Are asylum seeker hotel headlines manufacturing mayhem?
It’s hard to escape the idea that some section of the British press are relishing the prospect of significant civil disorder this summer.
As tensions flare outside a hotel on the edge of London, and another in the city itself, some columnists and commentators appear determined to stoke further anger.
Front pages froth with outrage over asylum seekers housed in hotels so luxurious they’re available to be block booked at a few days’ notice, meanwhile GB News presenter and occasional MP Nigel Farage fumes about the “red carpet treatment” he claims police offer to pro-migrant protestors.
What will they say if the audience, fired up on days of fevered headlines, take to the streets? Almost certainly “I told you so.”
This is a well-used playbook. Amplify grievance, predict conflict, then report on the fallout as confirmation you were right all along. The real-world harm caused by another summer of far-right disorder is apparently a price worth paying for all those clicks, all that sweet engagement.
There are important stories to be told — about Britain’s migration system, border security and infrastructure. But they’re a lot more complicated than just pointing a camera at an angry mob.
