The corporate newspapers are playing their full part in the corruption of the UK and they are being handsomely rewarded, says Brian Cathcart
We all see the favours the corporate newspapers do for the Conservatives because they are written in large type every day – distractions, distortions, plain lies and cynical omissions. While pumping out propaganda in print and online, they can be seen to be routinely shielding chosen ministers from criticism.
Less obvious are the favours our Government bestows upon the press in return.
This corrupt game of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ is continuous, with never a thought given to what best serves the public. Naturally, the newspapers don’t draw attention to their bungs.
So here are some the of favours that recent Conservative governments have done for the corporate press – a list that is by no means exhaustive.
1. Ending Murdoch’s Obligation of Non-Interference
The most recent case in point was Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries ending Rupert Murdoch’s 41-year-old obligation not to interfere editorially in the work of The Times and The Sunday Times.
This wasn’t really about political meddling, of course, because Murdoch has always been allowed to act as if the obligation did not exist. It was a commercial favour, because absolving him of the undertakings he gave when buying the two newspapers in 1981 leaves him free to merge them more closely (in all likelihood, sacking journalists as he does so) and to make more money.
Dorries has no thought here for protecting the diversity of the press – it’s all about pleasing Rupert.
2. Online Disinformation Exemption
The Government is exempting newspapers from the most important effects of the Online Safety Bill, despite their known record of spreading disinformation and hate speech on social media and on the web.
In response to industry lobbying, newspapers have been granted an exclusion from the principal measures intended to protect the public on the spurious grounds that they are already “regulated” – even though the press self-regulator IPSO is a notorious and obvious sham that never investigates, never imposes meaningful sanctions and dismisses most complaints.
3. Attack on the Right of Privacy
The Government intends to reduce our privacy rights in response to the demands of a corporate press furious that it is prevented from intruding more into people’s lives.
Following the legal victory of the Duchess of Sussex over the Mail on Sunday in a privacy and copyright case, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab promised the press that he would “correct” what he called a “drift towards continental-style privacy laws”.
4. Multimillion-Pound COVID Subsidy
Since the Coronavirus crisis began, the Government has been paying a special subsidy to the big newspaper groups. Explicitly identified as “support” for the industry, it takes the form of an advertising deal called ‘All In, All Together’, comprising public service messages and articles more or less labelled as Government-funded.
Neither side will say how much taxpayers’ money this has cost, but the budget was £35 million for the first three months and the campaign has been running for 22 months.
The beneficiaries are almost exclusively wealthy corporations that did not need the money, while independent, innovative local news publishers that are most threatened by the pandemic have received almost nothing.
5. Undermining the BBC
By freezing the