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
Complaint to the BBC on Rigged Question Time Panels!
We write to complain about blatant selection bias for non-politician panellists on Question Time over the past three weeks.
Continue reading “Complaint to the BBC on Rigged Question Time Panels!”Complaint to the BBC on Newsnight’s “Hard Left” Slur
We write to complain about non-impartial use of language during the Newsnight programme broadcast on the 21st of September 2021.
On three occasions the presenter of the show, Emily Maitlis, used the term “hard left” to refer to a sector of the Labour Party, inferring then making explicit that Jeremy Corbyn belongs to said “hard left”.
Read Full ArticleLabour Renaissance – The Magnate Tendency
On the 20th July 2021, the Labour Party National Executive Committee passed a resolution to proscribe four Socialist organisations: Socialist Appeal, Labour In Exile Network, Resist and Labour Against The Witch-Hunt. Anti-Corbyn activists, such as the Jewish Labour Movement, claimed that “membership of these [Socialist] groups is incompatible with Labour’s values”.
In August, the Party went a step further and began expelling those who did not support the purge, including renowned Socialist filmmaker Ken Loach, who stated on Twitter that ‘Labour HQ finally decided I’m not fit to be a member of their party, as I will not disown those already expelled.”
Continue reading “Labour Renaissance – The Magnate Tendency”Afghanistan: US Carnage and Corporate Media Cuddles
Picture the scene: August 29th, Kabul. Ezmarai Ahmadi, an engineer for an NGO, returns home from work. His children and nephews, excited by his return, pour out of the house to greet him and to play inside the car. Moments later a high-powered missile, fired from an unmanned United States drone, strikes the car. Ahmadi is killed, along with seven children and two other adults.
How would a free press report such an atrocity? The Daily Mail, card carrying member of the UK corporate media, quickly showed how they wouldn’t. “A cuddle amidst the carnage” declared their 30th August front page beneath a picture of a US Military servicewoman cradling an Afghan child.
Continue reading “Afghanistan: US Carnage and Corporate Media Cuddles”Complaint Against Kuenssberg – Escalated!
It is now over seven months since we complained to the BBC about Laura Kuenssberg’s appalling coverage of Keir Starmer’s decision to deny the parliamentary whip to Jeremy Corbyn (News at Ten, 17/11/2020).
The BBC’s initial reply referred to a different article to the one we’d complained about (!!) and flatly denied Laura Kuenssberg had stated “When the (EHRC) report came out, Mr Corbyn said it had been exaggerated.”
We replied with a link to the correct article, attributed to Laura Kuenssberg, which unequivocally states “When the report came out, Mr Corbyn suggested it had all been exaggerated.” (underline shows that what Laura K said was even worse than what the BBC denied she’d said!)
We then heard nothing from the BBC for…3 months. When we chased them we were told they “hadn’t received” our response and were sent two further letters blaming a subsequent delay in responding on Covid.
We thought we’d update you on what has happened since and our escalation of the complaint. Full transparency and social media support for the complaint can only help so we’d appreciate any shares of this article – especially on social media with @BBCNEWS tagged in!
Continue reading “Complaint Against Kuenssberg – Escalated!”Exposed: The 9 Foundational Lies of GB News
GB News launched on Sunday 13th June with a declaration of intent from chairman and lead presenter Andrew Neil. Among other things, Neil proclaimed that the channel would give “voice to those who have felt sidelined or even silenced in our great national debates” and would cover “the people’s agenda.”
Neil has since taken a break from the channel, admitting to a “rocky start” (some of the funniest gaffes and technical mix-ups from the first few weeks are documented here), but GB News ploughs on – now with less taking the knee and more Nigel Farage!
As the mask slips further, revealing something that looks more and more like Fox News, we revisit Andrew Neil’s opening speech and pick apart the contradictions.
Read Full ArticleInvisible Hands: The Unionist-Neoliberal Complex
In the 18th Century, the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and “father of economics” Adam Smith first described the “invisible hand” of the free market. Smith believed this was a benevolent force, a natural corrective in the capitalist system that meant those who had accumulated wealth would be (subconsciously) compelled to redistribute some of that wealth to those who had not.
During the campaigns for the 2021 Scottish parliamentary elections, the presence of another invisible hand could be felt. The opaque activities of several Free Market acolytes, many of whom also actively crusaded against Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, betrayed a less benevolent agenda in their attempts to influence voters and neutralise the SNP and independence movement.
In Scotland in 2021, the invisible hand was wielded as a fist.
Read Full ArticleNo Go Area: The Daily Mail and Islamophobia
With a GB News presenter describing England fans who boo taking to the knee as “not racist”, and the MailOnline labelling towns in Britain with Muslim communities as “no-go areas for white people,” British media is becoming more weighted to the right, setting a dangerous precedent for Islamophobia and racism to thrive, writes Free Press guest contributor Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead.
Continue reading “No Go Area: The Daily Mail and Islamophobia”Anyone But England: Is the Media to Blame?
Scotland and Wales may be out of Euro 2020 but the tournament is far from over for many of their fans. There’s plenty still to root for – every remaining team that plays against England!
According to a YouGov poll carried out in 2018 “15 per cent of (Scottish) football fans say they will support the England team…while 28 per cent will back any country playing against them”.
Both founders of The Free Press are from Scotland and we can tell you that those numbers are probably a significant underestimate of Anyone But England (ABE) sentiment above the border.
Read Full ArticleIt’s a Man’s Game: Female Objectification at the Euros
Euro 2020 is up and running, a year late and with the usual gloss of corporate marketing and largely sterile games.
Diversity is to the fore of this year’s event. Players take the knee before matches (sometimes to boos, nice one England!) while UEFA’s official site promotes #equalgame, with Chelsea Ladies player Pernille Harder flying the flag for women’s football.
The Free Press would suggest that you do not need to look far beneath the surface to see that football is still very much a “man’s game”.
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