadow it and just see how the situation develops.”
Thank you for that, Simon. We shall cross back to you should they drown.
This is where strict adherence to impassive reporting utterly fails. It is deeply strange and unsettling to watch. Journalists should be aware of how their very presence can frame or even change what they are reporting on. Following and pointing from a large safe boat? Really?
Arguably, this sort of oddly detached reporting actually helps to dehumanise people who are fleeing desperate situations - it plays into the very goal of far right rabble-rousers and associated media. As a profession, we should do better.
Also, the thinly-veiled glee at finding the boat. "Often you can spot them from the life jackets". It comes off like he's talking about plumage.
Should add: I have made many many mistakes as a journalist - with framing, with protecting dignity. They were mostly made, mercifully, pre-Twitter. It's not about the individual journalist as much as it's about a root and branch reform, a rethink, of what we do and how we do it.
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