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@docrussjackson
Mar 18, 2023 • 8 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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#THREAD

I've been researching twenty-first century UK non-broadcast 'news' articles featuring #TuftonStreet's ideologically extreme (deregulatory, anti-welfare, anti-union, low tax, free-market) 'think tank' (lobbyist) the 'Institute for Economic Affairs' (#IEA).
Counting articles is a relatively crude measure, but it's clear that the overwhelming majority present the the #IEA as disinterested/neutral, often using IEA reports & spokespeople to help frame or initiate stories. With very few exceptions, the IEA's funders are never revealed.
From 2000-2023, across all print & online non-broadcast UK news outlets, the #IEA is mentioned a staggering 9,175 times - predictably, mainly in Murdoch's, Barclay's, & Harmsworth's "newspapers":

The Times: 1,278
Sunday Times: 424
Times online: 457

The Sun: 379
Sun online: 133
City AM: 875

Daily Telegraph: 719
The Sunday Telegraph: 143

Guardian: 464
The Observer: 70

Daily Mail & Mail on Sunday: 456
MailOnline: 278
Scottish Daily Mail: 216

Independent: 442

Financial Times: 295

The Express: 239
The Sunday Express: 91

Scotsman: 130
Evening Standard: 109
Standard online: 59

i - Independent: 96

Daily Mirror: 93
Mirror online: 45

The National: 43

Daily Star: 32

Metro: 24
A summary search for the "Institute of Economic Affairs" which includes some radio @BBC coverage is revealing - especially in regard to @BBCRadio4 & @bbc5live. ('TVEyes' is a tech company which collects & indexes millions of hours of content per month, which enables searches).
I haven't done a similar analysis for broadcast news, but of the 150+ UK think tanks, it's clear the #IEA receives hugely disproportionate coverage/presence - especially on "impartial" @BBC news & politics shows such as #bbcqt, #bbcaq, & #PoliticsLive.

The graphic at the top of this thread was put together by Jonathan Gornall, & published in the BMJ in 2019.

His excellent investigation reveals how the IEA was (is?) funded by British American Tobacco, & has links with senior conservative ministers.

bmj.com/content/365/bm…

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More from @docrussjackson

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Nov 11
🧵 OPEN LETTER

Defend the @BBC Before It’s Gone

The BBC isn’t perfect — but it’s ours. As coordinated attacks on its independence intensify, I warn that if we don’t defend it now, we may lose more than a broadcaster — we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy... Image
As a long-time critic of the @BBC, let me spell it out: what we’re seeing right now isn’t organic outrage — it’s a sophisticated coordinated campaign by ideological enemies and commercial competitors to undermine the BBC’s independence and funding. Image
If you can’t see that, you’re being played — and that’s exactly the point.

Let’s start with Michael Prescott, author of the dodgy dossier leaked exclusively to The Telegraph, who is a PR man and former political editor at Murdoch’s Sunday Times.

news.sky.com/story/who-is-m…
Read 40 tweets
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Nov 2
🧵

Shameless Matt Goodwin’s post is a cascade of fearmongering, distortion, and pseudo-intellectual racism.

It takes a handful of horrific individual crimes and turns them into a sweeping indictment of entire communities.

It's pure scapegoating, dressed up as social science.
1. Misrepresenting facts.

Many of the crimes Goodwin cites are still under investigation, misreported, or involve UK citizens, not “illegal migrants.” The Huntingdon suspect is British-born — yet he cites it as evidence of “mass uncontrolled immigration.”
Image
There is no factual link between the Huntingdon attack and migration.

In fact, once you control for age and sex, non-UK nationals are slightly LESS likely to be in prison than UK citizens — and for violence and robbery, non-citizens are under-represented.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/comm…
Read 17 tweets
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Nov 2
🧵

Shameless opportunist Rupert Lowe is the most dangerous and most extreme MP in the UK.

His latest stunt is a letter to the PM that strongly implies the knife attack on a train was the product of “mass immigration” and “Islamic extremism”. It had *nothing* to do with either.
The incident was reported as NOT terror-related and the suspects BRITISH BORN at around 8:30 am: by @BBCNews 8:32; @Guardian 8:34; @SkyNews 8:36;
@ITVNews 8:38.

Lowe published his letter strongly implying it was 'Islamic extremists' on @X at 08:41. It quickly gathered 1M views. Image
Lowe is a modern day Oswald Mosley, shamelessly normalizating far-right discourse.

His letter is political malpractice: it mixes fear, plausible deniability, and ineffective proposals that would shred civil liberties and wreck lives, all while offering zero credible evidence. Image
Read 32 tweets
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Oct 10
🧵

Let's not mince words.

A handful of selfish sociopathic billionaires and the populist politicians and media they fund have deliberately divided and radicalised millions of people across the world, solely to protect their wealth and power.
They claim to want to help “save children” while spreading distrust of experts, reputable journalism, climate science, and vaccines — which have saved over 100 million children since 1974.

By dividing the public, they protect their wealth and power.
Rather than justify how their wealth was earned, these elites cultivate scepticism of their critics and of expertise itself.

This deliberate erosion of trust shields their interests while undermining the science that saves lives and protects our planet.

Read 66 tweets
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Oct 8
🚨

Robert Jenrick closed his Conference speech with: “Let’s build this NEW ORDER. Let’s TAKE our country back.” Hitler's “New Order” was a vision for an Aryan-led Europe which involved exterminating or enslaving “undesirable” minorities.

Jenrick has a Jewish wife. He knew this. Image
Across mainstream platforms and parliamentary stages, an extremely dangerous rhetorical drift is taking hold.

I've written elsewhere about what Prof Ruth Wodak calls “the shameless normalisation of far-right discourse” in relation to British politics.

In Britain, a group of prominent MPs—including Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe, Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman—are normalising far-right discourse through three recurring frames/themes: invasion, scapegoating for cultural destruction, and demographic replacement. Image
Image
Read 31 tweets
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Oct 6
🧵

Let's talk about chainsaw enthusiast, Musk buddy, and darling of the global free-market right, Javier Milei.

Let’s look at which UK politicians and news media have been most effusive in their praise for him, and at whats happened to Argentina since he was elected in 2023. Image
Milei’s election as President of Argentina in November 2023 was met with enthusiasm from right-wing news media and populist politicians who praised his libertarian, anti-establishment platform as a model for radical economic reform. Image
Support was often framed in the context of Thatcherite principles, with Milei seen as a disruptor against "socialism".

1. Kemi Badenoch celebrated Milei as a "template" for her own potential Government, aspiring to be "Britain’s version of Javier Milei". Image
Read 38 tweets

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