Archant will donate revenues generated from controversial British National Party ads published in its London weekly newspapers to charity, the company said today.
The company issued a statement after some of its papers, including the Hampstead & Highgate Express, provoked controversy by publishing BNP ads for the May 1 Greater London Authority elections earlier this month. A number of Archant titles refused to run the BNP ad after protests from staff, although it is understood to have been published in 11 titles across London.
"Any revenues generated from the BNP adverts will be donated to local community charities," an Archant spokesman said.
"We ran advertisements from the BNP in a number of our titles including the Ham & High. The BNP is a legally constituted political party, advertising in the lead up to the May 1 elections in London," the Archant spokesman said.
"The content of the adverts didn't breach any laws or guidelines. In making the decision to publish we took input from our editors and balanced the liberal principles of free speech against the potential impact on the communities our editors serve."
Archant's announcement comes as the BNP said that it would not run the ad in any other of the company's publications, but planned to place it in other unidentified local papers. Some Archant papers in London's East End, a BNP stronghold, decided not to run the ads.
"In other areas we felt that it would be better to refrain from publishing," Morris said.
"The Hackney Gazette is one of the titles where the clear message from our local team was that carrying the BNP adverts was not in the best interests of the local community and our decision has been that we should not, therefore, carry the advertisement."
An Archant source said the ad would not run in this week's issue of the Hackney Gazette, published on Thursday, but could not say beyond that what might happen.
Mick Ferris, editor of the Hackney Gazette, declined to comment.
The BNP ad provoked local controversy when it ran in the Ham&High, last week, angering staff and readers.
The Ham & High editor, Geoff Martin, wrote an editorial in last week's edition criticising the BNP but defending free speech.
Media Guardian
April 16, 2008
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1 comment:
Too little too bloody late, i hear on the grapevine that in certain London boroughs this is going to cost this newspaper dear as Councils across the capital are pulling their advertising.
The media needs to learn that the power really is with the people not with them.
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