Foreign Lens

Small boats to Britain

Read by Africa / Muslim-majority countries

Channel crossings to the UK, seen from the press of the countries many of the people on the boats come from or pass through.

Read from: Africa, Muslim-majority countries

Africa on small boat crossings of the English Channel

African news portals report Channel 'mega boats' flatly; none of them is angry at Britain

Across the outlets monitored, coverage of the Channel came almost entirely from agency copy about the 4 August fire rescue, record-size boats and falling arrivals. The sharpest framing is still mild. One story says the Franco-British crackdown has pushed smugglers into bigger, more dangerous boats. A Libyan portal relays a BBC-derived line that both main UK parties have failed on small boats. Abidjan.net, 21 AugAbidjan.net, 4 AugAl Wasat (بوابة الوسط), 4 AugAbidjan.net, 24 Jul

  1. Egypt Youm7 (اليوم السابع) 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  2. Morocco Hespress (هسبريس) Nothing on this
  3. Algeria Echorouk (الشروق) Nothing on this
  4. Tunisia Mosaïque FM Nothing on this
  5. Libya Al Wasat (بوابة الوسط) 2/10 at its hottest, 2 pieces
  6. Sudan Alrakoba (الراكوبة) Nothing on this
  7. Senegal Seneweb 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  8. Mali Maliweb 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  9. Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan.net 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  10. Somalia Hiiraan Online Nothing on this
  11. Angola Jornal de Angola 1/10 at its hottest, 1 piece

Blind spots: no outlet yet for Eritrea, Djibouti, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa.

  1. 2

    Seneweb, Maliweb and Abidjan.net all ran the same story, not flagged as wire copy. It says the UK-France crackdown since last summer pushed smugglers to switch to 'mega boats' carrying 200 or more people. That means fewer crossings but more people crowded onto each boat. The piece then moves on to record deaths in the Mediterranean and rescue work being obstructed.

    This is the only on-topic framing here that hints British policy has a human cost. The 40% fall in arrivals is shown alongside the risk moving onto bigger boats. It is stated neutrally, with no blame attached. Abidjan.net, 21 Aug

  2. 2

    Al Wasat's BBC-derived report says the Conservatives and Labour are 'unable to achieve tangible success', while Nigel Farage 'is leading the field'. It also notes that France's refusal to intercept boats at sea is 'controversial' in Britain.

    This portal is in Libya, the main departure point for the central Mediterranean, and it showed its readers a picture of UK politics stuck on the issue, with Reform gaining. It is BBC material passed on, not Al Wasat's own view. Al Wasat (بوابة الوسط), 4 Aug

  3. 1

    Jornal de Angola reprinted O Globo/AFP copy. It quotes PM Andy Burnham promising 'relentless' treatment and Reform's call for the 'largest military operation in the English Channel since the Second World War'. It also reports that about 50 women and children reached Calais with no emergency accommodation.

    Britain's hardline language reached an Angolan state-paper audience with no comment added. The humanitarian detail it carried is about France, not the UK. Jornal de Angola, 4 Aug

Read the full Africa lens: 15 translated articles, where outlets split.

Muslim-majority countries on small boat crossings of the English Channel

No anger at Britain: Muslim-world outlets treat Channel crossings as routine wire news

Nine of 23 monitored outlets touched Channel crossings between July and September. Almost all of it is AFP, BBC or CNN copy about rescues, deaths and record boat loads, and none of it attacks the UK. The closest thing to criticism is a BBC-derived Al Wasat piece saying both main UK parties have failed on small boats, and that Farage is leading the field. Al Wasat (بوابة الوسط), 4 AugMaliweb, 24 JulMaliweb, 4 AugAl Jazeera Arabic, 28 SepRepublika, 22 SepMaliweb, 21 Aug

  1. Indonesia Tribunnews 2/10 at its hottest, 1 piece
  2. Malaysia Harian Metro Nothing on this
  3. Türkiye Sabah Nothing on this
  4. Qatar (pan-Arab) Al Jazeera Arabic 0/10 at its hottest, 1 piece
  5. Egypt Youm7 (اليوم السابع) 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  6. Morocco Hespress (هسبريس) Nothing on this
  7. Algeria Echorouk (الشروق) Nothing on this
  8. Tunisia Mosaïque FM Nothing on this
  9. Libya Al Wasat (بوابة الوسط) 2/10 at its hottest, 2 pieces
  10. Sudan Alrakoba (الراكوبة) Nothing on this
  11. Senegal Seneweb 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  12. Mali Maliweb 1/10 at its hottest, 3 pieces
  13. Somalia Hiiraan Online Nothing on this
  14. Indonesia Republika 2/10 at its hottest, 1 piece
  15. Malaysia Utusan Malaysia Nothing on this
  16. Türkiye Yeni Şafak Nothing on this
  17. Saudi Arabia Okaz (عكاظ) Nothing on this
  18. UAE (Saudi-owned, pan-Arab) Al Arabiya (العربية) Nothing on this
  19. Iraq Shafaq News (شفق نيوز) Nothing on this
  20. Syria Enab Baladi (عنب بلدي) Nothing on this
  21. Bangladesh Prothom Alo (প্রথম আলো) Nothing on this
  22. Iran Hamshahri (همشهری) Nothing on this
  23. Afghanistan Hasht-e Subh (هشت صبح) 0/10 at its hottest, 1 piece

Blind spots: Rudaw (Sorani) (Kurdistan Region of Iraq).

  1. 3

    Al Wasat, a Libyan portal, set the 4 August rescue against UK politics. It said 'the Conservative and Labour parties [are] unable to achieve tangible success' and 'Nigel Farage is leading the field, declaring that he has the solution.' It also described France's refusal to intercept boats as 'controversial' in Britain.

    This is the only item that judges how the UK has handled the issue, and the judgement is failure. It is BBC-derived wire copy, not Al Wasat's own view. Still, it is what a Libyan audience got: Britain's leaders have failed and a populist is gaining. Libya is the main departure point for central Mediterranean crossings. Al Wasat (بوابة الوسط), 4 Aug

  2. 2

    Tribunnews and Republika ran the same headline: 'Dozens of Illegal Immigrants Again Break Into English Waters From France.'

    The language takes the enforcement side, not the migrants' side. The two outlets cast England as the place being broken into, not as a hostile or cruel state. Republika is a Muslim-intellectual daily, which makes this unexpected. It is wire copy, so the headline is probably the main editorial choice. Republika, 22 Sep

  3. 2

    Seneweb and Maliweb carried a non-wire piece saying the Franco-British crackdown has pushed smugglers into 'mega boats' carrying up to 230 people. It notes UK arrivals are down about 40%, then widens out to record deaths in the Mediterranean.

    This is the only causal argument in the set. On this account, UK policy has cut arrivals but made each crossing more crowded and dangerous. It is a quiet humanitarian framing, not an accusation. If this theme grows, it is where criticism would come from. Maliweb, 21 Aug

Read the full Muslim-majority countries lens: 15 translated articles, where outlets split.