Just done a post in blog about Reading the Guradian.
Responds to Open Door today looking for reasons why readers complain about G take on Corbyn.
Mostly, I mention the way they use opposition to Brexit as a way to knock Corbyn, not covering what he has actually said. So I would like to go back to what happened during the referendum, how that was reported, the "soft coup" whatever you want to call it, how the G opinion supported this.
there is going to be news over the next few months but how did Brexit happen? Quite possibly the pressures and situations around now are similar to then. Many of the same people.
Today news Guardian mentions Labour strategic concern with working class voters who supported Leave. From the space given to Lord Adonis this is not a concern they consider news for the people they think are readers. Was it much the same during referendum? Corbyn arguments aimed at Labour voters or lost Labour voters. Alan Johnson, Lord Mandelson and others supporting lines from Cameron. Newspapers ignoring Corbyn or getting briefed for a blame game. Speculation obviously but there may be info somewhere.
Just that the Brexit decision seems so strange there must be an explanation as to why the media did such a bad job at explaining the downside. Failure to report what Corbyn was saying is part of this, so need to explore why knocking Corbyn is such a priority.
Monday, 20 August 2018
Monday, 13 August 2018
Links on Boris , Sky , and Tweet pressure
Trying to track what turns up on Twitter.
Starts with comment on Sky blog by Lewis Goodall about class in Britain, how it allows views such as from Boris to go unchallenged.
But the episode adverts to something else, something which though not shifting in the mantle of our politics, has long been an irreducible, solid part of its core: all that is important in these matters in Britain, is that you are powerful - that you can say what you like, as long as you're posh.
Evidence then from a wide range of media support.
Then you get @mediaGuido objecting and then @montie who remarks "Big Questions here for @SkyNewsHead"
So by the way, there have been recent statements by Rowan Atkinson and others about the value of free speech. So how often should line management get involved with opinion for journalists?
Anyway, my main question is still on looking back to the referendum and what happened. What was Boris allowed to get away with? Was there any journalism as in questions or review as to what he was saying and did it make sense? My memory suggests probably not.
Boris situation continues, maybe further clues as to who might have done better reporting and what actually happened.
=====================
Meanwhile I think Sky is able to resist this kind of pressure. BBC seems to think they have a duty to support HMG so EU is something of an enemy. Sky more likley to report facts such as lorries near Dover.
Starts with comment on Sky blog by Lewis Goodall about class in Britain, how it allows views such as from Boris to go unchallenged.
But the episode adverts to something else, something which though not shifting in the mantle of our politics, has long been an irreducible, solid part of its core: all that is important in these matters in Britain, is that you are powerful - that you can say what you like, as long as you're posh.
Evidence then from a wide range of media support.
Then you get @mediaGuido objecting and then @montie who remarks "Big Questions here for @SkyNewsHead"
So by the way, there have been recent statements by Rowan Atkinson and others about the value of free speech. So how often should line management get involved with opinion for journalists?
Anyway, my main question is still on looking back to the referendum and what happened. What was Boris allowed to get away with? Was there any journalism as in questions or review as to what he was saying and did it make sense? My memory suggests probably not.
Boris situation continues, maybe further clues as to who might have done better reporting and what actually happened.
=====================
Meanwhile I think Sky is able to resist this kind of pressure. BBC seems to think they have a duty to support HMG so EU is something of an enemy. Sky more likley to report facts such as lorries near Dover.
Tim, I think @ofcom need to investigate Sky News bias. When was the last time you saw Faisal Islam cover a positive Brexit story? How about Conway? Boulton? Allegretti?
This might work on the BBC. Something Brexit positive turns up so they have to find some balance?
Sunday, 12 August 2018
Draft for current Futurelearn course on British Empire
I am well into the time this course but dipping in and out. I did it previously in 2017. ( The stats on dropouts for a MOOC often ignore how people can dip back in again later or find something similar)
I think this is needed towards the end of August. Comments and suggestions welcome. Should be 300 words, getting too long already.
Blog is the first draft of journalism, history some weeks later. (Continental Drift book found in Blackwell's bookshop under Politics, not History)
I think this is needed towards the end of August. Comments and suggestions welcome. Should be 300 words, getting too long already.
Blog is the first draft of journalism, history some weeks later. (Continental Drift book found in Blackwell's bookshop under Politics, not History)
Legacy of British Empire
( draft for current course , updated from previous course Feb 2017 )
The present situation is part of European history and empires, the Dutch and Portuguese included. The financial aspect of the British Empire is now part of the USA dollar situation. So there is a wider context than first appears.
Public opinion is influenced by empire, notions of jingoism (UK) and exceptionalism (USA) for example. These seem to be less rational than could be shown as related to anything specific. Hitchcock remade the 39 Steps as North by North West , there was not much need to describe the external threat.
History as a subject can cross over with journalism or just speculation. The book Continental Drift by Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon describes UK policy on Europe up to the time of John Major. It shows how attitudes to Empire led to expectations of a role in Europe that turned out to be quite different to reality. The move towards leaving Europe has been based on an idea of “post-Geography” . Brexiteers such as Liam Fox see buccaneers as a role model. In the last year as the arrangements with the EU seem to be more complex than first claimed there has been a switch to more emphasis on issues around race and identity. Boris Johnson is now working with Steve Bannon on concerns around Islam.
How much sense the claims about the economy will make remains to be seen. It is possible that the British government is deluded, as are most of the newspapers and the public. Will a global market be less of a threat for the “just about managing”? It is not yet possible to discuss this as history but whatever happens will be explained as part of a longer story. Possibly the post imperial idea of a Global Britain will fail but the blame will be sorted out by a retreat to a culture that could still be explained through imperial history.
Some links to clarify what was in my original text, based on comments
"post-Geography" is a term used by Liam Fox. It might be futurist but I think it looks back to a previous time for UK options.
https://www.ft.com/content/e456c008-8642-11e6-8897-2359a58ac7a5
Hitchcock continued Buchan themes in film from novels. The course included the adventure stories in print. Hitchcock developed repeated ideas in USA from UK and they fit with Empire and Cold War.
More about Continental Drift
Intro as free PDF
Full info
You have to fill in the gaps towards the end. But it is clear enough about the Empire expectations post WW2 and the early approach to Europe from Heath and Wilson.
========
Back to Corbyn and Referendum - What Happened?
Current phase of tweets etc around Corbyn and racism is taking up too much time to check out facts. Still important but I think I will go back to the referendum time and try to work out more about what happened. It may turn out to be one continuing story.
Stephen Bush in the Sunday Times speculates that some centrist Labour MPs have changed their point of view. Just after Corbyn was elected leader they thought there was enough time to wait for him to fail. But recently there are more Corbyn supporters joining as members. So some sort of new party is possible.
I am trying to find out more about "United For Change" . I am following them on Twitter. No clues yet on who is connected.
But what about "Saving Labour" ? This was a massive social media presence during the second leadership election. Still not much info on who was organising it. The main decisions about how Labour was organised for the referendum were taken before Corbyn became leader. It appears he did not have complete influence on the statements being made. the "blame Corbyn" trope came in a press release very rapidly after the result. Mandelson was quite keen to follow the Cameron lead even though upset by a lack of defence against misinformation. When the latter polls looked dodgy Cameron made space for Labour which turned out to include Lord Darling sharing a platform with Osborne. My guess is this was less convincing than had Corbyn been better reported for arguments based on worker rights and environment.
So I hope to go back to some of this. There may be clues on which MPs and journalists were concerned with different outcomes.
Continuing queries
Channel 4 blocked Corbyn from using complete clips from Last Resort. why? Anyone got a copy?
Thing is, for those worried about Brexit, and Corbyn "Fudge" as claimed by @BBCnews paper review yesterday evening, what he said in referendum is worth quoting. He did campaign for Remain, whatever version of history suits the people who need an issue to contest around him.
Two heckles reported by BBC seem to be not from upset Labour supporters but from Lib Dems and Portland. Has this been checked out? Where is Newsnight getting info or leads?
The Shadow Cabinet resignations started with reports in Observer and Sunday Times that Hilary Benn had no confidence in Corbyn. No way he could continue though this was later reported as "sacked in the middle of the night". What was the source of the story?
new one
Gavin Esler recently writing about the poor reporting on Brexit so far. He probably cannot go into detail about the BBC but maybe info will emerge around how things worked out. I got the impression that there was pressure from both sides in government. So reports tended to be a collection of conflicting statements with no way to judge any assessment. Left little space for Corbyn or other views.
Seems much the same at the moment. Reading the Observer today you would think that this week Corbyn has no way to exist. But probably something continues.
Stephen Bush in the Sunday Times speculates that some centrist Labour MPs have changed their point of view. Just after Corbyn was elected leader they thought there was enough time to wait for him to fail. But recently there are more Corbyn supporters joining as members. So some sort of new party is possible.
I am trying to find out more about "United For Change" . I am following them on Twitter. No clues yet on who is connected.
But what about "Saving Labour" ? This was a massive social media presence during the second leadership election. Still not much info on who was organising it. The main decisions about how Labour was organised for the referendum were taken before Corbyn became leader. It appears he did not have complete influence on the statements being made. the "blame Corbyn" trope came in a press release very rapidly after the result. Mandelson was quite keen to follow the Cameron lead even though upset by a lack of defence against misinformation. When the latter polls looked dodgy Cameron made space for Labour which turned out to include Lord Darling sharing a platform with Osborne. My guess is this was less convincing than had Corbyn been better reported for arguments based on worker rights and environment.
So I hope to go back to some of this. There may be clues on which MPs and journalists were concerned with different outcomes.
Continuing queries
Channel 4 blocked Corbyn from using complete clips from Last Resort. why? Anyone got a copy?
Thing is, for those worried about Brexit, and Corbyn "Fudge" as claimed by @BBCnews paper review yesterday evening, what he said in referendum is worth quoting. He did campaign for Remain, whatever version of history suits the people who need an issue to contest around him.
Two heckles reported by BBC seem to be not from upset Labour supporters but from Lib Dems and Portland. Has this been checked out? Where is Newsnight getting info or leads?
The Shadow Cabinet resignations started with reports in Observer and Sunday Times that Hilary Benn had no confidence in Corbyn. No way he could continue though this was later reported as "sacked in the middle of the night". What was the source of the story?
new one
Gavin Esler recently writing about the poor reporting on Brexit so far. He probably cannot go into detail about the BBC but maybe info will emerge around how things worked out. I got the impression that there was pressure from both sides in government. So reports tended to be a collection of conflicting statements with no way to judge any assessment. Left little space for Corbyn or other views.
Seems much the same at the moment. Reading the Observer today you would think that this week Corbyn has no way to exist. But probably something continues.
Sunday, 29 July 2018
Canary Story basis for long format next May
The Trump and Brexit story has been coming together. Still some missing bits on possible Russia connection but a lot on social media advertising. I still think the newspapers had more influence in the UK than is being mentioned at the moment. But some comparison stats my yet turn up.
The Canary reports on UK response to a Reuters report that Steve Bannon intends to be active in EU elections next year. and that he is in contact with Boris, Gove and Farage. Canary notes that Dan Hodges has reservations about the links. He tweets " What the hell are Johnson, Mogg and Gove doing palling around with this guy. Johnson and Mogg I can sort of understand, they're just opportunists. But Gove? ".
This blog can look back on what different people have said since Brexit started. The gap between official and unofficial Leave campaigns was not that great as reported. Gove has worked as a Times journalist, including a Trump interview.
Probably UK will be out of EU in time for the elections. But still plenty of media comment, one would imagine. Possible news angles to rework previous posts as background.
The Canary reports on UK response to a Reuters report that Steve Bannon intends to be active in EU elections next year. and that he is in contact with Boris, Gove and Farage. Canary notes that Dan Hodges has reservations about the links. He tweets " What the hell are Johnson, Mogg and Gove doing palling around with this guy. Johnson and Mogg I can sort of understand, they're just opportunists. But Gove? ".
This blog can look back on what different people have said since Brexit started. The gap between official and unofficial Leave campaigns was not that great as reported. Gove has worked as a Times journalist, including a Trump interview.
Probably UK will be out of EU in time for the elections. But still plenty of media comment, one would imagine. Possible news angles to rework previous posts as background.
Wednesday, 18 July 2018
BBC R4 Today and National Government
Need more space than a tweet. Just to check what I think I heard was right. Was half asleep for most of it but I think today the Today prog included both sides of the Brexit argument, that is Remain and Cabinet inside the Conservative Party. Closes with discussion of National Government as suggested by Remain. But nothing from the Labour Party, either front bench or supposed to be closer to Anna Soubry.
Unless I fell asleep and missed it this seems to me to confirm an impression of how the BBC covers Brexit. They were under two lots of pressure during referendum, both Conservative. Partly because of the views of most of the PLP at the time there was very little reporting of what Jeremy Corbyn actually said. Mandelson then as now sticks to trade and economy. He is right about the disaster but my point is that just backing up Cameron did not persuade anyone.
Dutch MP seems about right on high chance of a "chaos Brexit" , not as a choice from anyone but because Rees-Mogg and others can disrupt any sort of process. Many see some cross party opposition to this. But the danger meanwhile is that most of the country, the left behind, the just about managing, the north and midlands are left out of the picture. Persuading them requires attention to the issues Corbyn raised in the referendum. On Sunday Politics a Labour MP started to talk about worker rights and environment protection and was very quickly wound up."Please don't go through the six tests again" , sorry can't remember the name, will check later.
So BBC seems to follow the newspapers, mostly a debate between Conservatives, maybe the Guardian with a guest Anna Soubry fan from various sources. Am I being unfair? time will tell.
"chaos Brexit" may well happen before an election. At some point in time the wider electorate opinion will matter. Corbyn is part of a discussion. Suggest he be allowed space, not bashed about by Remain fans. If he is on the Today prog he may be allowed time to explain something before an editor arrives to tell us that actually the Labour Party is confused.
Unless I fell asleep and missed it this seems to me to confirm an impression of how the BBC covers Brexit. They were under two lots of pressure during referendum, both Conservative. Partly because of the views of most of the PLP at the time there was very little reporting of what Jeremy Corbyn actually said. Mandelson then as now sticks to trade and economy. He is right about the disaster but my point is that just backing up Cameron did not persuade anyone.
Dutch MP seems about right on high chance of a "chaos Brexit" , not as a choice from anyone but because Rees-Mogg and others can disrupt any sort of process. Many see some cross party opposition to this. But the danger meanwhile is that most of the country, the left behind, the just about managing, the north and midlands are left out of the picture. Persuading them requires attention to the issues Corbyn raised in the referendum. On Sunday Politics a Labour MP started to talk about worker rights and environment protection and was very quickly wound up."Please don't go through the six tests again" , sorry can't remember the name, will check later.
So BBC seems to follow the newspapers, mostly a debate between Conservatives, maybe the Guardian with a guest Anna Soubry fan from various sources. Am I being unfair? time will tell.
"chaos Brexit" may well happen before an election. At some point in time the wider electorate opinion will matter. Corbyn is part of a discussion. Suggest he be allowed space, not bashed about by Remain fans. If he is on the Today prog he may be allowed time to explain something before an editor arrives to tell us that actually the Labour Party is confused.
Monday, 16 July 2018
Guardian on UK newspapers and Trump
I have done a post in the readG blog as it started with Guardian today, comments by Roy Greenslade and Matthew d'Ancona.
With this blog I will be going back to what happened in the referendum and the issues that were raised. I do not think the Brexit / Trump links just started a few weeks ago.
Many things are impossible to measure. My guess is that UK newspapers have an older readership but not much info available. Circulation declines quite large for Mirror group but have the readers moved online? where?
The newspapers were still strong in 2016, social media had more influence in the 2017 election. But now the newspapers and social media will work together. Leav.EU , Breitbart London, Westmonster, for example. So far I have done some retweets with comments. In future I will just put screenshots in this blog.
Slightly off topic, Guardian could report Corbyn differently if they really wanted to shake up the UK news scene. Just my opinion. More or less on topic as the limited reporting of Corbyn during the referendum could be a large part of the explanation of how other ideas gained strength.
With this blog I will be going back to what happened in the referendum and the issues that were raised. I do not think the Brexit / Trump links just started a few weeks ago.
Many things are impossible to measure. My guess is that UK newspapers have an older readership but not much info available. Circulation declines quite large for Mirror group but have the readers moved online? where?
The newspapers were still strong in 2016, social media had more influence in the 2017 election. But now the newspapers and social media will work together. Leav.EU , Breitbart London, Westmonster, for example. So far I have done some retweets with comments. In future I will just put screenshots in this blog.
Slightly off topic, Guardian could report Corbyn differently if they really wanted to shake up the UK news scene. Just my opinion. More or less on topic as the limited reporting of Corbyn during the referendum could be a large part of the explanation of how other ideas gained strength.
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