Thursday, November 21, 2019
Are the Tories hiding from hostile media?
All political campaigns seek to control their media coverage, but few go so far as to exclude specific journalists from their campaign bus in order to avoid criticism.
It is a surprise therefore to find that the Conservative Party have banned the Daily Mirror from travelling on the party’s battle bus. As the paper says, senior Tory aides told the Mirror as early as last week they could have access to the trip - the Tory leader’s first with the bus - but pulled the offer at the last minute.
The Mirror, which reaches almost 500,000 households and more than eleven million people online every day, was the only major national newspaper excluded from the trip. They say that they have been invited onto election ‘battle buses’ under every Tory leader since they were invented in the 1970s, including Mr Johnson’s immediate predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron.
Are the Conservatives that worried about the Prime Minister's propensity to make gaffes that they are seeking to reduce the risk by suppressing reporting opportunities for hostile newspapers?
It is a surprise therefore to find that the Conservative Party have banned the Daily Mirror from travelling on the party’s battle bus. As the paper says, senior Tory aides told the Mirror as early as last week they could have access to the trip - the Tory leader’s first with the bus - but pulled the offer at the last minute.
The Mirror, which reaches almost 500,000 households and more than eleven million people online every day, was the only major national newspaper excluded from the trip. They say that they have been invited onto election ‘battle buses’ under every Tory leader since they were invented in the 1970s, including Mr Johnson’s immediate predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron.
Are the Conservatives that worried about the Prime Minister's propensity to make gaffes that they are seeking to reduce the risk by suppressing reporting opportunities for hostile newspapers?
