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FURTHER BIAS AND EXAMPLES FROM THE BBC

Further points of note about The BBC include;

In June 2019, guests appearing on BBC political shows, appeared as such:

Tories 50.17%

Labour 14.03%

LibDems 2.85%

Brexit 2.46%

SNP 1.75%

This shows a real skew in favour of allowing Tories to voice their opinions over any other party. The National Scot described The BBC as “Tory TV”.

However, as damaging as all of this is, the press still claimed that the BBC was unfairly in favour of the Labour party. I can only rationalize this as another tactic to brainwash the masses even further. To make them think that their already skewed news source, is infact too kind to the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn. Broadcaster inundated with feedback suggesting it favoured Jeremy Corbyn’s party.

The Sun claimed, “This liberal bias is glaringly obvious on popular shows.”

The Telegraph wrote, “BBC comedy shows appear to be overwhelmingly biased against Tories, Brexit and Trump.”

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BBC ‘MISTAKES’ 2

17th January 2019 - Question Time, BBC Oner & BBC Radio 5 live

Diane Abbot claimed that Labour were level pegging in the polls, Fiona Bruce “accidentally” said that Labour were definitely behind, when Labour were in fact level pegging. The BBC wrote:

“Though a YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives, Diane Abbott was right to describe the overall situation as “kind of level pegging”, and we should not have described Labour as “definitely” behind on the basis of a single poll. We should always report voting intention polls in the context of trend.”

26th November 2019 - Victoria Derbyshire, BBC Two and BBC News Channel

Whilst criticising Labour’s “Race & Faith” manifesto, Victoria Derbyshire “accidentally” claimed that there was no mention of Islam in the manifesto, when in fact, it explicitly mentions both Muslims and Islamophobia. The BBC wrote:

“In a question to a representative of the Muslim Council of Britain about Labour’s Race & Faith manifesto we said there were “no mentions of Islam”. While this was intended to be a discussion about whether the document contains specific policies aimed at the Muslim community, we should make clear that it does in fact make references both to Muslims and Islamophobia - for example, the need for a memorial to Muslim soldiers, pay inequality faced by Muslim women and Labour’s adoption of the All Party Parliamentary Group’s definition of Islamophobia.”

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BBC ‘MISTAKES’

THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF INCIDENTS LEADING UP TO THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTION THAT THE BBC WAS FORCED TO APOLOGIZE FOR, THAT PAINTED EITHER JEREMY CORBYN AND HIS LABOUR PARTYIN AN UNFAIRLY NEGATIVE LIGHT, OR PAINTING BORIS JOHNSON AND HIS TORY PARTY IN A POSITIVE LIGHT, THAT WAS UNTRUE TO REAL EVENTS.

23rd November 2019 - Leaders Debate

Audience laughing at Boris’ response to a question was “accidentally” edited out. The BBC wrote: “In a report on the previous night’s Question Time: Leaders Debate, a clip was shortened for timing reasons on Saturday’s lunchtime bulletin. This was to edit out a repetitious phrase from Boris Johnson, but in doing so, it also resulted in the audience laughter being removed.”

11th November 2019 - Breakfast & News

Boris Johnson laid his remembrance day wreth upside down, Footage from the previous year was “accidentally” shown instead. The BBC wrote: “We incorrectly used footage from the Remembrance Day service in 2016. This was a production mistake and we apologise for the error. The footage was among archive we had selected to preview this year’s service but it was used in error on Armistice Day itself, though not in combination with the correct footage.”

31st October 2019 - Vote Leave BBC

Presenter, Fiona Bruce, claimed that “Vote Leave” did not break any laws, when they did, and were fined £61,000 for breaking electoral law. The BBC wrote: “The presenter misheard a reference from a member of the audience who said that Vote Leave “is accused of breaking electoral law” and gave the impression that this was not correct. In fact, Vote Leave was fined £61,000 by the Electoral Commission and a police investigation into its activities during the EU referendum campaign is still active. Leave.EU, to which the presenter was in fact referring, was also fined for electoral offences.”

23rd August 2019 - BBC4 Radio

BBC correspondant “accidentally” massively inflated reports of antisemitism within the Labour party to 10x larger than truth. The BBC wrote: “In a report about cases of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, our correspondent said according to party figures, “the number of allegations only concern 0.6% of the party membership.” In fact, Labour says the correct figuer is 0.06%.

6th September 2019 - Twitter

Christian Fraser “accidentally” misrepresented The Labour Party’s views on Brexit. The BBC wrote: “In a tweet Christian Fraser referred to the stance of three senior Labour party members on Brexit. We should make it clear that he was reflecting his understanding of their personal views, expressed in interviews with them, rather than they party’s official position.”

24th October 2019 -BBC4 Radio

In an interview about Labour’s new green deal, criticism of this was “accidentally” misquoted. The BBC wrote: “In an interview about Labour’s Green New Deal, it was claimed that the GMB General Secretary had described the party’s plans for zero net carbon emissions by 2030 as “negligent at best, vindictive and cruel at its worst”. In fact this was how the GMB’s Tim Roache had described the Government’s approach to the zero carbon economy. Mr Roache has previously said the net zero carbon emissions target for 2030 was “unachievable”.”

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INCONSISTENCY BIAS 2

-LABOUR’S PLANS FOR A FOUR-DAY WORKING WEEK ‘WOULD COST TAXPAYERS AT LEAST ��17BILLION A YEAR IN EXTRA WAGES FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR’

Election battle is ramping up as the parties put the final touches to manifestos

Labour is promising to introduce a 32-hour working week with no loss of pay

Think-tanks warn the policy will leave taxpayers with huge bill for extra wages

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 08:00, 5 November 2019 | UPDATED: 15:00, 5 November 2019

-GOVERNMENT SHOULD BRING IN FOUR-DAY WORKING WEEK TO BOOST ECONOMY BY CREATING JOBS AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO SPEND MORE CASH ON THEIR EXTRA DAY OFF, SAYS THINK TANK IN SCHEME THAT WOULD COST £22BN IN FIRST YEAR

Left-wing think tank Autonomy says move would get Britons out and spending

Their report recommends a cut in working hours to 80 per cent but no pay cuts

Report says government should pay the 20 per cent difference to help economy

Scheme has been backed by union Unite and Norwich Labour MP Clive Lewis

By JAMES ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 16:29, 24 July 2020 | UPDATED: 02:01, 25 July 2020

Here are two more headlines, this time by the Daily Mail. It is interesting how a four day working week was a terrible idea that would cost the tax payer billions when Corbyn suggested it, however when suggested by somebody else, it would be a huge boost to the economy. Obviously the economic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has its say in this, however i still feel that it is interesting how the positives of this idea are only suggested when Corbyn didn’t say it.

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INCONSISTENCY BIAS

-LABOUR’S MINIMUM WAGE PLAN COULD COST YOU YOUR JOB AND SEND UNEMPLOYMENT SOARING

LABOUR’S plan to increase the minimum wage to £10 per hour have been torn apart by critics, who raged it could cost millions of Britons their jobs and destroy the efforts get employment levels to record highs.

By PAUL WITHERS

PUBLISHED: 08:00, Sat, Sep 28, 2019 | UPDATED: 19:39, Sat, Sep 28, 2019

-BORIS JOHNSON’S PLAN TO RAISE WAGES ACROSS THE COUNTRY RECEIVES HUGE BOOST FROM EXPERT

BORIS JOHNSON’s plan to hike the minimum hourly rate for British workers to £10.50 has been backed by an American professor of economics, who said there was “room for exploring a more ambitious national living wage in the UK”.

By LAURA O’CALLAGHAN

PUBLISHED: 19:39, Mon, Nov 4, 2019 | UPDATED: 20:11, Mon, Nov 4, 2019

Above, are two headlines, published by The Daily Express. The inconsistency between reporting on a Labour policy and the exact same Conservative policy is a reall great example of Stuart Hall’s Representation and the Media. The reader is encouraged to find the prospect of a £10 per hour minimum wage a horrifying concept, with Mr Corbyn intent on bankrupting the country. However, when Boris Johnson suggests a £10.50 minimum wage, it is met with a “huge boost from expert”, rather than “could cost you your job and send unemployment soaring.”

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JEREMY CORBYN IS AN ANTI-SEMITE - THE TELEGRAPH

JEREMY CORBYN IS AN ANTI-SEMITE

A vote for Labour on December 12 is a vote for an institutionally anti-Semitic party led by an anti-Semite.

5 Dec 2019 - The Telegraph

Above, is a headline run by The Telegraph. It claims that Jeremy Corbyn being an anti-semite is a fact, however, Corbyn himself said in an interview with Jewsih News Online, “I’m not an anti-Semite in any way, never have been, never will be. I’ve opposed racism in any form all my life. It’s the way I was brought up, it’s the way I’ve lived my life. I recognise the hurt that’s felt within the community and that’s why I responded immediately with an invitation to the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies to come and meet me.

I did say that processes in our party had to be speeded up and that all of the recommendations of the Chakrabarti report had to be carried out so that we could address the issue. Let me say this very bluntly: anti-Semitism is a cancer in our society and it has resurfaced across Europe and in Britain in recent years. It has to be challenged at every single stage.” I feel that this is a dangerous attempt to spread mis-information about the topic. Boldly claiming that Jeremy Corbyn IS an anti-semite is both unfair and wrong. The tag line underneath, begs people to not vote for Corbyn, accusing them of antisemitism if they do so.

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LABOUR, ANTISEMITISM AND THE NEWS: A DISINFORMATION PARADIGM, DR JUSTIN SCHLOSBERG, LAURA LAKER; SEPTEMBER 2018

Executive Summary

• Over 250 articles and news segments from the largest UK news providers (online and television) were subjected to in-depth case study analysis involving both quantitative and qualitative methods

• 29 examples of false statements or claims were identified, several of them made by anchors or correspondents themselves, six of them surfacing on BBC television news programmes, and eight on TheGuardian.com

• A further 66 clear instances of misleading or distorted coverage including misquotations, reliance on single source accounts, omission of essential facts or right of reply, and repeated value-based assumptions made by broadcasters without evidence or qualification. In total, a quarter of the sample contained at least one documented inaccuracy or distortion.

• Overwhelming source imbalance, especially on television news where voices critical of Labour’s code of conduct were regularly given an unchallenged and exclusive platform, outnumbering those defending Labour by nearly 4 to 1. Nearly half of Guardian reports on the controversy surrounding Labour’s code of conduct featured no quoted sources defending the party or leadership.

Overall, we found 95 clear cut examples of misleading or inaccurate reporting on mainstream television and online news platforms, with a quarter of the total sample containing at least one such example. The problem was especially pronounced on television – which reaches far wider audiences by comparison – where two thirds of the news segments on television contained at least one reporting error or substantive distortion.

Underlying these figures was a persistent subversion of conventional news values:

Several reports focused on a controversial social media post by Jeremy Corbyn omitted any mention that it was made six years ago, with some emphasising a sense of currency and recency that failed to make clear the historical context of the post.

Journalists covering the launch of Labour’s antisemitism report in 2016 routinely misquoted an activist in ways that were entirely removed from his original comment, in spite of a video recording of the event that was readily and immediately accessible.

Above all, coverage of Labour’s revised code of conduct during the summer of 2018 often entirely omitted critical discussion of the ‘working definition’ of antisemitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and wrongly characterized it as consensual and universally adopted.

Dr Justin Schlosber, Laura Laker, Labour Antisemitism and the News: A Disinformation Paradigm 2018https://www.mediareform.org.uk/blog/new-mrc-research-finds-inaccuracies-and-distortions-in-media-coverage-of-antisemitism-and-the-labour-party

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THE GUARDIAN'S ROLE - DAVID GRAEBER TWEETS.

David Graeber, a writer for The Guardian during the 2019 general election campaigns, wrote on his Twitter account:

“as for the Guardian, we will never forget that during the “Labour #antisemitism controversy”, they beat even the Daily Mail to include the largest percentage of false statements, pretty much every one, mysteriously, an accidental error to Labour’s disadvantage” he continues in a threaded tweet: “this is the “cred” they built up by publishing people like me, .

@OwenJones84 @GeorgeMonbiot @chakrabortty

- all of whom I very much respect. They used us so no one would believe they would simply lie to destroy any chance of a left gov’t. But that’s exactly what they did.” Graeber continues, “if you add up false with misleading, 90% of Guardian news articles on IHRA controversy were designed to trick the reader into falsely believing Labour was institutionally #antisemitic. This was an historical crime against truth. Who were editors? They need to be shamed for this.”

Graeber included this graph with his tweet, highlighting levels of inaccurate and misleading headlines related to antisemitism

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The BBC - Anti-Communism

It is my argument, that Jeremy Corbyn was “too communist” for the BBC to give any kind of fair press. The entire history of the channel is littered with examples of The BBC feeling the need to prove their anti-communist credentials. By many people, Socialism and Communism are tarred with the same brush, however both concepts are very different indeed, nontheless, socialism was too communist for The BBC.

This is an image from BBC Newsnight in 2018, that paints the not-Russian Jeremy Corbyn, as a “Soviet stooge”, accoring to Owen Jones. Critics also said that Corbyn’s hat was digitally altered in order to make Mr Corbyn look more Russian, The BBC ofcourse denied this.

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THE BBC

Ownership Bias

The BBC was created in 1927 as a means to help the goverment bring an end to the worker’s strike. Throughout history, The BBC has been used by the UK Government, such as rearranging footage of the 1980’s miners strike, to excuse police violence, and during the most recent election campaign, it framed even mildly social democratic policies as ridiculous.

Whilst we know that the BBC is not specifically owned by anyone, it does have a number of key influences that would prevent the news from being completely impartial. The organization is governed by the BBC board, with the day to day management of the board being controlled by an executive committee, led by the Director-General. At the time of the 2019 general election, Tony Hall was the director-general of the BBC, which, at the time of his appointment, was considered a strange move from the conservatives, as Tony Hall is not a particularly conservative man, however, claims not to be affiliated to any party, meaning that the Tories felt that they could still work with him.

In Tom Mill’s book, “The BBC, Myth of a Public Service”, he states, “Senior executives (...) are all political appointees, and its major source of funding, the license free, and it’s constitution (...) are both routinely set by governments; a fact that inevitably influences its reporting.” Essentially, this means that the UK government controls who is appointed at the BBC, and has control over its primary source of income, the license fee. Citing back to Hermann and Chomsky’s propaganda model, the workers at the BBC will be very aware of who pays their wages and therefore would not want to humiliate their employer, and in this instance, their employer is the UK government itself.

The BBC is an organisation, controlled by the government in power. The Government are in charge of both appointing executive level staff, and also paying the company through the license fee. As per the ownership bias that I have highlighted, the staff of The BBC will be more than aware of who pays their bills.

To recap:

- Government in charge of hiring executive staff.

- Government in charge of license fee funding for BBC.

- Staff well aware of who pays them. Example of possible ownership bias.

David Clementi

BBC Chairman Clementi advised Thatcher on the privatisation of BT & encouraged her to press ahead with the privatisation of more than 50 companies. The Guardian writes, “He advised Margaret Thatcher on the multibillion-pound privatisation of BT in 1984, and was seen to have done such a good job of it that his bank, Kleinwort, had a near-monopoly on running the sell-off of state assets including British Gas and the electricity industry.” Another banker in the UK media for their own best interests, what a shock. To recap:

- Clementi advised ex Tory PM Thatcher on the privatisation of BT.

- Encouraged her to privatise more than 50 other companies

- Made a lot of money with his bank by selling off stae assets.

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FREE PRESS OWNERS FURTHER ANALYSIS 4

LEBEDEV HOLDINGS LTD: Evgeny Alexandrovich Lebedev, is a Russian-British businessman, who is the owner of Lebedev Holdings Ltd, which owns the Evening Standard and The Independent. Evgeny Alexandrovic Lebedev

The Independent and London Evening Standard owner has been a life-long friend of current Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. In 2020, Lebedev was nominated for a life peerage by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his services to the British media industry and philanthropic work, including wildlife conservation. This indicates what Mr Johnson thinks of Lebedev’s media companies. After Johnson’s election win in 2019, Lebedev threw a huge party for him. The Guardian writes “The day after his landslide election victory, Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds dropped into a caviar-fuelled Christmas party in London hosted by former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev and his son Evgeny.” The Guardian again writes, “Johnson’s decision to call in on the Lebedevs might be explained as an act of political homage. The Lebedevs own the Evening Standard. Over the summer the newspaper endorsed Johnson to succeed Theresa May. It backed him again last month as the best candidate to be prime minister” This further indicates Lebedev’s friendly link to the current PM, with his London Evening Standard newspaper openly supporting him. Just recently, as of September 2020, the current Prime Minister paid a visit to his good friend, Evgeny in Perugia. On the 17th Sept, officials at Perugia airport said Johnson was there “in the last few days”. Later they confirmed he “landed on the 11th at 2pm and left on the 14th at 7:45am”. This is evidence of regular contact with eachother where they enjoy holidays away together.

It turns out, as good friends, Mr Johnson and Mr Lebedev love doing little favours for eachother; in spring 2019, MI6 and special branch had Evgeny Lebedev down as a “potential security risk”. But by June 2019 this was down-graded by order of the Cabinet Office and Lebedev was then given an honours in the Queens new years honours list. The cabinet office is run by Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings, two high profile Tory MP’s.

During the 2019 election campaign, Boris Johnson was the figurehead of “get brexit done.” Whilst this may be coincidence, many people have warned that Brexit may create a number of super-rich oligarchs at the cost of the average UK citizen. Perhaps this, alongside being good friends, may be another reason why Lebedev was so delighted when Johnson was elected and continues to openly endorse him in his newspapers.

In 2017, Tory MP George Osbourne was appointed as editor for the London Evening Standard. The Guardian reports “George Osborne’s appointment at the London Evening Standard while remaining a Conservative MP could be a potential conflict of interest with government advertising budgets, Labour has said.” A literal Tory MP editing the news?

To recap:

- Nominated for life peerage by Boris Johnson.

- Lebedev threw a huge party for Johnson’s election win.

- Evening Standard consistenly backs Boris for PM role.

- Lebedev reduced from MI6 security risk to Queen’s new years honours list.

- Lebedev might become very rich from brexit.

- George Osbourne appointed editor of London Evening Standard.

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FREE PRESS OWNERS FURTHER ANALYSIS 3

MURDOCH CONTINUED...

During the court case for this enquiry, Ian Hislop stated “I sat through the entire proceedings of Leveson in which one of the main points was the closeness of the relationship between senior members of the Conservative party and Mr Murdoch. And Mr Gove has had a number of meetings with him when he was in various of his departments. So I think there is a question there about when you are in office … imagining a future when you might need the generosity of say Mr Murdoch to sustain your career and whether that would influence the decisions you’ve made.”

“The government has refused to deny that Rupert Murdoch asked Theresa May to reappoint Michael Gove to the cabinet or face a bad press in his newspaper titles, insisting that cabinet roles are selected on “merit and experience”.” This headline from The Guardian in 2017, certainly displayes the power and influence that Murdoch has, warning that if the Tories do not play ball with him, he will not endorse them any more. The Tories playing ball here depicts how seriously they take a Murdoch backing, seeing it as vital for a successful government, almost as though he is their own publication.

To recap:

- Murdoch newspapers endorsed Tory party during 2019 general election.

- Celebrated David Cameron’s election win in 2010, with Cameron.

- Murdoch personally supportive of Brexit, backs Boris as he claims to “get brexit done”.

- Gove and Murdoch have close relations, with Gove having his own section in the Times.

- Tories see Murdoch backing as essential.

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FREE PRESS OWNERS FURTHER ANALYSIS 2

PRESS HOLDINGS: Press Holdings and May Corporation Limited are two Jersey-registered holding companies owned by the Barclay brothers, which control the UK holding company Press Acquisitions Limited, which in turn owns the Telegraph Media Group, parent company of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

The Barclay Brothers

The Barclay Brothers, David and Frederick, are notorious for their tax evading schemes. Featured in The Guardian headline “The Brexiters who put their money offshore.” The Guardian has stated that the brothers are tax exiles, and although they reside, at least some of the time, in Monaco (giving Avenue de Grande Bretagne, Monte Carlo as their address) they operate their businesses from an office in the United Kingdom. The Brother’s newspaper The Telegraph was loudly pro-brexit, which may be explained by “the UK ripping up its economic model and in effect becoming a tax haven on the borders of Europe.” This would suit The Barclay Brothers as they keep their money off shore. Being pro Brexit during the 2019 general election would be the exact same thing as being anti Labour, as Labour wanted to put the final decision on Brexit back to the people.

To recap:

- Brexit would suit tax avoiding Barclay Brothers as they would not need to hide accounts off shore.

NEWS CORPORATION: News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group), is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun newspapers. Its sole industry is mass media and is owned by multi-billionairre Rupert Murdoch. Every successful election campaign since Margaret Thatchers in 1979 has been endorsed by Murdoch. Murdoch was key in trying to deny fires in Australia last year were down to climate warming and he himself invests in the fossil fuel industry. This is a key example for me of Murdoch looking after his own interests.

Rupert Murdoch Every successful election campaign since Margaret Thatchers in 1979 has been endorsed by Murdoch. Meaning that Murdoch openly supported the Tory party in the most recent election campaign, with his newspapers endorsing the party. He also has a close relationship with the Tories back in 2010, “Rupert Murdoch recalled entering Downing Street by the back door to meet David Cameron and celebrate the 2010 general election result with a cup of tea.” BBC News reported in 2011. “By the back door” making this sound like more of an informal visit. Journalist Anthony Hilton noted in February 2016, “I once asked Rupert Murdoch why he was so opposed to the European Union. “That’s easy,” he replied. “When I go into Downing Street they do what I say; when I go to Brussels they take no notice.” A trivial quote as it may be, this for me is a strong indication that Murdoch was personally supportive of Brext, perhaps explaining his passionate backing of Boris Johnson, and unjust slandering of Jeremy Corbyn. Another instance of Tory MP’s and Murdoch collaborating is found in this quote from The Conversation, “When Theresa May visited New York in late September (mere months after becoming prime minister) she found time in her hectic 36-hour schedule to meet with Murdoch.” This highlights to me the close bond between Murdoch and the current Tory party. Ian Hislop, editor of The Private Eye, called for an enquiry into the closeness of Tory MP Michael Gove and Mr Murdoch. “Gove is known to have maintained close relations with Murdoch during his time in government. During the Leveson inquiry he hailed the media mogul as “one of the most impressive and significant figures of the last 50 years”. He has now returned to The Times — where he previously worked before being justice secretary and education secretary to write a regular column for the Murdoch-owned paper.” Writes Total Politics. Along with a close relationship with an active Tory MP, there is also clear evidence here of Tory MP collaboration in the Times, as Gove is given his own column in the paper.

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FREE PRESS OWNERS - FURTHER ANALYSIS

REACH PLC: Known as “Mirror Trinity” between 1999 and 2018, Reach plc is one of Britains bigGest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional newspapers, along with national newspapers; Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, The Sunday People, Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Daily Star Sunday. Jim Mullen is the current CEO of Reach, and Nicholas Prettejohn the current Chairman.

DAILY MAIL AND GENERAL TRUST PLC: DMGT is an British media company, owner of The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, i, i weekend and Metro. The company also has it’s hands in land & property, websites, insurance, energy and education; thus meaning that the company perhaps has assets to protect through its newspaper company, this may be an indication as to why it’s leading newspapers are politically right wing. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company.

The 4th Viscount Rothermere

Jordan Harmsworth (The 4th Viscount Rothermere) is a firmly right wing man. “Lord Rothermere considered the Conservative Party to be too left-wing and became attracted to the fascist parties in Europe.” writes Spartacus Educational in 2015. Spartaucs Educational continues, “I suppose we should not be too surprised that Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, is not a supporter of the Labour Party. He has an estimated wealth of about £950 million. He also has non-domicile tax status (something that Miliband promises to remove) and owns his media businesses through a complex structure of offshore holdings and trusts which entail him paying almost no UK tax on his income, investments or wealth.” It is clear that Mr Harmsworth was never going to be a fan of Jeremy Corbyn.

In 2013, Private Eye reported that Viscount Rothermere falsely claims non-dom status, in order to avoid paying tax on his stately home, this saves him millions in tax each year. Tax avoidance is noth something that any man of the people or Labour party supporter would do.

Harmsworth also supported Conservative party leader David cameron in 2010, as well as his Daily Mail newspaper supporting the Tories in the most recent general election.

To recap:

- A firmly right wing man, has become attracted to fascist movements in Europe.

- Claims non-dom status to avoid tax.

- Supported Cameron in 2010, his papers supported Tories 2019.

SCOTT TRUST LIMITED: Scott Trust LTD is the British company that owns Guardian Media Group (GMG), producers of The Guardian, The Guardian Weekly and The Observer. The current chair of the Scott Trust Board is millionaire former owner of Wall to Wall Productions, Alex Graham. Scott Trust Board member Anthony Salz is a senior investment banker and executive vice chairman of Rothschild, and a director at NM Rothschild and Sons. e was a key legal adviser to Guinness during the notorious share-rigging scandal, helped Rupert Murdoch form BSkyB, and was vice chair of the BBC’s Board of Governors before it was replaced by the BBC Trust.

Anthony Salz

Salz has worked closely with Rupert Murdoch in the past. “Salz (...) had worked on the merger of Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Television with the ailing British Satellite Broadcasting to form BSkyB..”

In 2006, Salz joined Rothschild as an executive vice chairman. The conservatives are notoriously on the side of the bankers, rather than the people. “Serena Rothschild, was one of the largest individual donors to the Conservative Party last year. She gave £190,000. She has also helped fund Mr Osborne’s office.” Although these instances may be of little influence to Salz, i felt that understanding his background and any possible influences could be beneficial when it comes to understanding The Guardian’s huge exxaggeration over Labour antisemitism, which I will address in the next section.

To recap:

- Worked closely with Murdoch in the past.

- Executive vice chairman at Rothschild, can big bankers be men of the people?

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WHO OWNS THE 'FREE' PRESS?

JUST 3 COMPANIES CONTROL 71% OF NATIONAL NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION AND 5 COMPANIES CONTROL 81% OF LOCAL NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION.

-REACH PLC: Publicly funded company, CEO Simon Fox

Daily Star, Daily Star on Sunday, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People, Daily Express, Sunday Express

- DAILY MAIL AND GENERAL TRUST PLC: Owned by the 4th Viscount Rothermere

i, i Weekend, Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday

-NEWS CORPORATION (NEWS UK) - Owned by Rupert Murdoch

The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times, The Sunday Times

-PRESS HOLDINGS: Owned by the Barclay Brothers

The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph

-SCOTT TRUST LIMITED'S GUARDIAN MEDIA GROUP: Chairman Alex Graham

The Observer, The Guardian, The Guardian Weekly

-Evgeny Lebedev:

Independent, Evening Standard.

Graph from Statista shows the circulation of newspapers in the uk.

Other stats to note: Only 4 or the 22 newspapers listed supported the Labour party for the 2019 general election. There are 6 fully right wing newspapers in circulation in the UK, there are no fully left-wing newspapers.

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THE BBC, MYTH OF A PUBLIC SERVICE

THE BBC, MYTH OF A PUBLIC SERVICE BY TOM MILLS

“Senior executives (...) are all political appointees, and its major source of funding, the license fee, and its constitution (...) are both routinely set by governments; a fact which inevitably influences its reporting” Tom Mills, The BBC; Myth of a Public Service (London: Verson 2016), Introductiion

This is a quote that I will later address in this publication. It argues that The BBC is more of a political weapon, used and funded by the UK government, rather than a public service, due to the way that it is managed and funded. Rather than presenting us with unbiased reporting, we are presented with a government propaganda machine.

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REPRESENTATION AND THE MEDIA

REPRESENTATION AND THE MEDIA. A LECTURE BY SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR, STUART HALL.

“The one thing you can say about (an event) is that there is no one true, fixed meaning about it (...) The true fixed meaning of it will depend on what meaning people make of it; and the meanings that they make will depend on how it is represented.” Stuart Hall, Representation & The Media (Northampton Media Education Foundation, 1997), 7. https://www.mediaed.org/transcripts/Stuart-Hall-Representation-and-the-Media-Transcript.pdf

This quote by Stuart Hall argues that the news media doesnt lie specifically, however it is responsible for the way in which factual information is presented. The question asked of a news story should not be “is this true”, but it should be “how am I encouraged to attribute certain meanings to it”.