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Brexit
Makes Immigrants in London Want to Leave..……………………………………2
Critical
Review on Westfield Stratford evacuated….…………………………………….5
Who, Where, What, When, Why, and how………………………………………………..5
News Values………………………………………………………………………………….6
Brexit
Makes Immigrants in London Want to Leave
The UK has always been one of the countries that
most immigrant look to, when it comes to living a good stable life in Europe.
With freedom of movement in Europe, the UK is the third most desired country to
live in, falling under Germany and France, according to the 2010 data for
European Union. Being the most famous city and considered the business capital
of the UK, “London is the most desired place to live in having 36.8% of all
immigrants in the country” (The Migration Observatory, 2017). The most common
reason for immigrants to come to the UK are: “Definite job, looking for work,
accompany or join someone and study.”
(Zovanga,
2017)
“Since Brexit the number of immigrants coming into
the country has dropped. A Year before the referendum it was estimated that 189,000
migrants came into the country. The year of the referendum 230,000 citizens
from other EU countries migrated to the UK. After the referendum 123,000
immigrants, migrated back to their country of origin or other EU countries.
That is 107,000 people that left the UK.” (Alan, 2017)
London being the city with most immigrants in the UK,
has been impacted the most “with 29% drop on professional job hunting”. (Zoe,
2017) This means that a lot of work vacancies will be left unfilled in the UK’s
biggest city. Dirk Schneider a 31 year old, German, graphic designer, has said:
“It happened to me where an employee said it wouldn’t be very smart to give me
a contract due to him not knowing what will happen when the UK officially
leaves the EU. My contract could be terminated in the middle of a project and
that would not beneficial for them.” (Personal Interview, 2017) “The public
sector will be impacted with a 49% on healthcare and 43% on education”. (Zoe,
2017) Elena Retchitskaia a 24 year old Polish, marketer is planning on leaving
the country. Elena expressed: “The education system, daycare/childcare,
financial support, and job prospects are far better in Germany, I plan on
having a family and I think that raising a family in London will not be as good
as it is very expensive. And now that things are going to get harder for EU
citizens, I rather go to another country that will help me support my family”.
(Personal Interview, 2017) The food industry has been impacted too. “With less
migrant workers to fill in the position, British farmers and supermarkets such
as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda are looking to face the industry’s
worst labour shortage for the next 12 years” (Zoe, 2017)
Some statistics show that the number of hate crime
in the city of London has increased by “20% from the same time when Brexit
dominated the national attention”. (Becca 2017) Australian born British
national Adam Smith, who voted to leave said: “I have a friend that comes from
Poland, who has been called names and physically attacked, days after the
referendum. It is a bit sad that some people are missing the point of Brexit.
It is supposed to bring us together and give us more freedom as a country and
not divide people like this. Using this ideology to hate on people is just
wrong in all levels”. (Personal Interview, 2017) Other people such as Andrew
Webb, 21 year old, Jamaican student said: “Me personally I haven’t experienced
or notice any hate crime. I think that people are using the Brexit situation as
an excuse to victimise themselves”.
When asked if a referendum to leave the EU was made
in their country of origin, what would they vote for? 3 out of the 7 people
said they would vote to leave. French Engineer, Thomas Begel said: “If a
referendum is made in France, I will vote to leave. The UK want to leave us, so
it is a shame for them! They don’t trust us, so I don’t see the point on France
staying in the EU anymore”. (Personal Interview, 2017)
Theresa May is our PM running the show and trying to
negotiate with the EU into a smooth exit. When asked what his option on the
prime mister is, Joao Caralinda, a Portuguese national that lives in the
country for 14 years said: “I hope that the years to come, have more positives.
Whatever happens from now on it’s on her, so to take into consideration the
best for the country and for the people in it”. (Personal Interview, 2017)
Critical
Review on “Westfield Stratford evacuated: Fire sparks mass panic at shopping
centre as people ‘run and scream’ in fear”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/westfield-stratford-mass-panic-as-shopping-centre-evacuated-in-fire-alert-a3688671.html
Intro
The story is about the evacuation of Westfield
shopping centre, Stratford on Saturday the 11 November. As an
eyewitness, I have particular insights: security told shop staff various things
during the event that the article did not cover. Consequently, I will highlight
points not covered by this article.
Main
body
To summarise, the article describes the evacuation
and the confusion among shoppers as the fire alarm went off. The article notes
that shoppers were unsure about whether it was a false alarm, or whether the
alarm was about fire or even about a terrorist attack. Some of the panicked
shoppers thought that it may be a terrorist attack as a result of rumours
spreading around the centre. There was running and screaming creating even more
panic. People fell, were stomped on and as a result several people were
injured. The London Fire Brigade told the ES “We believe it’s a
small fire at this early stage”. (Gillett, 2017) The paper also used some of
the London Met Police said and shopper’s social media to complete the story.
To
analyse the story, we can first identify the main information covered in the
headline and the lead, i.e. the opening sentence. This is also known as the 6
W’s: who, where, what, when, why, and how. The title of the article “Westfield
Stratford evacuated: Fire sparks mass panic at shopping centre as people ‘run
and scream’ in fear” contains only 4 W’s who: people, where: Westfield
Stratford, what: run and scream, no when, no why, how: evacuation. Usually
newspapers do not include these on their headlines due to these two points
being difficult to portray in the title.
To
have a better understanding on what attracts readers to this article, we must
look at Tony Harcup’s News Values that are:
The
power elite
Stories
concerning powerful nations, organisations or institutions (USA, NATO, European
Union. Not Malaysia or local shops).
Celebrities
Stories
concerning people who are already famous (Barack Obama, Brad Pitt, Stephen
Hawkins. Not me).
Entertainment
Stories
concerning sex, show business, human interests, animals, an unfolding drama, or
offering opportunities for humorous treatment, entertaining photographs or
witty.
Surprise
Stories
with an element of surprise and/or contrast.
Bad
news
Stories
with a negative overtones such as conflicts and tragedies.
Good
news
Stories
with positive overtones such as rescue.
Magnitude
Stories
perceived as sufficiently significant either in the number of people involved
or in potential impact.
Relevance
Stories
about issues, groups and nations perceived to be relevant to the audience.
(Cyclist hit by a car in London not in Vietnam).
Follow-ups
Stories
about subjects already in the news. (Story has been covered before and it is
being continued).
Media
agenda
Stories
that set or fit the news organisation’s own agenda (The Guardian, is more
centre left. Which means they are more likely to make news supporting labour
party. As for The Sun they have a right wing agenda, being more likely to do
news supporting conservative parties). (Harcup, 2015: 41)
Out of
all these the article covers two of the news values, Magnitude and Relevance.
Magnitude due to the amount of people that were affected in the shopping
complex.
Relevance
because it is one of the biggest shopping centres in London.
To
fully build the story we must have a look at sources that the article used. It
used three different types of sources for the event that occurred. They spoke
to the London Fire Brigade, London Met Police and Shopper’s social media. The
Met Police said “The fire alarm went off at 5.15pm on Saturday. At around
6.10pm, a spokesperson said the police cordons have now been lifted and the
shopping centre reopened.” (Gillett, 2017) One of the shopper said “Fire
alarm went off in the Hollister/Apple area of Westfield Stratford.” (Gillett,
2017)
Conclusion
I
believe that this article was written in a short amount of time, not giving the
writer enough time to cover the full story. For an article written by the London
Evening Standard, there are many things that did not get mentioned in this
article that was mentioned in other news websites that are not solei based in
London. There are a couple questions that have not been addressed by the
article.
How
many people needed to get medical treatment after being pushed and stomped?
There
is no report on how many people were injured during the evacuation. From my own
experience I seen at least two people been carried away.
Stabbing
Report?
Security
told shop keepers that a fight broke out during the evacuation and one person
got stabbed. There are no mention of that.
Damage
Report
There
is no mention of damage report. As I was evacuating, I have seen glass doors
and windows broken, plus the flooded store, smashed bottles at the food court
and other damages that I’m unaware of.
Due to
the short amount of time that was put into the article, the writer did not have
time to speak to shop security, shop staff that got affected by it, people that
were injured during the evacuation, paramedics that covered the scene. They only
mention briefly about what The London Fire Brigade and The Met Police had to
say. I would be have been interesting to hear what the public services had to
say rather than reading people’s Tweets. The use of videos makes it a bit
easier for people to picture how it was like to be there but not the entirety
of the situation.
Critical
Review on Tube to have full 4G mobile phone coverage from 2019, Transport for
London announces
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tube-to-have-full-4g-mobile-phone-coverage-from-2019-transport-for-london-announces-a3703186.html
Intro
The
story is about the new idea of making 4G technology available in the London
underground by 2019. I will be doing a short summary of the story, explain the
6W’s and use Harcups news values to make the article
Main body
Summarising
what the article is about. It describes how the mayor of London has authorised
and set a dead line for a project that will be building 4G receptors in
London’s underground stations. It is said that “London falls behind Paris, New
York, Berlin and Tokyo which all have mobile phone reception for passengers
below ground.” (Gillett, 2017) After a successful trail during this summer
using some of the UK’s major phone networks, in Waterloo station, the mayor of
London has given a dead line until 2019 for all London underground stations to
have 4G technology. TFL has plans to provide 4G coverage to some of London’s
major stations by New Year. Some people are happy with the idea such as
London’s first ever Chief Digital Officer who said “Brilliant initiative”.
(Gillett, 2017) But there are some people which are so happy with this idea
such as the founder of Time to Log Off, which promotes “digital detoxing”.
(Gillett, 2017) She went on to say “I just think we are running out of places
where we can escape from our phones and from work.” (Gillett, 2017)
If we
have a look at the 6W’s, it shows that in this article title shows only 3 of
the 6W’s. Where (London), what (full 4G
mobile phone coverage), when (2019). However who, why and how cannot be
used as there is no mention of a person, on why they are doing it and on how
they will achieve this by 2019.
Having
a look at Harcup’s News Values we can say that this story contains at least
three news values.
The
power elite, as it mentions elite cities such as London, Paris, New York,
Berlin and Tokyo. Also it mentions some of the most worldwide known phone
companies such as Vodafone. It contains magnitude as it will be significant
enough and impact a lot of people not only for the people of London but for be
corporations as well. It has relevance as it is a story that is set in London.
It is something that will be part of Londoner’s daily lives. (Harcup, 2015: 41)
Looking
at the story as a whole there are a lot of sources that have been used in this
article. It has mentions the mayor of London who green lit the project, it uses
London’s Chief Digital Officer as he seemed very pleased about the idea by
saying “This is part of our work to improve connectivity at home, in our high
streets, public spaces and across the transport network”. (Gillett, 2017) Elite
phone companies such as Vodafone, O2, Three and EE where used on the trail
period during the summer. TFL is the one undergoing the project so it has its
mention there as well. Founder of Time to Log Off has her opinions on the
matter by disliking the project. The only source that was not mentioned was
public opinion.
Conclusion
Personally
I believe that this is a good article, the way the story is told it gets to the
point and it shows all the things that you need to know about the project. It
is very clear on who said what, what companies where involved and when it is
all going to happen. It is a much better article then “Westfield Stratford evacuated: Fire sparks mass panic at shopping centre
as people ‘run and scream’ in fear”. (Gillett, 2017) It uses better
sources then the previous story letting you have a better idea on what is
actually happening. The only source that was not mentioned is the people of
London. It would be interesting to see what the public opinion on having 4G technology
in the Tube is. At least some statistics just to show if some people agree with
the people at Time to Log Out.
Bibliography
Joseph, O. (2017) ‘EU
immigration to the UK’ Available at: https://fullfact.org/immigration/eu-migration-and-uk/ (Accessed: 10 November 2017)
The Migration Observatory.
(2017) ‘Migrants in the UK: An Overview’ Available at: http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-in-the-uk-an-overview/ (Accessed: 10 November 2017)
Alan, T. (2017) ‘Net migration
to UK shows largest annual fall since records began’ Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/30/net-migration-to-uk-shows-largest-annual-fall-since-records-began (Accessed: 10 November 2017)
Zoe, W (2017) ‘UK labour
shortages reported as EU worker numbers fall’ Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/13/uk-labour-shortages-brexit-as-eu-worker-numbers-fall (Accessed: 10 November 2017)
Becca, M. (2017) ‘Huge rise in
hate crime across London, new figures reveal’ Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-hate-crime-eu-referendum-london-racist-religious-faith-victims-figures-statistics-a7615356.html
(Accessed: 10 November 2017)
Gillett,
F. (2017) ‘Westfield Stratford evacuated: Fire sparks mass panic at shopping
centre as people “run and scream” in fear.’ Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/westfield-stratford-mass-panic-as-shopping-centre-evacuated-in-fire-alert-a3688671.html (Accessed: 27 November 2017)
Gillett, F. (2017) ‘Tube to
have full 4G mobile phone coverage from 2019, Transport for London announces’
Available at:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tube-to-have-full-4g-mobile-phone-coverage-from-2019-transport-for-london-announces-a3703186.html?CMP=ILC-refresh
(Accessed: 29 November 2017)
Harcup, T. (2015) Journalism:
Principals and Practices. London: Sage Publication Ltd.
