Following on from Observer editorial there are some signs that Guardian Media Group has shifted to support Corbyn plan for caretaker role but so slight and grudging I doubt it will shift anything. Polly Yoynbee today "By all means list all his failings" this takes several paragraphs till eventually "hold your nose" and back Corbyn. Just seems to me that moving on to back someone else is where her energy is going, just based on the word count.
Report on Corbyn speech page nine, one column of ten on double page spread. Winning in the Commons is not easy. Takes support in some media. Compare Sun and Telegraph for how to be negative.
I will go back to this later. Spending more time on TV / video as relating to Twitter. Couple of clips recently uploaded.
My guess is that most of the UK newspapers are now with the Conservatives. Guardian mostly LibDem. Support / reliable news about Corbyn will be online. Twitter possibly compromised by advert budgets. But something continues within this. @will789gb so probably quick links there ane posts here less often.
Also going back in time. i am still interested in what happened during the referendum. it relates to what might happen over the next few months.
Page 10 , suggestion that Lee Cain , Director of Communications at No 10, considers the Today show on BBC Radio 4 a "total waste of time".
Quote from Dominic Cummings "I never listened to the Today programme for the entire year of the referendum and I intend to repeat this while I am here."
Reporters Harry Cole and James Heale recall that in 1987 Nigel Lawson claimed that Brian Redhead voted Labour.
My guess is that more recently it has been more Conservative friendly. Make up your own mind. Joke follows. John Humphries chats to Kenneth Clarke, calm returns to UK as most go back to sleep.
Recently I did hear Mishal Husain query claims from Dominic Raab about No Deal and the referendum. She stated what I remember - that No Deal was not the offer during the actual referendum. But I think challenges on facts are still unusual on the BBC.
Time will tell. The newspapers seem to be taking fairly fixed positions. Several will support "do or die" until circulation comes to an end. Broadcast media have a choice. They could ask questions and check facts.
Maybe more frequent posts, I am buying more newspapers and finding odd things.
Mail on Sunday p29 photo of Christopher Lee and news that Corbyn has been on holiday in Transylvania. Also he met with Celtic fans going to a Champions League qualifier. They managed to find him some free tickets.
Apparently he cheered for Celtic during the match but did not join fans later to drink and sing in nearby Irish bars.
However there is a claim that a tweet reveals Corbyn knew every verse of Broad Black Brimmer. According to the Mail on Sunday this is a pro IRA song "sometimes sung by Celtic fans".
The Mail on Sunday has a quote from a Labour spokesman - 'I think it's a wind-up. It's absolutely not the case.'
Also it seems likely singing such songs would have happened later in the evening when in another part of the story it is stated that Corbyn chose not to join the fans in the pub.
Anyway, what would the world be like if MPs were reluctant to go on holiday in case they met Celtic fans who might start to sing?
Seems a good time to pay more attention for this blog. After yesterday it turns out the Observer is giving Corbyn some space and consideration. Direct quotes on front page and an editorial including
....Corbyn’s offer deserves the most constructive response possible from MPs who have the national interest as their prime concern. It does not require non-Labour MPs to act as if they are endorsing his socialism or to suspend their distrust of him and his policies. Rather, it is to back a short-term bridge government whose sole purpose is to organise a general election, with new political options and a fresh electoral mandate. The reflex reaction of the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, to initially dismiss the initiative was wrong. It is good she has partially climbed down as politically adeptly as possible given her earlier misstep. But touting Ken Clarke and Harriet Harman as joint leaders of a parallel initiative should be seen for what it is: cover for her climbdown.
I cannot remember anything this close to common sense in the Observer since Corby was elected leader.
I have not posted for a while but there have been tweets ( @will789gb ) However tweets getting out of control for time so return to blog. Scope of tweets now intended to be mostly about media bias. I am obviously pro Corbyn in my views but coming back to this blog it started as a look at the UK newspapers.
Now more about television, radio as well as social media. Most of the relevant clips from telly now appear online as well. Some from 2016 also turn up. Newspaper circulation has declined but #BBC still regards them as setting the agenda. ( Maybe helps to put Conservative views to an outside source, some would say ) .
Thinking about what happened in the referendum, why it concluded with a Leave result, I keep coming back to how Corbyn was reported. See previous posts. The people who have not had benefits from globalisation are not shown arguments from Labour so the UKIP message has more space. Needs more development but meanwhile recent example of Corbyn proposing motion of no confidence.
He wrote a letter to explain his intention, including a pause on Brexit, an election and a referendum with remain as an option. My take, this is news. He is the official leader of the opposition. As much as anything in the UK is normal he would expect first option on forming a government if motion of no confidence is passed.
So how has this been reported? I think there was moe clear attention for Caroline Lucas proposing an all female cabinet. My guess Yvette Cooper rather than Dianne Abbott to keep things in the centre. Guardian quite keen on this.
Jo Swinson quick to reject Corbyn proposal and suggests Ken Clarke or Harriet Harman instead. My guess on listening to radio is that neither had been asked before the announcement. But Harman reported in Sun as if she was in favour. Later Clarke on BBC Radio 4 PM accepts the task if on offer.
Last night papers review somehow IEA had info Harriet Harman proposed as "Deputy" for Clarke. Where did this come from? No dispute from official BBC news person. Has Harman made any staement about this sort of thing one way or another? Can Swinson just suggest facts and hope they turn out to be so?
This morning in Telegraph "Clarke steals the spotlight from Corbyn" , very true based on #BBC balance.
Guardian reports hopes fade for alliance against no-deal. But into the text finds Sadiq Khan in full support of Corbyn. Maybe this should not be news but well worth a mention in a subheading, some would say.
Journal pages as found online , Marina Hyde not convinced about the unity project but there is a photo of Jo Swinson with Sarah Wollaston and Chuka Umunna .
Jeremy Corbyn is touting a vanity project
That is pretty much the full extent of how much detail on his proposal.
There is also opinion from Owen Jones, few pages in on the print version. Click on "more" online then scroll down. This includes the claim-
....it falls to the leader of the opposition, who has twice won a democratic mandate from his party membership and whose party won 40% of the vote just two years ago, to construct an alternative government.
That is what I thought. This is why Corbyn letter and views should be reported. In my honest opinion the media bias has gone so far that the reality of the facts are no longer reported.
Consider this still from Twitter
Seems to be the case that a motion of no confidence would come from Corbyn. Sun , Newsnight and Jo Swinson would try to switch to Ken Clarke or someone reliable.
So more links etc to follow. But meanwhile could go back to the very beginning. Around 2016, assuming Harriet Harman will surface at some point and answer some questions. How was it set up for Labour to be organised during the referendum? When did Corbyn get influence on how media are informed? If he ever did. ( Seems far fetched but the way the Observer turns out one has to wonder where their info comes from , continues tomorrow )
So if this is how Corbyn is reported now on a news item that has some solid interest, is it any wonder he was not well reported during the referendum?
Also, if BBC and Guardian are so close to the main concerns of most of the newspapers, should we look to social media for reliable news. Or outside the UK? Bloomberg for a bit of reality on business, RTE for news from EU. Owen Jones probably on Twitter sometime before arriving in print. But very welcome of course. 5% of the content may be enough to make sense of the rest of it
