Poles in the media

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderPoles in the mediaCallum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Weekender.
　　One of the largest groups ofnew migrants to Britain are Poles. In 2004 Poland enteredthe European Union which gave Polish people much greaterrights to live and work in other European Union countries.
　　Immigration is a hot political issue in British politicsand the influx 1 of Poles into the United Kingdom has hit themedia in a number of ways. How are Poles shown in the mediaand does this influence the way that people think of Poles?
　　And what do Poles who are here think of their decision tocome here and how do they feel about their new home? In theprogramme today we take a look at some of those questions.
　　Emma Kwesiga Lydersen is a BBC journalist who has beenfollowing this topic closely. How does she think Poles areportrayed or shown in the British Media?
　　EmmaI think Polish people are generally portrayed 2 in a positiveway in the British media. I think they are portrayed ashard working, that they have high education level, thatthey’re trustworthy, industrious 3 – so I think they have apositive image here.
　　Callum: She believes that they have a positive image, theyare seen to trustworthy and industrious, which means theyare seen to be honest and hardworking. However this isn'talways a positive, as Mark White comments. What does he sayis the 'flipside' of being seen as hard working, the 'flip 4-side' whichmeans the opposite side.
　　MarkI think a lot of people recognise in the media that many ofthe Polish people that have come to Britain in recent yearsare very hard working, very reliable, people ofconsiderable integrity 5 who do a very good job especially inthe construction industry, catering 6 and cleaning industriesand I think the flip side of that is that some elements ofthe press are of the opinion that they are possibly takingjobs from English people. But I think the truth of thematter is that if native English people were doing thosejobs well enough there would be no jobs for the Poles inthe first place.
　　Callum: Mark thinks that the flip side is that the hard-working Poles could be seen to be taking jobs from Britishpeople. But Mark makes the point that the Poles are onlydong jobs that British people won't do. This point isechoed by Kaz Janowski, an English man of Polish descent 7.
　　What reason does he give for Poles doing the kinds of jobsthat British people won't do?
　　KazAnd now, the way they’re portrayed in the media, I thinkquite rightly they are taking people’s jobs, there’s noquestion about it. But the thing is, the way they see it isthey will do jobs that people here won’t do. And they don’t care what they do so long as they’re employed becausein Poland, they can’t get work.
　　Callum: Kaz says that the Poles are happy to come here towork because they can't get jobs in their own country.
　　So we've heard some thoughts on the way that Poles areportrayed in the media. But what about the way that Polesthemselves feel? The BBC has done a survey of Poles inBritain to get their opinion – here's BBC economics 8 editorEvan Davis with some of the results.
　　Survey results 1The Poles have been among the changing faces of Britain inrecent years but what do they think of us? Have the Britishgenerally been friendly and welcoming? Out of our 135 Poles105 said 'Yes'
　　only 4 said we'd been hostile or suspicious 9. Three quarterssaid you can generally trust British people not to cheatyou.
　　Callum: So far so good. To the Poles British people seemmostly to be friendly and trustworthy. But it's not allgood news for the British.
　　Survey results 2Now the bad news, are the British hard-working anddiligent? Well I'm afraid 80% of those with an opinionthought not and there was a similar result on British food.
　　"Do you like the food in England?""Mmmm, no, I'm going to be honest with you, just no."Callum: So although British people seem to regard the Polesas hard working, the Poles do not think the same about usBrits – and again English food does not get a positiveresponse – nothing new there! But despite the food, mostof the Poles in the survey do come across as content.
　　Here's Evan Davis again.
　　Survey results 3Do they regret coming to Britain? Only 8 said they did. 113had no regrets. In fact the vast majority also said theywere happier than in Poland.
　　"I'm planning to stay for a little bit longer than I wasplanning at the beginning but that's just because life inhere seems to be much easier than in my country"Callum: So it seems that at least some Poles are happy tobe here in Britain.
　　That's all from this edition of Weekender.