A journalist of fifty years standing offers a personal and independent assessment of the often troubled relationship between public figures and the British news media.
My aim is to try to monitor events and issues affecting the ethics of journalism and the latest developments in the rapidly-changing world of press, television, radio and the Internet.
Expect too an insight into the black arts of media manipulation. So spin-doctors, Beware!
A journalist of fifty years standing offers a personal and independent assessment of the often troubled relationship between public figures and the British news media.
Political honeymoons are often short lived, but few Prime Ministers have squandered media loyalty and support as rapidly and comprehensively as Boris Johnson.
Dominic Cummings' forced departure has paved the way for the launch in the New Year of White House-style televised briefings from Downing Street by Allegra Stratton, who is to become the new face of the government.
Spin by GovernmentRead more...
Fears over immigration re-entered the list of voters’ top ten concerns in August – an all-too predictable response after weeks of inflammatory scare stories about ‘an invasion of illegal migrants’ arriving along the English Channel coast.
Alarmist coverage in newspapers such as the Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Express encouraged broadcasters to follow suit.
Radio and television crews headed out [ ... ]
ArticlesRead more...
‘The unions are back’ declared The Guardian’s headline over an interview with the TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady in which she called on the government to establish a new consensus with the trade union movement to help restore the economy.
No wonder there was just a hint of grim satisfaction: a recognition that it had taken a national emergency and countless deaths to turn the clock back [ ... ]
Trade Union ReportingRead more...
A vicious and highly personalised attack on teachers’ trade union leaders for daring to demand stricter safety conditions ahead of the phased re-opening of primary schools in England was another unpleasant reminder of the hateful coverage that has become so entrenched in much of daily press reporting.
Trade Union ReportingRead more...
Amid the devastation of the coronavirus crisis and a looming economic catastrophe, Boris Johnson and his communication advisers remain wedded to media routines ill-suited to a national emergency.
Deeply entrenched in the Downing Street psyche is an addiction to manipulating the news agenda, a determination come what may to trail announcements in advance and grab the news agenda.
ArticlesRead more...
Rarely has a peacetime Prime Minister struggling with a national emergency been as fortunate as Boris Johnson in being spared the broad sweep of hostile coverage that proved so debilitating to his predecessors.
Johnson has been blessed with a personal story line tailor-made for the popular press – ‘From death to paternity’ (Daily Mail, 30.4.2020) – and Conservative newspapers have remained [ ... ]
Media EthicsRead more...
For a critical two-week period, Boris Johnson’s near-death escape from the coronavirus infection topped the news agenda diverting the focus of much of the daily coverage away from vital, searching questions that needed to be asked about the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Day after day the tabloid press became obsessed with the fine detail of a sensational personal drama, a touch and go [ ... ]
GeneralRead more...- Coronavirus crisis: critical role for BBC and other broadcasters
- Synchronised messages and campaign coordination destabilised Jeremy Corbyn
- Corbyn’s vilification: a master class by Tory press
- Vilification of Jeremy Corbyn exceeded that of Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock
- BBC correspondents should rethink their use of Twitter
- How Boris Johnson’s media allies are trashing young voters
- “Burying bad news” – a well-rehearsed routine for Brexit press
- Belittling Jo Swinson: no sisterly support from queens of mean
- “Oven ready” recipe for tabloid press exploitation of televised debate
- From hero to zero: Nigel Farage trashed by Tory tabloids
- Boris Johnson’s shock troops in the commentariat
- Trade unions braced for “winter of discontent” headlines
- Anti-Corbyn attack agenda of tabloid press
- Imminent review into Scottish policing of miners’ strike
- Boris Johnson: Backstop for the pro-Brexit press
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