Asylum and immigration issues are complicated areas of public policy and debate. Balanced and well-informed media coverage of refugee issues gives readers impartial and considered access to sides of the story often lost or misrepresented.

In recent years, strides have been made to address ‘the danger that inaccurate, misleading or distorted reporting may generate and atmosphere of fear and hostility that is not borne out by the facts’, including the recognition that such reporting could be a breach of Clause 1 of the industry Code of Practice (Press Complaints Commission Guidance Note issued October 2003).

Yet as the focus of the debate has switched to immigration, particularly in light of EU expansion, wide-spread confusion over what constitutes an asylum seeker or a refugee and how this differs from an economic migrant persists.

Asylum seekers and refugees, who have already by definition fled conflict and persecution, are regrettably still subject to suspicion.

In re-launching this leaflet, UNHCR aims to offer journalists seeking to report on refugee issues practical assistance and guidance on how this can be achieved accurately and fairly.