Immigration,race and local media: Smethwick and the 1964 general election

In 1964, a small industrial town on the outskirts of Birmingham gained a reputation worldwide as Britain’s most racist town. The Conservative Party’s candidate, Peter Griffiths, bucked national trends in the General Election by winning a seat in Smethwick with a large majority, following a fiercely anti-immigrant campaign. Smethwick’s immigrant population was no larger than that of neighbouring towns, posing the question why such intense anti-immigrant feeling emerged at a local level? This article addresses the impact of local and regional media on public perceptions of immigrants in Smethwick during and immediately after the 1964 General Election, arguing that the local newspaper, the Smethwick Telephone, and ATV Today, ITV’s regional news programme for the Midlands, fuelled hostility and helped legitimise Griffiths’ campaign. By investigating the media’s influence at a local level, we can gain a greater understanding of the development of racial prejudice in British communities and the complex history of twentieth century media. This article further develops the work of Wendy Webster, Sarita Malik and Gavin Schaffer, who examine the framing of immigration by a range of national media forms but overlook the vital role of local and regional reporting in this process.