on media Raymond Snoddy surveys damage from immigration stories


Take a stand against post-truth politics


I


n the new world of “post-truth politics” of Trump and Brexit resonating endlessly in the echo chamber of


social media, it becomes difficult to be surprised by anything any more. Yet even in times such as these,


the creation of Hanbury Strategy, a PR company offering a “unique perspective on Brexit”, is a little special. In this case “unique” is not an


overstatement. The company will be offering “a lot of Brexit intelligence and Brexit insight”. Its founders are Vote Leave’s


communications director Paul Stephenson, who also worked on Michael Gove’s brief bid for the premiership, and David Cameron’s long-term adviser Ameet Gill. Stephenson is obviously extremely proud of his unique achievements with Brexit. By the referendum, he boasts, people were talking about their “simple messages” such as the £350 million a week that went out from the UK to the EU and Turkey joining the EU by 2020. “We used language people could use in the street or in the pub,” Stephenson told PR Week without apparent irony. He is happy to tout for business by highlighting the grossest of exaggerations separated by a millimetre from being outright lies. The “simple” message misled many of the poorest in the land, who will now face the slow-motion consequences over years and possibly decades. Post-truth PR.


Gill will be in a unique position to explain Cameron’s wretchedly negative campaign, which thought “project fear” would be so much more effective than trying to explain the merits of the EU.


 There were the small matters of


helping to keep the peace in Europe for 70 years, integrating former communist dictatorships and the contribution the free movement of labour has made to economic development across Western Europe. The creation of Hanbury Strategy is only an amusing symptom of present times. There is a m serious charge sheet against n newspaper journalists w r y


ssWestern Europe. Hanbury Strategy g symptom of


re is a much more et against national ists who have been


involved, year after year, in demonising immigrants and minorities and the EU that was responsible for it all.


minorities and the EU le for it all.


Since 2010, the Daily Express hDaily Express has splashed on migration issues on at least 179 occasions and the Daily Mailand the Daily Mail is not that far behind on 122. The vast majority of the stories are nega hammering home the message that blem.


tion issues on a


nd on 122. The vast ries are negative, the message that


migration is a problem.


For the latest updates from Raymond Snoddy on Twitterter follow @raymondsnoddy


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theJournalist | 19


In contrast, the Daily MirrorDaily Mirror has led on “migration”ion” stories on just three occasions – in September a year ago. They covered the heart-stopping images of the death of A Kurdi and the deaths of four refugee babies.


ions – in ago. They stopping h of Aylan hs of s.


The ‘simple’ message misled many of the poorest in the land, who now face the slow-motion consequences


We are indebted to Liz Gerard, the retired night editor of The Times, who has made a detailed study of national newspapers’ coverage of migration via their front pages and the serious issues raised. “The Mirror does not lead on migration. The Sun and Star see footballers and reality TV stars as better sellers but are generall hostile. The Telegraph is not quite as fevered as the white-top tabloids, but shares their ou


to Liz night s, w


d study of rs’


heir front pages ues raised.


s not lead on n and Star see lity TV stars


t are generally aph is not quite hite-top tabloids, utlook. The


Guardian, the i and Independent d Independen


are all generally sympathetic, while the Times tries to steer a middle course,” Gerard argues on her website SubScribe. It may be a small, one-woman gesture,


but SubScribe is a shining example that you don’t have to accept the drip- drip of poison against immigrants from some national newspapers, dodgy PR campaigns about the EU or lying politicians such as Donald J Trump. In the world of “post-truth politics” the only possible antidote comes from fact checking and trend spotting over and over again for as long as it takes. And th


And that is emphatically a job for is em journalism. journalism. tically a job for


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