Thursday, February 06, 2020
Is paranoia the order of the day for Johnson's government?
For a government with a substantial majority, in the first few months of its term, Boris Johnson's administration is showing a remarkable level of paranoia in the way it deals with the media.
Not only has there been a walkout by senior journalists in protest at an attempt by No 10 to restrict a briefing on Brexit negotiations to reporters from approved publications and broadcasters only, but there also appears to be a boycott of certain BBC programmes such as the Today programme.
As the Independent reports, this has made some ministers very uncomfortable. They say that the Brexit briefing, which correspondents including BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s Robert Peston left in protest, was the second time in a week that No 10 had attempted to restrict access to a technical briefing by civil servants, following a similar incident in relation to Huawei’s involvement in the 5G telecoms network.
The culture secretary Nicky Morgan has called for Boris Johnson’s communications chief to sit down with Westminster’s political journalists and resolve an ongoing spat over selective briefing, while her cabinet colleague Michael Gove declined to stand up for Downing Street‘s handling of the situation, telling BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday that he would neither “criticise nor endorse” either side until he had heard a full account of events.
This ham-fisted attempt at media manipulation is not good for democracy, scrutiny, accountability or transparency, which is presumably why the spin doctors are doing it. But, if they are paranoid now, just wait until they hit mid-term, when things start to really go wrong over Brexit. How will they treat the media then? It does not bode well at all.
Not only has there been a walkout by senior journalists in protest at an attempt by No 10 to restrict a briefing on Brexit negotiations to reporters from approved publications and broadcasters only, but there also appears to be a boycott of certain BBC programmes such as the Today programme.
As the Independent reports, this has made some ministers very uncomfortable. They say that the Brexit briefing, which correspondents including BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s Robert Peston left in protest, was the second time in a week that No 10 had attempted to restrict access to a technical briefing by civil servants, following a similar incident in relation to Huawei’s involvement in the 5G telecoms network.
The culture secretary Nicky Morgan has called for Boris Johnson’s communications chief to sit down with Westminster’s political journalists and resolve an ongoing spat over selective briefing, while her cabinet colleague Michael Gove declined to stand up for Downing Street‘s handling of the situation, telling BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday that he would neither “criticise nor endorse” either side until he had heard a full account of events.
This ham-fisted attempt at media manipulation is not good for democracy, scrutiny, accountability or transparency, which is presumably why the spin doctors are doing it. But, if they are paranoid now, just wait until they hit mid-term, when things start to really go wrong over Brexit. How will they treat the media then? It does not bode well at all.
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We should be and start selling the benefits of returning to the EU. As you say when Brexit goes pear shape they will clamp down on the media reporting its disadvantages. THAT is why we must be selling going back to the EU and pointing out the problems NOW. The media may be more malliable to listen to us now. Sell it with POSITIVE words Brexit with negatives.
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