. 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 TonyArt: / www.jenkinsdraws.com Jenkins 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. Research by Justin Schlos- front page (top, right) of 3 De- berg of Birkbeck, University of cember was typical. Interview- , draws attention to the ing Boris Johnson, the paper’s striking imbalance in the cover- , 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, 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 , 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 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. ter, I don’t know what you’ve been interview was the interviewer’s will- Ofcom said the sculpture was doing with it.” ingness to use the word ‘lie’. That is not supposed to ‘personally’ repre- That Channel 4 journalists would objectively the right word to use for sent Mr Johnson and that little edi- doctor a screenshot to paint the things which are not true and are torial focus was given to the object Tories in an unfavourable light was said in full awareness of that fact. But throughout the debate. The party Gove’s implication. the Conservatives base their current sent Michael Gove to the studio to When Jenkins told him that peo- messaging on the assumption that offer to stand in for the leader’s de- ple thought the Twitter profile was broadcasters will not have the con- bate, but the other leaders taking misleading, he replied: “If you find fidence to go that far. They will ask part in the debate turned him down. enough people I’m sure you’ll find questions about the information, but Gove arrived at the studio along with people who will corroborate your then simply end up calling it ‘contro- a camera, capturing the stunt for the version of accounts.” There it was versial’ or ‘contested’. Tories’ social media outlets. 4 ElectionWatch 6 December 2019

Tory press attacks on student voting erode trust in electoral process

By Nicholas Jones By the deadline, an extra 3.8 mil- as The Sun and Daily Mail was to deni- lion people had registered to vote grate young voters – and especially A record surge in the registration since October 29 when the election those at university. of young voters has given added po- was announced. On the last day This strategy has the twin objec- tency to scare stories appearing in there were 659,000 registrations – a tive of strengthening the pressure The Sun and Daily Mail that allege uni- new record for a final day. by Conservative MPs for tighter con- versity students across the UK are According to the Electoral Reform trol on voter registration, especially engaged in ‘voting scams and frauds’ Society, 67 per cent of the registra- for young people, and to undermine ahead of polling day. tions were from people aged 34 and the demands for the voting age to be Brexit-supporting newspapers fai- under and this included a spike in reduced to 16, which is now the case led to make any mention of the wide- registrations from those under 25, in Wales as well as in Scotland for re- spread appeals to young people to ‘one of the demographics least likely gional and local elections. ensure they registered to vote before to be correctly registered’. Alarmist headlines are second na- the deadline of 26 November. A refusal by Tory tabloids to help ture to the tabloid press and under- But despite a Conservative press alert young people – or report on the mining the public’s faith in the elec- boycott, the campaign to achieve the success of the registration campaign toral process is an easy target. widest possible franchise for poll- – needs no explanation. Most opin- ‘First class degree in election fraud’ ing day on December 12 was backed ion surveys suggest younger voters was the headline on Sue Reid’s dou- by regular reminders by celebrities, are far more likely to back Labour ble-page spread (Daily Mail, 2.11.2019) broadcasters, and other media out- than the Conservatives and therefore which examined abuses she claimed lets and their combined efforts did the only counterattack that could be were being perpetrated by students in have a dramatic effect. stirred up by Tory media allies such traditionally Conservative voting uni- 6 December 2019 ElectionWatch 5

Our thanks to all We’ve done it! We’ve produced five issues of ElectionWatch and got some great responses to the initiative. This was a self-funding project, and with the money we’ve received and are promised we’ve covered our costs. In addition to those we thanked in issue 4, we’d like to say a big thank you versity towns: “The campus scams: to Unite and an anonymous double voting ... postal voting ... per- donor for their financial sonation ... multiple voting.” support. The Sun waded in, under the head- We couldn’t have line, ‘Unis accused of voting scamp- produced five issues of us’ (20.11.2019) alleging that univer- ElectionWatch without sities and Labour councils had been the tireless support and registering thousands of students commitment of Tony Sutton ‘without their knowledge in a bid to whose work on design boost left-wing turnout’. and production has been Next day’s edition – ‘Scampus UK’ exemplary, and Nick Jones, (The Sun, 21.11.2019) – quoted the the former BBC Industrial Conservative chairman James Clev- erly calling on the Electoral Commis- and Political Correspondent, sion to start ‘a nationwide probe’ af- who has contributed ter claims the ‘Labour-run Plymouth distinctive, informative Council had registered 850 students pieces to each issue. without permission’. We’d like to say a big thank ‘A procedural error’ had apparently you to both of you and to all been detected, but the Electoral Com- Having done so much to ignore the other contributors. mission insisted there was ‘no evi- campaigns to engage young voters, dence of illegal mass registrations else- the Daily Mail greeted the decision l Please contact where’. On The Sun’s editorial page, by the Welsh Assembly to follow the ElectionWatch at: columnist Charlotte Gill followed Scottish Parliament to allow votes at [email protected] up her paper’s investigation into the 16 by questioning the effect of allow- ‘shocking’ scandal in Plymouth with ing 70,000 ‘children aged 16 and 17’ ElectionWatch is published by the a warning that young voters were to vote in regional and local elections Campaign for Press & Broadcasting ‘hardly the most clued-up age group’ in Wales from 2021 ( 28.11.2019). Freedom (North). and she wondered how the left would Conservative and Brexit Party As- This issue went to press on respond if 16-year-old voters turned sembly Members voted against the 6 December 2019. around and said: “Sure, for Boris move, but it was approved by just one Johnson – yes, please.” vote over the required two-thirds ma- Editor: Granville Williams Having been upstaged by The Sun, jority. The British Youth Council said Design and production: the Daily Mail published Sue Reid’s the Welsh decision was a cause for Tony Sutton, www.coldtype.net follow-up, with another double-page huge celebration, which only served CPBF (North) also produces spread, ‘Could Labour voter fraud steal to highlight the fact that 1.4 million MediaNorth quarterly. the election?’ (23.11.2019) alleging that 16- and 17-olds would be denied a We are on Facebook – become a student housing was being ‘trawled for vote in the 2019 general election. friend at Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom North – and discarded registration cards ... all to Twitter: @campaign_and cynically take advantage of our worry- Nicholas Jones was a BBC industrial ingly lax election system’. and political correspondent for 30 years. 6 ElectionWatch 6 December 2019 NHS Round-up By Don Mort - population, added to fears for the people to alternatives to A&E like Privatisation future of dangerously overstretched out-of-hours GP services and phar- n Donald Trump’s arrival in the NHS services. Post-Brexit restric- macies, there had been no let-up for UK this week saw a row over NHS tions on freedom of movement busy hospitals. privatisation intensify, despite the would exacerbate a workforce crisis US president’s insistence he was which has seen the number of vacan- Winter funding ‘staying out’ of the election. cies in the NHS trust sector reach The US government wanted more than 100,000. n The NHS is in worse shape than nothing to do with the NHS, even if NHS trusts around the country usual this winter after extra funding it were handed to them on a silver have seen alarming shortfalls in the was not provided for the first time in platter, said Trump, although he numbers of registered nurses on eight years, a leading thinktank said. previously suggested otherwise. hospital wards, sometimes relying The King’s Fund said the lack of His remarks followed the release on less qualified care staff to plug a cash injection to help open more of 451 pages of documents detail- the gap. Millions of pounds contin- wards, as cold weather leads to ris- ing US-UK trade talks which raised ues to be spent on agency workers, ing demand, left NHS organisations concerns over drug pricing, food adding to growing financial deficits with tough decisions to make. In a standards and possible increased at some trusts, although restrictions blog post the thinktank said: “A new market access to the health service. have been imposed on the use of government in January 2020 might Jeremy Corbyn was accused of temporary staffing. decide that a rapid injection of win- scaremongering after Labour re- Miriam Deakin, director of policy ter funding is needed. But for the leased the documents at a campaign and strategy at NHS Providers, said NHS and winter funding, 2019/20 event. But the unredacted papers, any solution to recruitment prob- would be a case of ‘too little, too late’ previously shared online, showed lems would rely on overseas staff. rather than ‘better late than never’.” that among the issues discussed was She added: “It will be several years extending drug patents for phar- before domestic supply increases Social care maceutical companies, raising the enough to help close the gap.” possibility of the NHS having to pay n The plight of vulnerable and higher prices for medicines. A&E performance elderly people stuck in hospital or Research commissioned by the being deprived of support in their GMB union also showed the scale of n The Conservatives will have own homes will be among the most private NHS contracting under the been glad that performance figures emotive issues facing the next gov- existing framework for health serv- showing record A&E waiting times ernment. ice outsourcing. Since 2015, private were the last to be released before The lack of concrete plans for the firms including Virgin Care and Care the 12 December general election. future of social care caused frustra- UK have landed almost £15bn worth Fewer than 75 per cent of patients tion after the launch of the Conserv- of contracts, the research found, were treated, admitted or discharged ative election manifesto. The Tories raising doubts over Tory claims the within four hours at major A&E units would “build a cross-party consen- NHS is “not for sale”, said the union. in England during October. sus to bring forward an answer that Some £3.6bn worth of NHS con- NHS England figures also showed solves the problem”, with the condi- tracts had been handed to private there were 2.17m attendances at tion that nobody needing care would providers last year alone, an in- emergency departments that be forced to sell their home. crease of 20 per cent on 2017. month, up by 4.4 per cent on Octo- As the Institute for Fiscal Studies The GMB’s Rehana Azam said: ber 2018. The rate of growth in A&E (IFS) pointed out, it struck a differ- “These shocking figures expose the attendances among the over 65s was ent tone from Boris Johnson’s first extent to which our NHS is increas- thought to be double the rate than speech as prime minister in July, ingly falling into private hands.” for those under retirement age. when he promised to “fix the crisis It left the Tories under pressure in social care once and for all with a Staffing to explain their record on the NHS clear plan we have prepared.” as leading medics said the crisis was The Health Foundation said it n Research by the Nuffield Trust no longer confined to winter. was a ‘shameful omission from the which found that one in four hospital After years of initiatives to manifesto, almost 1,000 days since staff is born outside the UK,- com provide more services outside of a social care green paper was an- pared to 14 per cent of the general traditional hospital settings, guide nounced but never published’. 6 December 2019 ElectionWatch 7

❝ ❝ Expecting We need newspapers to make and the fourth broadcasters estate to report the understand news with that, a degree of and one objectivity, way separating of doing reportage that is from to stop comment, swimming is not in those unreasonable waters ❞ PRICE OF DEMOCRACY? The BBC’s Andrew Neil interrogates Jeremy Corbyn. (Photo: TV screenshot) ❞ Who made Andrew Neil king?

By Duncan Heining reported the news, drawing a thick objectivity, separating reportage from line between reportage and com- comment, is not unreasonable. Jeremy Corbyn’s recent inter- ment. The media has always served Nor is it unreasonable to expect in- view with Andrew Neil for the BBC the interests of those who own and terviewers to let politicians present was hardly the Labour leader’s finest control it. But whatever lines might their policies to their electorate, while moment. Tabloids and broadsheets once have been drawn about what still questioning those policies. The queued up to skewer him for failing constituted fair and objective report- Paxman/Neil approach does neither, to apologise for his handling of the ing have been long ago disappeared. but seeks to cast politicians as bum- ‘’ issue and gloated as he This is not just a consequence of bling fools, and aggrandising the me- struggled to justify Labour’s spend- increased competition for advertising dia as the true guardian of democracy. ing plans, including on women’s pen- and revenue. Ultimately, it is about We do not get to vote for Neil, Pax- sion rights. Corbyn was grilled by two things – ownership and power, man, Murdoch or Rothermere. Our Neil and served up on a plate. not just ownership of TV, radio sta- political system has huge shortcom- But why do we watch politicians be- tions and newspapers but of the po- ings but at least it asks us to choose. ing grilled? Media bosses and journal- litical narrative, of what is said, when, Mainstream media, by contrast, of- ists may not be entirely responsible how and how often it is repeated. fers remarkably little choice. Apart for the phenomenon. We all carry a It is not even about the power to from the centrist Guardian and Mirror, smidgeon of blame. Every time one of influence political agendas. Leveson choice is between one Tory-support- theirs blustered, flustered and begged sought to restore a balance in society ing newspaper and another. to be allowed to finish, we rubbed our between the media, elected politicians With power comes responsibility. hands. But then we scream foul when and broader social interests such as We need to make the fourth estate un- one of ours gets the ‘grilling’. trades unions. Yet the screams from derstand that and one way of doing But our culpability is tiny com- minnows like Ian Hislop to sharks like that is to stop swimming in those wa- pared to that of media tycoons and Murdoch and Viscount Rothermere ters, whether with the sharks or the media professionals. Whether Pax- caused tsunamis across a sea of news- minnows. The promotion of a demo- man, Humphreys, Redhead or Robin print in defence of a ‘free press’. cratically accountable and pluralistic Day invented this gladiatorial inter- But a ‘free press’ that is account- media must be our long-term goal. But view style is irrelevant. We need to able to no-one but its owners is no it is also time for politicians of integ- ask, instead, what and whose inter- servant of democracy. We need to ask, rity to stop swimming with sharks. ests are being served by it? ‘freedom for what and for whom?’ Ex- There was never a golden age pecting newspapers and broadcasts Duncan Heining has been writing books when journalists and newspapers just to report the news with a degree of and reviews about jazz since 1996 8 ElectionWatch 6 December 2019 Tory election videos banned as Lib Dems publish fake papers

Two Tory election videos have have been accused of peddling been banned from YouTube fol- misinformation after distribut- lowing complaints from the ing fake newspapers with names BBC. They have already been similar to local newspapers. removed from Facebook after They have produced publica- the BBC complained about copy- tions in more than a dozen seats right issues. with titles such as Cheltenham The widely criticised videos Courier, North West Leeds News and used footage of BBC news reader York News to promote their can- Huw Edwards and political edi- didates. Each ‘newspaper’ has a tor Laura Kuenssberg. similar look to a traditional local They were edited to suggest CAUGHT OUT: Two of the fake Lib Dem newspapers. newspaper but is accompanied the journalists were agreeing by a small line of text saying it is a with Conservative propaganda. ent company Google banned eight party publication. One video showed Kuenssberg say- different Tory ads from the site. Newsquest, which owns titles ing the phrase ‘pointless delay to Google did not say why it had re- in many marginal seats, said it was Brexit’– but the full video made clear moved those ads but its guidelines outrageous that the Lib Dems had that she had been quoting Boris ban ‘the promotion of products or produced a publication called The Johnson. services that are designed to enable Gazette to promote their candidate The removal of the videos from dishonest behaviour’. in an area close to their Basingstoke YouTube comes just days after par- Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats Gazette title. MediaNorth Conference IT’S THE MEDIA, STUPID! Post-election policies for media reform

Henry Moore Room, Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AA Saturday 8 February 11.00-5.00pm Conference fee £10.00 Concessions £5.00

This conference will analyse the lessons to be learned from media coverage of the 2019 General Election and put forward arguments, ideas and polices for diverse, democratic and accountable media. This will be a popular conference and you need to book your place in advance. Sessions on: Speakers confirmed: l The Media and the Election l Dorothy Byrne, Head of News and Current l The Press: Ownership, Regulation Affairs, Channel 4 and Ethics l Nick Jones, former BBC Political and l Broadcasting: Regulation & Impartiality Industrial Correspondent l Policing Propaganda: Democracy and l Dr Justin Schlosberg, Media Reform the Internet Coalition & Birkbeck, University l Looking Forward: Policies for Media Reform of London

For booking details contact CPBF(North) at [email protected]

Leeds Art Gallery is 10 minute walk from Leeds Railway Station and a 15 minute walk from the city centre bus station