ABSTRACT
The denial of racism is one of the moves that is part of the strategy of positive in-group presentation. The denial of racism in and by the press is of course most vehement when the press itself is the target of accusations. The denial of racism in the press, therefore, presupposes that the journalist or columnist believes that his or her own group or country is essentially ‘tolerant’ towards minorities or immigrants. When the official Commission for Racial Equality in 1985 published a report on discrimination in the UK, outright denial of the facts would hardly be credible. Whether in the streets of the inner city, in the press or in parliament, dominant group members are often engaged in discourse about ‘them’: ethnic minority groups, immigrants or refugees, who have come to live in the country.
