SKY News sparked anger this morning after following the BBC’s lead with a live report following migrants on a small dinghy attempting to cross the Channel.
Yesterday the BBC’s filming of around 20 people spotted halfway across the Channel, using a plastic container to bail out water from the small dinghy, was branded “voyeuristic and distasteful”.
Journalists and politicians criticised reporter Simon Jones for the report, which saw the migrants “used as a Farage-esque backdrop” according to one MP.
READ MORE: 'This is perverse voyeurism': BBC under fire for channel crossing report
Despite the backlash to yesterday morning’s style of reporting, Sky News followed suit, with correspondent Ali Fortescue out on the Channel in a large boat.
As she approached the small dinghy, she said it was the fourth group the team had spotted trying to cross the Channel that morning.
The journalist held out her microphone as her vessel approached the tightly packed dinghy, asking where the people were from.
Fortescue said her boat driver would call the coastguard, while the vessel would stay close to the dinghy to “make sure it’s safe as it comes into shore”.
“Of course we know this is now a very familiar scene, that doesn’t make it any less unsettling to see,” she told viewers.
“Whatever side of the argument you are on there is a clear desire to not see these sorts of very very dangerous crossings.”
How can anyone sit on the sidelines while human beings precariously bob about in the sea? This truly is vile. https://t.co/4bjIBFPeZl
— Fraser MacDonald (@fr4ser) August 11, 2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK should change asylum laws to deter people from crossing the English Channel. So far this year more than 4000 people have crossed successfully.
The Home Office has asked defence chiefs for help making crossing the Channel in small boats “unviable”.
Sky’s report was widely criticised online this morning. Fraser MacDonald, an SNP staffer, commented: “How can anyone sit on the sidelines while human beings precariously bob about in the sea? This truly is vile.”
Another report, in which Fortescue spoke to Sudanese migrants who had made the journey without life jackets, came under fire.
SNP MSP Christina McKelvie tweeted: “Honestly what is going on! If they do not have life jackets then these people are at risk, so instead of using them as entertainment please offer safety and support! You have a duty to rescue!”
Honestly what is going on! If they do not have life jackets then these people are at risk, so instead of using them as entertainment please offer safety and support! You have a duty to rescue! https://t.co/HRLnRcfzDT
— Christina McKelvie (@ChristinaSNP) August 11, 2020
National contributor Gerry Hassan added: “This is insensitive, degrading & dehumanising & almost a kind of pornography abt vulnerable people in distress. Stop it
“Is this really how we want the UK to be defined & seen: one of the richest countries in the world?”
In the last few days alone, at least 597 people successfully managed to reach Britain by boat, and the political discussion around the issue has intensified.
Campaigners have accused Johnson of using “inflammatory” language as he described the migrants’ Channel crossings as a “very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do”.
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