BBC Breakfast has been criticised for airing live footage of a ‘sinking’ refugee boat described by one person as the “most disgusting journalism I’ve ever seen”.
Simon Jones reported from the English Channel where he filmed a group of Syrian asylum seekers ‘bailing out water’ as they made their way towards the English coast.
Standing atop of a secure vessel which tracked the migrant dingy, Simon told viewers:
“We came across this boat about half an hour ago, just spotted it on the horizon.
“We have seen them trying to get water out of the boat. They are doing that at the moment. They’re using a plastic container just trying to bail out the boat, so obviously, it’s pretty overloaded there.”
The clip has been roundly criticised on social media, with some calling it “Orwellian” in nature.
Others debated what purpose it serves other than promoting “the racist narratives and confected panic surrounding asylum seekers?”
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