The National Union of Journalists is staging a conference this week on how journalists should respond to the rise of the British National Party.
The far-right party's recent successes in the European and council elections have posed a dilemma over how its activities should be reported. While some editors have taken the view in the past that all publicity is good publicity, and that therefore ignoring them is the best option, others such as Paul Horrocks of the Manchester Evening News, have sought to confront the party's ideas head-on.
Now the union is calling on its members to join the debate, beginning with an event at its London headquarters on Thursday evening.
"The BNP's election victories have brought a new urgency to questions about how journalists should report fascists and racists," said a statement on the union's website. "There is a danger that racist ideas that ten years ago would have been considered unacceptable could become part of the daily business of politics."
One editor who has recently blogged about the dilemma is Keith Perch of the Leicester Mercury which has just seen the election of a BNP councillor on its patch in Coalville.
"Until now, we have mostly ignored them, but I sense that we have reached a tipping point and that it makes more sense now to challenge their policies and be sure that those voting for them know exactly what they are voting for," he wrote. "I blogged about this dilemma - to report or to ignore - previously and received a reasonable amount of feedback, almost all of which came down on the side of reporting, with the notable exception of someone employed full-time to worry about social cohesion who felt that it was still best to ignore. With the election of a BNP county councillor, we have decided that we cannot ignore the situation."
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Showing posts with label Manchester Evening News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manchester Evening News. Show all posts
June 16, 2009
June 10, 2009
BNP can't keep me out
The British National Party held a victory rally in a Manchester pub amid chaotic scenes yesterday. Leader Nick Griffin was celebrating his election as an MEP to represent the North West in this week's Euro elections.
He told journalists that the Manchester Evening News was barred from the meeting because he objected to some of our reporting about his party. However, MEN reporter Yakub Qureshi managed to get into the press conference. Here is his report:
Nick Griffin claims to be the only man voters can trust to police Britain's borders - but perhaps he should start by looking at his own party meetings. The BNP put up a wall of burly minders to provide security at the dingy pub where newly-elected Mr Griffin was holding a victory rally, and also to exclude the Manchester Evening News.
As they monitored the credentials of journalists, the minders said that the M.E.N. was barred and they quickly turned away a crew from our sister television station Channel M on the grounds that they were guilty by association. But when I reached the front, I simply showed my card and walked in. I wasn't exactly difficult to pick-out - I was the only non-white person in the room.
The meeting began with a short speech from the party's werewolf-eyebrowed deputy leader Simon Darby, who complained that his party had been told they couldn't use Manchester town hall.
Party leader Nick Griffin stood metres away as he crowed how he had withdrawn the M.E.N's 'privileges' after we highlighted his policies on Ghurkha veterans.
Mr Griffin's party wants 'non-indigenous' Brits - people like me - to leave the country. The party's manifesto says black and Asian families who have been living in Britain for decades should be offered money as an incentive to leave. I was genuinely worried when I heard this. Being Scottish-Pakistani I might only get half the cash.
Mr Griffin, who has denied the Holocaust and who has a criminal conviction for publishing material likely to incite racial hatred, was asked directly if there was the slightest chance that his party, which only signs white people up as members, could be just a tiny, tiny, little bit... racist.
Surrounded by bunting and limp balloons, his answer was emphatic. Every newspaper, radio and TV station in the country, along with political rivals, church and charity leaders, trade unions, had got it wrong and were deliberately distorting his policies.
During an hour-long question and answer session, he continued to refer to the 'mass media conspiracy' but seemed to falter when asked if he would mind living next door to a Muslim family - eventually responding he wouldn't be 'particularly bothered'. However, he caught everyone off guard with the extraordinary claim that the BNP were the natural choice for Asian women suffering domestic violence.
"Asian women come to the BNP for help because no-one else will touch the subject," he claimed.
He was also taken to task by one journalist who asked him to explain a BNP poster which contrasted 1950s schoolchildren looking happy with a recent picture of two grimacing coloured boys.
"It's not racist. It's factual," he said. "It's not a matter of immigration. It's a matter of colonisation. Places like Blackpool and Preston have been smashed up by the liberal elite."
The party do have other policies apart from race - but they seem a bit woolly. The BNP's website describes the party as 'Britain's only true green party'. However, Mr Griffin told reporters one of his first priorities in Europe would be an urgent campaign for more nuclear power stations.
He also cast doubt on evidence that human activity has caused global warming, saying: "They say the icecaps are melting. The ice has melted on Mars and there are no 4x4s there."
After being pelted with eggs in London the previous day, Mr Griffin and his party had adopted a cloak-and-dagger approach to the Manchester meeting. Party organisers had originally told journalists to meet outside the nearby Sheridan Suite - a well known venue for Asian weddings and other multi-culture events - where they were told they would receive further instructions. But this approach failed when BNP activists were chased off by managers at the Sheridan Suite, who took exception to their car park being used as a staging area.
Unsurprisingly the 'secret location' for the meeting turned out to be the Ace of Diamonds pub some 200 yards away, which is owned by BNP candidate Derek Adams and currently fighting a closure notice. Around 50 anti- BNP protesters chanted slogans outside the Miles Platting boozer as police tried to prevent the egg-pelting scenes which marked Mr Griffin's ill-fated visit to London on Tuesday.
Yesterday, one passer-by was arrested for apparently verbally abusing Mr Griffin as he left the meeting. Minutes before, the newly-elected MEP had told reporters: "There are far more controversial people than me in Europe."
Manchester Evening News
He told journalists that the Manchester Evening News was barred from the meeting because he objected to some of our reporting about his party. However, MEN reporter Yakub Qureshi managed to get into the press conference. Here is his report:
Nick Griffin claims to be the only man voters can trust to police Britain's borders - but perhaps he should start by looking at his own party meetings. The BNP put up a wall of burly minders to provide security at the dingy pub where newly-elected Mr Griffin was holding a victory rally, and also to exclude the Manchester Evening News.
As they monitored the credentials of journalists, the minders said that the M.E.N. was barred and they quickly turned away a crew from our sister television station Channel M on the grounds that they were guilty by association. But when I reached the front, I simply showed my card and walked in. I wasn't exactly difficult to pick-out - I was the only non-white person in the room.
The meeting began with a short speech from the party's werewolf-eyebrowed deputy leader Simon Darby, who complained that his party had been told they couldn't use Manchester town hall.
Party leader Nick Griffin stood metres away as he crowed how he had withdrawn the M.E.N's 'privileges' after we highlighted his policies on Ghurkha veterans.
Mr Griffin's party wants 'non-indigenous' Brits - people like me - to leave the country. The party's manifesto says black and Asian families who have been living in Britain for decades should be offered money as an incentive to leave. I was genuinely worried when I heard this. Being Scottish-Pakistani I might only get half the cash.
Mr Griffin, who has denied the Holocaust and who has a criminal conviction for publishing material likely to incite racial hatred, was asked directly if there was the slightest chance that his party, which only signs white people up as members, could be just a tiny, tiny, little bit... racist.
Surrounded by bunting and limp balloons, his answer was emphatic. Every newspaper, radio and TV station in the country, along with political rivals, church and charity leaders, trade unions, had got it wrong and were deliberately distorting his policies.
During an hour-long question and answer session, he continued to refer to the 'mass media conspiracy' but seemed to falter when asked if he would mind living next door to a Muslim family - eventually responding he wouldn't be 'particularly bothered'. However, he caught everyone off guard with the extraordinary claim that the BNP were the natural choice for Asian women suffering domestic violence.
"Asian women come to the BNP for help because no-one else will touch the subject," he claimed.
He was also taken to task by one journalist who asked him to explain a BNP poster which contrasted 1950s schoolchildren looking happy with a recent picture of two grimacing coloured boys.
"It's not racist. It's factual," he said. "It's not a matter of immigration. It's a matter of colonisation. Places like Blackpool and Preston have been smashed up by the liberal elite."
The party do have other policies apart from race - but they seem a bit woolly. The BNP's website describes the party as 'Britain's only true green party'. However, Mr Griffin told reporters one of his first priorities in Europe would be an urgent campaign for more nuclear power stations.
He also cast doubt on evidence that human activity has caused global warming, saying: "They say the icecaps are melting. The ice has melted on Mars and there are no 4x4s there."
After being pelted with eggs in London the previous day, Mr Griffin and his party had adopted a cloak-and-dagger approach to the Manchester meeting. Party organisers had originally told journalists to meet outside the nearby Sheridan Suite - a well known venue for Asian weddings and other multi-culture events - where they were told they would receive further instructions. But this approach failed when BNP activists were chased off by managers at the Sheridan Suite, who took exception to their car park being used as a staging area.
Unsurprisingly the 'secret location' for the meeting turned out to be the Ace of Diamonds pub some 200 yards away, which is owned by BNP candidate Derek Adams and currently fighting a closure notice. Around 50 anti- BNP protesters chanted slogans outside the Miles Platting boozer as police tried to prevent the egg-pelting scenes which marked Mr Griffin's ill-fated visit to London on Tuesday.
Yesterday, one passer-by was arrested for apparently verbally abusing Mr Griffin as he left the meeting. Minutes before, the newly-elected MEP had told reporters: "There are far more controversial people than me in Europe."
Manchester Evening News
June 02, 2009
BNP targets advertisers over paper's exposé
Advertisers with one of the UK's biggest-selling regional dailies have been targeted by the British National Party after it ran a major investigation into the far-right group.Commercial clients of the Manchester Evening News have been directly contacted by the far-right political party following the paper's decision to run a series of stories under the banner 'BNP – The Truth' (see left). The title is taking a firm editorial stance against the party, covering topics such as how it has used resources to mask its origins and its policies on repatriating non-white Britons.
But the BNP is now urging its supporters to complain to the MEN's advertisers in the hope that, if enough of its supporters complain, advertisers will in turn request that the MEN changes it editorial policy.
Editor Paul Horrocks told HTFP: "I've not had any complaints but there are a small number of advertisers who have let us know they received correspondence via email from the BNP. I've sent a response to these advertisers apologising for the fact they've been emailed. We will be continuing our campaign 'The Truth' which we started last Tuesday with a front page using a lot of information that is available about the BNP and its leader Nick Griffin."
The MEN has said it will continue its series of articles up to Thursday's vote. This latest developments comes in the wake of an angry letter by Chris Morley, northern organiser with the National Union of Journalist, to his hometown paper over its acceptance of BNP advertising.
Nick Griffin is standing in Thursday's European Election in the North West in a bid to win one of eight seats in Brussels. Research has suggested he only needs around 8pc of the vote to be elected.
A spokesman for the BNP said: "Our attitude to the Manchester Evening News is that we won't deal with them anymore. They are particularly bad. We don't take these things lying down and we're lobbying to put pressure on these people to deal with us fairly."
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Euro Elections,
Manchester Evening News,
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