If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Malcom x
Mapping the Establishment – Elitism Among the Top 100 UK Journalists
Exclusive research from The Free Press reveals that the top 100 UK journalists are deeply embedded in the British Establishment, with family ties, private education, Oxbridge attendance and six-figure salaries elevating them far above the UK average.
Read Full ArticleINVISIBLE HANDS: MAGGIE’S MILITANT TENDENCY
This article will trace the career trajectory of former members of the notorious Federation of Conservative Students. Proscribed by the Tory leadership in the 1980s, “Maggie’s Militant Tendency” were so called due to their reverence for Thatcher and their perceived entryist agenda, that mirrored the tactics of the left-wing organisation the Militant Tendency.
Continue reading “INVISIBLE HANDS: MAGGIE’S MILITANT TENDENCY”INVISIBLE HANDS: UK TELECOM ASTROTURF OFFENSIVE IN CORPORATE CIVIL WAR
A US based telecommunications investment company, that could lose millions of pounds in revenue under rule changes to the mobile phone mast renting system in the UK, has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds creating, managing and financing an astroturf campaign to put political pressure on the government to halt the reforms.
Continue reading “INVISIBLE HANDS: UK TELECOM ASTROTURF OFFENSIVE IN CORPORATE CIVIL WAR”INVISIBLE HANDS: DARK MONEY ANTI-LGBTQ+ CAMPAIGN SHROUDED IN SECRECY
An evangelical organisation, founded by a Trump-supporting Nigerian cleric who describes homosexuality as “abominable”, has been running a dark money campaign on UK Facebook promoting an explicitly conservative religious agenda.
Continue reading “INVISIBLE HANDS: DARK MONEY ANTI-LGBTQ+ CAMPAIGN SHROUDED IN SECRECY”A Questionable Time: BBC Question Time Guest Selection in 2021
BBC Question Time is arguably the foremost political panel discussion in the UK. The programme first aired in 1979 and, while viewing figures have declined in recent years, it continues to enjoy audiences around the million mark and above.
According to the programme’s official website, “Question Time aims to select a panel with a broad range of views, knowledge and experience”.
Is this the case?
Our previous study on Question Time guest selection bias took a close look at 10 episodes and concluded that the privately-educated, Oxbridge graduates and top-10% UK earners were among the groups heavily over-represented on the panel.
We have now gone a step further and studied an entire year of the programme – all 39 episodes that aired in 2021 – to obtain a full overview.
Our findings make for interesting reading…
Only 2 trade unionists/worker representatives appeared on Question Time in 2021, compared with 27 employers/employer representatives
Only 3 journalists who primarily work for left-wing outlets appeared on Question Time in 2021, compared with 20 journalists who primarily work for right-wing outlets
Millionaires, the privately-educated and Oxbridge graduates were also grotesquely over-represented in 2021
Read on for our findings in full…
Read Full ArticleINVISIBLE HANDS: THE OPAQUE CAMPAIGN TARGETING UK SCHOOLS BILL
An anonymous online campaign, which has initiated a formal legal challenge to the proposed Schools Bill, is being funded by a prominent leader of a conservative religious community.
Scrap The Schools Bill, a campaign that appeared on social media platforms at the start of September 2022, has so far spent over £2000 on ads targeting UK Facebook users. None of the online material for STSB discloses who is responsible for funding or managing the group’s activities.
Continue reading “INVISIBLE HANDS: THE OPAQUE CAMPAIGN TARGETING UK SCHOOLS BILL”God Save Our Gracious State-Affiliated Media
“Please take this moment to study, really study, the journalists working for the BBC, ITV and Ch4. Do they seem like fearless, independent, objective observers of the world, or more like fawning courtiers? This is the moment when the mask slips. Drink it in deeply.”
Former Guardian journalist, Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook), tweeted the above shortly after the death of the Queen. The airwaves and big media news pages were already awash with comically one-dimensional coverage.
Would a truly free press greet the death of someone appointed head of state by birth-right, granted ludicrous titles like “Her Majesty” and wealth the rest of us can only dream of (some of it used to pay a seven-figure settlement in a sex case brought against her son), with on-their-knees adulation? In the 21st century?
Read Full ArticleLORD PING AND MIKE GRAHAM: GAMBLING WITH OUR FUTURE?
A gambling website has had over £800 worth of advertising removed by Facebook after violating rules regarding ads with political or social issue content.
Lord Ping posted 4 ads featuring gadfly journalist Mike Graham in which he lectured viewers on a variety of political and social issues in video blogs titled “Lord Ping’s Opinions”. These ads failed to run with a disclaimer identifying any individuals responsible for the ads, a direct violation of FB policy. The Lord Ping site has since removed two further ads (after we flagged them to FB) which promoted articles from their “Opinions” blog. These were not listed as containing social issue content, and again failed to run with a disclaimer.
Continue reading “LORD PING AND MIKE GRAHAM: GAMBLING WITH OUR FUTURE?”Conservative Voice Ltd: Inside An Agenda-Setting Machine
Following Boris Johnson’s resignation as leader of the Conservative Party, a prominent campaign group that claims to be “a place for the grassroots to make themselves heard” has begun polling its members about who should replace him. Conservative Voice, like many other Tory organisations, are now scrambling to influence the direction of the party. The group itself has registered funding from only one wealthy Conservative donor, and is run by Thatcherite party activists and pro-Brexit, think-tank alumni.
Continue reading “Conservative Voice Ltd: Inside An Agenda-Setting Machine”The Maleficent Seven: Who Will Labour Aristocracy Choose To Replace Starmer?
Despite Partygate. Despite the Covid contracts. Despite Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol. Despite a spiralling cost of living crisis and a vote of no confidence from within his own party, a recent Observer poll found that UK voters still think Boris Johnson is a better Prime Minister than Keir Starmer would be.
Continue reading “The Maleficent Seven: Who Will Labour Aristocracy Choose To Replace Starmer?”
The Free Press? 