SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Crisis in British Journalism
Byline Times investigates media monopolies, their proximity to politicians, and how the punditocracy doesn’t hold power to account
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Jason Arday Again Cleared of Plagiarism as His Attackers Launch an ‘Independent Inquiry’
Backed by Reform UK megadonor Ben Delo, the Committee for Academic Freedom defended Arday’s accusers and has now commissioned a report into his appointment by Cambridge University
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The Media ‘Manufactured’ Millionaire Exodus From UK, Campaigners Tell IPSO in Open Letter
Eleven campaign groups write to the official regulator demanding an investigation, saying eight newspapers misrepresented a discredited study in their reporting
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Former Ofcom Standards Chief Condemns Watchdog’s ‘Two Tier’ Approach to GB News
Former regulator calls for a clampdown as Andy Burnham’s Government tells Byline Times that ministers are now ‘exploring what action to take’ about MPs like Nigel Farage double-jobbing as presenters on GB News
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The BBC’s Dangerous Attempt to Balance Truth With Lies
When you have one side lying and the other side trying to tell the truth, the BBC’s misguided approach to balance inevitably favours the liar, argues former BBC reporter and producer Patrick Howse
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Green Party Would Force Daily Mail Owner to Sell Up Papers
Zack Polanski’s party also backs plans to force media companies to operate under a licence granted by a regulator
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Times Higher Education, Sponsored by Orbán’s Hungary, Failed to Report James Orr Allegations
The publication signed a partnership with Viktor Orbán’s government and has since published no coverage of the allegations around a Cambridge academic and former Reform UK policy chief whose foundation receives Hungary-linked funding
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Rupert Murdoch Flew Kemi Badenoch and Her Deputy to Mediterranean for Summer Trips Worth £12,000
The Conservative leader and Alex Burghart MP held “off-site meetings” with the billionaire media mogul in August
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Nigel Farage Handed Platform by GB News to Defend Reform UK’s £72m Donations From Crypto Billionaires
“These donations are completely legal,” insisted the Reform UK leader as he used his first appearance as a GB News host for six months to dismiss all questions about where his party is getting its record-breaking funding from
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The BBC Is Just Nodding Along
The corporation’s news coverage has lost its soul as a bulwark against unaccountable power and extremism, writes a former BBC News producer
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Jason Arday: We Must Rage – Rage Against the Journalism of Cruelty
The death of the academic shows the casual conversion of humiliation into entertainment by a media running on monetised hate and cruelty
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Talk TV Host André Walker Found Guilty of Assaulting Climate Protester at Pro-Trump Dinner
Presenter at Rupert Murdoch-owned station assaulted protester and NHS doctor Kush Naker, a judge finds
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Zack Polanski Promotes Radical Plan to Break Up Britain’s ‘Billionaire Media’
Green leader throws weight behind Media Sovereignty Act campaign to stop press barons “literally buying democracy”
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Talk TV Presenter Dragged Climate Activist Into Room and Assaulted Him During Pro-Trump Dinner, Court Told
André Walker denies assault by beating over incident at Republicans Overseas gala dinner during Trump’s state visit to the UK
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News UK Keeps André Walker on Air Despite Talk Presenter’s Assault Trial Over Trump Dinner Clash
EXCLUSIVE: André Walker, accused of assault by beating over a clash with a Fossil Free London activist during the President’s state visit, continues to front shows for the Murdoch-owned station
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‘The BBC’s Ill-Conceived Cuts Sacrifice Journalists In Order To Save Managers’
The BBC is sacking journalists whilst leaving layers of largely superfluous and expensive management in place, argues former BBC reporter Patrick Howse
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Ofcom Taken to Court After Clearing Talk TV’s ‘Torrent of Transphobia’
The regulator is accused of allowing the Murdoch-owned station to “serve as a megaphone for billionaires to spread toxic lies and amplify dangerous, far-right rhetoric”
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Why the British Press Is Really Angry About the Government’s Planned Media ‘Prominence’ Law
Julian Petley on the real reasons why the right-wing press are so worried about plans to ensure online platforms prioritise trustworthy news over disinformation
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Whatever Happened to the Brexit Battalion Media Corps?
Ten years and six prime ministers on, Byline Times looks at the fate of Brexit’s most prominent media cheerleaders
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GB News Presenter Denied Racist Violence in Belfast Was a ‘Riot’ and Claimed ‘Not a House Has Been Burnt Down’
Bev Turner told her viewers that the Belfast violence amounted to mere ‘skirmishes’ despite hundreds of masked men terrorising migrants and ethnic minority people in the city
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Big Oil Employees Wrote Paper Behind Kemi Badenoch’s North Sea Fantasy
The Conservative leader and her media supporters used a new study as evidence to support her plan to increase drilling in the North Sea, without declaring who was really behind it
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Peter Mandelson, the New Statesman, and How the ‘Soft PR’ Sausage Gets Made
Mic Wright looks at evidence of backroom media wheeler dealing revealed in the recent tranche of documents released to Parliament
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Anger Over Oxford Union’s Tommy Robinson Invite Amid Suggestions of GB News Deal
The Union now denies that GB News— whose presenter Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg sits as a trustee of the Union’s governing charity — is set to film the far-right activist’s appearance, but concerns remain
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He Who Pays the Piper: The BBC, Tony Blair, Rishi Sunak and a Failure of Journalism
News organisations need to be much clearer about the potential conflicts of interests that surround the ‘interventions’ made by former politicians, argues Adam Bienkov
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How ‘Anonymous Quotes’ Are Used by Political Journalists and Spin Doctors to Deceive the Public
A startling admission by a Times journalist has revealed how political journalism and power really works in Westminster, reports Peter Oborne
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Times Journalist Reveals Westminster Fake News Scam
Stories quoting three sources can be nothing of the sort, according to the Times parliamentary sketch writer: they are all from the same person – a single Labour spin doctor
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Ofcom Upholds Met Office Complaint Against Talk TV for Claiming Forecaster ‘Made Up’ Temperature Data
Exclusive: Broadcast regulator censures now-sacked Mike Graham’s show for unfairness to Met Office in landmark case
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10,000 People Sign Official Petition Demanding Government End ‘Capture of UK Democracy by Media Billionaires’
Ministers will be forced to respond to the proposals for a new ‘Media Sovereignty Act’ after campaigners passed a key threshold
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The Political and Media Myopia That Has Paralysed Keir Starmer’s Government
Distorted and biased media coverage and short-sighted politics in Westminster have both prevented Starmer’s Government from reaching its potential, argues Professor Chris Painter
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GB News Hosts Reform UK and Conservative Politicians and Activists Posing as Ordinary Voters
The individuals were presented as ordinary members of the public, without informing viewers of their political affiliations, a new Byline Times investigation reveals
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Spinning on His Axel: The Right-Wing Politics of the Billionaire Businessman Taking Over the Telegraph
Julian Petley investigates what really motivates the German media mogul taking over Britain’s leading conservative broadsheet
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MattGPT: The Sorry Tale of Matt Goodwin’s AI-Assisted, Fake-Quote-Filled New Book
It turns out that even ChatGPT has a more stringent approach to accuracy than the former professor, Matt Goodwin, reports Mic Wright
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Daily Mail Forced to Correct Electric Car Price Claim After Misleading Readers
Self-appointed press regulator IPSO initially refused to investigate the paper, until polling suggested that nearly two-thirds of readers had been misled
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GB News Under Fire After Airing ‘White Genocide’ Conspiracy Theory From ‘Former Boris Johnson Aide’
Ofcom is under pressure to investigate after the channel promoted his claims that white Britons face demographic “genocide” by ethnic minorities who will “turn on” them
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Green Party’s Gorton and Denton Candidate Hannah Spencer Attacks the Media’s ‘Misogynistic’ Coverage of Her Campaign
“I’ve faced a lot of criticism for my appearance, my hair, my relationship status… all the things that I just haven’t seen about people like Matt Goodwin,” Spencer tells Byline Times
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Keir Starmer’s Labour Government Is Much Better Than the Media Admits
There is a deep disconnect between the Government’s actions to improve the country and its standing in the polls, argues Professor Chris Painter
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Daily Mail Trial: ‘My Every Move, Thought or Feeling Was Being Tracked and Monitored Just for the Mail to Make Money Out of It’
As Elizabeth Hurley and Prince Harry give evidence at the Mail trial, some wider themes and personalities emerge beyond the claims of illegality
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Daily Mail Trial: British People Say Press Standards Haven’t Improved Since Phone Hacking Scandal
As the Daily Mail goes on trial for alleged lawbreaking, a new poll finds seven-in-ten voters demand independent regulation of the press
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Daily Mail High Court Trial Casts Shadow Over Lord Rothermere’s Telegraph Bid
Allegations that the Mail engaged in phone hacking, landline tapping, burglaries, and the theft of medical records are threatening to derail its £500 million takeover of the Telegraph
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‘A Victim All Over Again’: The Mail Trial and the Murders of Stephen Lawrence and Daniel Morgan
Peter Jukes looks at how an ongoing High Court case plunges us back over thirty years to two murders in south‑east London and to a nexus of corrupt police officers and private investigators
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The ‘Pink Ladies’ Laundering Anti-Migrant Views Into the Mainstream
An anti-migrant movement backed by Reform and Conservative politicians and regularly invited onto news channels is funded by a far-right group and has platformed a Neo-Nazi activist
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Rachel Reeves and the Daily Mailification of the BBC
For all the focus on its supposed “left wing bias”, the BBC’s heavy coverage of Conservative allegations of dishonesty against Rachel Reeves shows how its political coverage is still largely led by the right-wing press
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BBC Apologises for Failing to Challenge ‘Dark Money’ Climate-Denial Lobbyist
EXCLUSIVE: BBC faces fresh allegations of bias after corporation admits interview with ‘Net Zero Watch’ lobbying chief Andrew Montford ‘fell below usual standards’
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Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say “Orwell would have enjoyed the irony” of the former Conservative minister’s appointment
