Part 2 of our statistical analysis of the UK press focuses on how it amplifies the UK military/intelligence establishment.
Here are some of the findings.
See thread.
bit.ly/2ICgoDF
Here are some of the findings.
See thread.
bit.ly/2ICgoDF
1/ Regimes favoured by the UK government, such as Saudi, Bahrain and Egypt, are routinely called “governments” by the UK press. Whereas those seen as enemies are more often called “regimes”. The figures are striking. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
2/ The crimes of the UK government’s enemies are covered much more by the UK press than those of allies. Around three times the number of UK press articles mention war crimes in Syria as war crimes in Yemen. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
3/ The research finds 185 UK press articles mentioning the term “sponsor of terrorism” in the past 3 years. The term is reserved exclusively for UK government enemies such as Iran and never for UK allies such as Turkey or Saudi Arabia. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
4/ While demonising official enemies, the UK press largely whitewashes government allies, notably the US. Incredibly, the term “leader of the free world” is mentioned in over 1,500 articles in the past five years - without challenge or ridicule. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
5/ UK press coverage of the RAF’s and GCHQ’s 100th anniversaries produced no critical articles and mainly consisted of “journalists” writing up material fed to them by these agencies. This is standard UK press behaviour. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
6/ There have been 384 mentions of the term “SAS hero” in the UK press in the past 5 years, while critical articles on the UK special forces, which are involved in at least 7 covert wars, are rare. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
7/ Secretive UK govt-funded Integrity Initiative has been mentioned less than 20 times in the UK national press. When stories break that are critical of the establishment they tend to get buried. When supportive, they tend to get sustained media coverage bit.ly/2ICgoDF
8/ The UK press regularly quotes “think tanks” such as RUSI and IISS as independent experts. Yet they are funded by arms corporations and governments and staffed by former govt/intelligence officers - almost never mentioned by journalists. bit.ly/2ICgoDF
