Right-wing media mocked for presenting Reform activist’s English Channel stunt as ‘investigative journalism’

Right-wing media outlets have been mocked for presenting a Reform UK activist as an independent investigative journalist after he posed as a migrant and crossed the English Channel in a small boat.

The stunt, involving builder Christian Drogan, was promoted by the Sun, the Telegraph and TalkTV as an undercover investigation into the small-boat route from France to Britain.

The Sun reported that Drogan “spent weeks posing as a British criminal who was on the run in Calais before boarding a UK-bound dinghy.”

“Working alongside Isabel Oakeshott from Talk TV, Drogan filmed his route back to the UK, including his interactions with the criminal gangs who have control over the route,” the paper reported.

Further down in the article, the Sun identifies Drogan as a builder from Rochdale who “has previously spent weeks undercover inside migrant camps in Calais.”

“He posed under different cover stories, including as a Kurd, an Armenian, and a small-time British criminal.

“Once the dinghy had reached British waters, Drogan’s footage shows Border Force workers helping migrants onto a rescue vessel.”

The report quotes Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist and Reform UK activist, who is also the partner of Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, praising the investigation.

“There is a very good reason no reporter has ever attempted such a mission before: because it is both extraordinarily difficult, and extraordinarily dangerous,” she said.

“Getting to the truth of what is really happening in the Channel simply isn’t possible from the safety of the beaches.”

Drogan similarly presented his operation as a journalistic investigation, saying: “I rolled the dice with my life for this investigation, and its findings have only cemented my scepticism towards the establishment.

“This type of investigation is dangerous, but so are the people running our country.

“Truth is the most effective weapon in this fight, and that is why this kind of work has to be done.”

In its introduction to the story, the Telegraph described Drogan as a “journalist with Watchman Media”

But Watchman Media’s own website raises questions about how independent the operation is. The site describes itself as “an independent UK news platform driven by investigative journalism and powered by the public.”

Its front page features a “small boat tracker,” recording the number of migrants, boats and “uncontrolled landings” to Britain.

The site prominently features both Oakeshott and Drogan.

This is not the first time Drogan has appeared in the right-wing press.

In December, the Telegraph published a piece headlined: “Undercover in Calais: Gunfire, French indifference and the scramble for small boats

The story is described as, a Rochdale builder setting “out to see what life was like in the migrant jungle.” While, “Isabel Oakeshott pieces together his account of his time there.”

Drogan has also appeared in a reporting capacity elsewhere. During the riots in Belfast in June, when the homes of refugees and asylum seekers were targeted, he was featured on TalkTV as a reporter live from the scene.

But Drogan’s political affiliations prompted criticism and mockery.

Journalist and media critic Mic Wright pointed to an appearance by Drogan on the Reform Party Podcast, in which he said:

“I’m a Reform Party member. I attend my branch meetings. And yeah, I mean, I would like to stand at some level, really, to be honest, yeah… I didn’t register to be a candidate, a council ward candidate, in the May elections because, realistically, I’ve just been that tied up with the journalism. It’s taking over my life, to be honest. But yeah, that’s my official tie with Reform.”

For Wright, the problem isn’t simply that Drogan is politically aligned with Reform UK, but that this affiliation appears to have been largely absent from the framing of the coverage.

As Wright concluded: “I’m putting this edition of the newsletter out quickly because I am certain that this story will now spread to the rest of the British press and wider media, presented as the work of an independent investigative journalist rather than an activist. The issue here is not only that Drogan has done this ‘investigation’ knowing exactly what conclusions he wanted to end up with but that it is being sold to readers, listeners, and viewers as independent when it patently anything but that.”

The criticism was echoed by others online, with one commentator saying: “Calling Isabel Oakeshott a journalist is doing some heavy lifting.”