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Don't Trust Boris! . 5 6 December 2019 ElectıonA Campaign for press anD BroaDCastingWatch freeDom (north) InItIAtIve Don’t trust Boris! ‘almost the only people who think Johnson is a nice guy are those who their determination to vote for him Jenkins / www.jenkinsdraws.com Art: Tony do not know him’ they dismiss it. Nothing seems to stick to him – he’s ‘Teflon Boris’. By Granville Williams Why is this? Three examples show the stark difference in the way the DAY AFTER DAY a power- media report on Corbyn and La- ful bloc of Tory-supporting bour, compared with Johnson newspapers hammer home and the Tories. a relentless message. The Sun Research by Justin Schlos- front page (top, right) of 3 De- berg of Birkbeck, University of cember was typical. Interview- London, draws attention to the ing Boris Johnson, the paper’s striking imbalance in the cover- Political Editor, Tom Newton Dunn, age of manifesto launches. The warns readers, ‘Red Jez’s threat to The same papers which attack Cor- Institute of Fiscal Studies produced UK: Corbyn is a security risk’ backed byn are silent about this story. an immediate and strongly critical up by a double-page spread with the Johnson continually evades ques- response to both Tory and Labour headline ENEMY OF THE STATE tions about the report’s suppression manifestos, but ‘the IFS response to splashed across them. before the general election. Why? Labour was covered 10 times on the Meanwhile, Johnson’s own gov- The only plausible explanation is BBC in two days’ compared with ‘just ernment is refusing to publish a that it contains information that one mention’ for its criticism of the report into Russian interference in could damage him. Tory manifesto in the equivalent pe- British politics amid reports that a But here’s the thing. There is so riod. number of wealthy business people much damaging information out Loughborough University’s Elec- with links to Vladimir Putin have do- there already about Boris Johnson, tion 2019 survey reveals a persistent nated generously to the Tory party. yet it doesn’t seem to sway people. In gulf between media reporting on Jer- emy Corbyn’s party and the Conserv- atives under Boris Johnson. “The Inside high levels of newspaper negativity towards Labour identified in the first 3 Channel 4 takes flak from miChael Gove week of the campaign were sustained 4 tory press attaCks student votinG into week two and increased margin- ally in week three,” the report said. 6 Don mort’s nhs round-up We have tried, through the pieces by 7 Who made andreW neil kinG? Continued on page 2 2 ElectionWatch 6 December 2019 Does Johnson understand that murder should not be used as a political weapon? w from page 1 Nick Jones in ElectionWatch to put the flesh on the bare statistics and nega- tivity that the survey identifies, and reveal their true savagery. In the Andrew Marr BBC interview we also saw how Boris Johnson gets Grounded: how the i, the Guardian and the daily express ran the Jacob rees-mogg story. away with it. First, he wasn’t meant to be on because he wouldn’t agree to be interviewed by Andrew Neil, but the BBC relented after the Lon- Burying bad news is a don Bridge deaths. Johnson wasted no time in exploiting the attacks and putting the blame on a ‘lefty govern- well-rehearsed routine ment’. He peddled a plan – conjured out of thin air with expeditious cyni- By nicholas Jones could not risk investing in the UK or cism – for harsher and more draco- the fact that the British car industry nian sentences; he blamed Labour GovERNMENTS IN difficulty fre- had been pinning its hopes on secur- for Conservative policies; and he slid quently announce unpopular de- ing the plant to help boost UK elec- into conspiracy theory while ram- cisions when the news media is tric car production and ownership. bling that Corbyn wanted to abolish saturated with coverage of a head- These same techniques can be MI5. line-grabbing story. Across White- used to downplay embarrassing rev- All of this was done in defiance of hall this routine has been embed- elations or scandals about prominent the wishes of the father of one of the ded within ministerial offices but Boris Johnson-supporting politicians. victims. the true masters of ‘burying bad The shaming of arch-Brexiteer Jacob Johnson appears to be incapa- news’ are Brexit-supporting news- Rees-Mogg after his insensitivity over ble of understanding that murder papers which have become so par- the failure of some of the Grenfell should not to be deployed for politi- tisan that these manipulative tricks Tower victims to reach safety was cal advantage. are now an everyday occurrence. widely reported across many media Max Hastings, editor of The Daily Slavish support for Boris John- outlets but not in the Brexit press Telegraph when Johnson was the son’s general election mantra of where it was shunted inside, towards Brussels correspondent, has this as- ‘Get Brexit Done’ has necessitated the bottom or side of the page. sessment of him: the same finessing of what the Front-page splashes in the I ‘Johnson would not recognise Tory press presents as news – or newspaper and The Guardian were in truth, whether about his private or dismisses as unimportant or leaves sharp contrast to tabloid coverage. political life, if confronted by it in an out altogether. High on the list for ‘Mogg’s Grovel’ was The Sun’s head- identity parade. In a commonplace avoidance are damaging economic line (6.11.2019) over a small story book the other day, I came across an or trade related statistics. Woeful tucked away at the bottom of pages observation made in 1750 by a con- under-reporting of the fate awaiting 22 and 23. The headline on a single temporary savant, Bishop Berkeley: the British car industry is a classic column story in the Daily Express “It is impossible that a man who is example of the double standards. made no mention of either Rees- false to his friends and neighbours When Elon Musk announced that Mogg’s name or the word apology. should be true to the public.” Almost he had chosen Berlin as the site for Instead of the hounding that the only people who think Johnson a his Tesla battery factory because might have been expected in simi- nice guy are those who do not know ‘Brexit made it too risky’ to build lar circumstances if it had been an him.’ the plant in Britain, ‘Tesla in Berlin’ acolyte of Jeremy Corbyn, the Tory Let’s hope in the run-up to the elec- was The Sun’s headline (14.11.2019) tabloids have left Rees-Mogg largely tion a lot more people begin to under- over a five paragraph story on page undisturbed as he potters about in stand what Johnson is really like. 49 that failed to mention why Musk his constituency. 6 December 2019 ElectionWatch 3 Channel 4 takes flak Even before this election, C4 was seen as a hostile broadcaster by the Tories. In the past they have floated the idea of privatising the public service broadcaster, and then backed off. Dorothy Byrne, News and Current Affairs Executive at C4, gave a feisty MacTaggart lecture this year when she described Boris Johnson as ‘a known liar’ and compared his media strategy to Vladimir Putin’s. As the election campaign has unfolded we have seen further flashpoints Michael Gove’s antics The climate debate on C4 News controversy THE ToRY party has adopted one Two MELTING ice sculptures rep- of the standard populist tactics: dis- resented the absence of Boris John- crediting independent sources of in- son and Nigel Farage from the first formation and attempting to replace ever election debate on the climate them with its own output. emergency on C4. Michael Gove During the ITV leaders’ debate had turned up at the studios but was the CCHQ Twitter account was turned away by C4 which said the de- switched to resemble an independ- bate was for party leaders only. ent fact-checking service named Before the start of the debate, a ‘factcheckUK’. The party logo was letter of complaint was sent to Of- changed to a respectable white tick com on behalf of the Conservatives against a purple background. which dubbed the ice sculptures a The party received a full battering ‘provocative partisan stunt’ and ac- of negative headlines. Then they hit cused the broadcaster of ‘a pattern back. Michael Gove was interviewed of bias’. The party has also threat- by Ciaran Jenkins, C4’s Scottish Cor- ened to pull C4’s licence, with a party respondent, about the fact-check michael Gove – Ciaran Jenkins’ interview source saying the government could incident on C4 News. He would not with Gove is at: https://www.channel4.com/ ‘review Channel 4’s Public Services apologise. But more than that, he news/michael-gove-interview-on-truth-lies- Broadcasting obligations’ if they win opted to launch an all-out attack on and-brexit the election. the legitimacy of even being asked The source said: “Broadcasting questions about what the Conserva- again. Journalists only interviewing organisations are rightly held to a tives were doing. certain people, or ignoring those higher standard – and particularly From the opening moments of the that weren’t useful, in a bid to mould Channel 4 which has a special role interview he worked to undermine reality. enshrined in legislation. and discredit the journalist. When A withering verdict on Gove’s per- “Any review would of course look Gove was shown an image of the formance came from Jane Martin- at whether its remit should be better ‘fact-check’ Tory Twitter account on son in The Guardian: ‘The interview focused so it is serving the public in a screen and asked to demonstrate may be used on college courses as the best way possible.” where it revealed that it was in fact the moment the definition of truth Ofcom subsequently threw out from the Tory party, he replied: “I lost all meaning.’ the Tory complaint over C4 News’ shan’t because this is your compu- One of the crucial aspects of the climate change debate.
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