The bias changed and we got Brexit

 

Brexit used to sit on the far side lines of politics.

How newspaper lies led to Brexit

Prince Harry, Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley are among a group of celebrities suing the Daily Mail publishers, Associated Newspapers, for what they describe as “abhorrent criminal activity”.

Would the Daily Express be a winner in the Dragons' Den?

Richard Desmond, the media mogul, former pornographer and UKIP donor, sold his Brexit-supporting newspapers, the Daily Express and Daily Star, to the Mirror newspaper group in 2018.

The Daily Mail is the enemy of democracy

My editorial today for my Reasons2Remain campaign:

How fake news caused Brexit

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that fake news in some of Britain's leading newspapers helped to cause Brexit.

How newspaper lies led to Brexit

In October 2015, I gave a speech to international journalists in Germany called, ‘Newspaper lies can cost lives.’ Less than a year later, Britain voted for Brexit, with one of the main reasons cited as ‘too many migrants’. How did such a fear and dislike of migrants develop? Newspaper lies played an enormous role. Video, 14 minutes, click arrow to view:

How does Britain want to be governed?

This is no longer just about Brexit. This is about how Britain wants to be governed.

Daily Mail wrongly claims: 'Patients at risk from EU doctors'

Another day, another inaccurate report about the European Union in one of Britain's national newspapers. No wonder Brexit won.

In this referendum, don't believe everything

This referendum debate has been debased by some who support Brexit distributing misinformation.

Unfortunately, prominent examples of alleged misreporting can be found in most of the newspapers that back Britain leaving the EU – including The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Telegraph and The Times and The Sunday Times.

Independent newspaper print edition to close

• RIP the print edition of The Independent, but with a monthly digital readership of 58 million,
maybe it can now lead the way in paperless and profitable journalism. 

In a black day for good journalism, it was announced today that the print edition of one of the country’s finest newspapers, The Independent, is to close.

EU migrants are NOT 'bleeding dry' the NHS

Yesterday's Daily Express front page shouted that Britain should ‘Quit the EU to save our NHS’.

Being part of the EU, the paper claimed, puts an “intolerable strain on the NHS” and it “could collapse completely.”

The same story appeared in an inside feature article of the Daily Mail with the headline, ‘Migrants are pushing NHS to breaking point..’

My 13 complaints against one Daily Mail story

A front-page news story by the Daily Mail in January 2014 that buses and planes to Britain from Romania and Bulgaria were 'full-up and sold-out' was untrue. 

The newspaper asserted that planes and busloads of Romanians and Bulgarians were on their way to Britain in the New Year of 2014 because 'work restrictions' had been lifted.  But with the help of Romanian journalist, Alina Matis, we discovered 13 shocking errors or disputed facts in the story.  

Newspaper lies can cost lives

Heaven help anybody that the media or the government turns against – that’s what I told 'Russia Today' TV last year, but the interview was never broadcast.  Hardly surprising, really, since in Russia the media mostly is the government.  

In Russia, they don’t have a press regulator like we do. But is our system any better?

Peter Hitchens: Refugees not welcome

Peter Hitchens, in his column for The Mail, described refugees coming to Britain in terms of an invasion from which we need to protect our country. If we let them in, he wrote, it would be tantamount to giving the country away to “complete strangers” only because “it makes us feel good about ourselves”.

The 8 steps to genocide

• The Daily Mail: One step, two step...?

This is how the Daily Mail chose to portray asylum seekers this month. 

In the first cartoon, by the Mail's resident cartoonist, 'Mac' (Stanley McMurtry), a British couple are advised to tell asylum-seekers in a bed to ‘shove over’ to make room for them in a hotel temporarily accommodating people seeking asylum in the UK. 

Daily Express business model: selling prejudice and bigotry?

• Imagine Richard Desmond, owner of the Daily Express, pitching his business to the Dragons' Den

Imagine an imaginary scene in Dragons' Den, the popular BBC TV programme where millionaires decide if they'd like to invest in the business plans of 'wannabe' entrepreneurs.

And here comes Richard Desmond into the Den with an investment opportunity for his newspaper called the Daily Express. "So what’s your idea, Richard?" asks one of the Dragons.

Calais: Questions the Daily Mail must answer

The Mail on Sunday claimed that hundreds of migrants were 'illegally' entering Britain from Calais and 'being put up in hotels at taxpayers expense'. But was this entirely true? 

Yesterday I phoned the story’s reporter, Brendan Carlin, to ask him.

“I’ve got a plumbing emergency right now,” he responded. “My toilet’s blocked. Send me an email and I’ll try to answer your questions.”

Who says we don't need the Human Rights Act?

• Unprotected by Human Rights: the last 'British' prisoner in Guantanamo Bay

Who says we don't need the Human Rights Act? The government says, that’s who.

And yet.. it’s the government – and governments – against whom the Human Rights Act is supposed to defend us. Human rights law is only about protecting citizens of abuse by the State. 

And yet.. here we are, with the government of Britain – our State – wanting to reduce the very rights that would protect us from their abuse. And all seemingly with the explicit consent of large numbers of the population and the backing of much of the press.

Daily Express Fury About Illegal Immigrants

Today’s Daily Express front page headline screamed, ‘Fury over Britain’s 2m illegal migrants’.  

Yet, on closer scrutiny, the ‘fury’ should instead be about the Express’s careless journalism.  The ‘exclusive’ statistic, claimed the Express, came from 'think tank' Migration Watch – yet Migration Watch this morning denied this, and announced that they, “declined to cooperate in this story”.

The UK government described the Daily Express number of 'illegal migrants' as a 'guestimate' and fact-checking organisation, FullFact.org today reported that nobody actually knows the true statistic, but previous estimates put the number of illegal migrants in Britain at between 417,000 and 1.1 million. The FullFact headline read, 'Think tank says it didn't estimate Express '2 million illegal migrants' figure

Campaigning for a free and accountable press

Campaigning journalist, Jon Danzig, with actor, Hugh Grant

On Tuesday night at a private drinks reception in London hosted by the campaign group Hacked Off:  with actor Hugh Grant, who is supporting my complaint against the Daily Mail.