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The UK government is reportedly planning to install former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre as chair of the broadcasting regulator OFCOM. Some background: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-paul-dacre-ofcom-charles-moore-bbc-b627465.html 1/
Polls have consistently shown that the UK public currently has a much higher level of trust in TV and radio media than they do in the UK newspaper industry, which has consistently been found to be the least trusted in Europe: https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/survey-finds-that-uk-written-press-is-by-some-way-the-least-trusted-in-europe/ /2
The UK public's low level of trust in our newspaper industry should perhaps come as no surprise. In 2016 the Daily Mail and Sun were both called out for "fuelling prejudice" in an international report on rising racist violence: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/sun-and-daily-mail-fuelling-prejudice-racist-violence-hate-crime-speech-uk-ecri-report-a7351856.html /3
In 2015, the United Nations spoke out, condemning "decades of sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse, misinformation and distortion" in the UK press: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32446673 /4
By contrast, UK broadcast media are currently held to a much higher set of standards. Although not perfect, OFCOM has strong powers to tackle racist and hateful coverage within TV and radio, eg: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/dec/23/indian-news-channel-fined-in-uk-for-hate-speech-about-pakistan /5
This is markedly different from the situation in the United States, where broadcasting regulations are much weaker. In the US, channels such as Fox News have been able to free to operate in ways which - currently - would not be allowed by OFCOM /6 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/nov/06/fox-news-shows-broke-uk-tv-impartiality-rules-ofcom-finds
Some examples of recent Fox News coverage on the pandemic: https://twitter.com/stopfundingheat/status/1289546719378771968 /7
And here's how Fox covered the aftermath of the US Presidential election: https://twitter.com/jiveDurkey/status/1349732479440048135 /8
And while the UK government is reportedly working to install Paul Dacre as Chair of the broadcasting regulator OFCOM, there are multi-million pound plans underway to implement *two* new "Fox News style" TV channels in Britain: https://theguardian.com/media/2020/aug/29/rivals-plan-fox-news-style-opinionated-tv-station-in-uk /9
More here on the Daily Mail during Dacre's tenure: https://twitter.com/StopFundingHate/status/1217066267686907906 /10
Meanwhile there are already some signs of a wider effort to attack OFCOM, and lobby for a weakening of its role: https://archive.is/02TWg /11
CNN gives a good summary here of the difference that OFCOM *currently* makes in the UK - with thanks to @StevenJBarnett for flagging this: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/16/media/fox-news-uk-ofcom/index.html /12
"I will make a prediction that within a year we will see a concerted attack within the Murdoch press on Ofcom" - @StevenJBarnett /13 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/16/media/fox-news-uk-ofcom/index.html
If the UK government's moves with Ofcom do lead to a significant degrading of media standards on UK TV & radio, then it's possible that our broadcast media may end up being as widely distrusted as our press /14 https://hackinginquiry.org/printmediatrust/
Nonetheless, the great work of @Slpng_Giants and @MMFA in the US has shown that it *is* still possible to challenge toxic media like Fox News, even where effective regulation is lacking: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tucker-carlson-tonight-sheds-more-major-advertisers-as-boycott-grows-1170870 /15
Meanwhile in the UK we've also seen that when enough of us speak out against toxic media, advertisers will respond. If OFCOM is weakened & "Fox News style" broadcasting standards are imposed in the UK, engaging advertisers may be one way to push back /16 https://stopfundinghate.info/2019/08/16/five-ways-that-stop-funding-hate-supporters-have-made-a-difference/
When reports first surfaced that the UK Government intended to install ex-Mail editor Paul Dacre as OFCOM chair, there were questions about whether this was serious. Nonetheless the Times last week announced that the plan "is still very much in place" /17 http://tinyurl.com/y5n8zmss
Another foretaste of what "Fox News style" broadcasting looks like... https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-pushing-conspiracy-that-fauci-created-coronavirus-2021-1 /18
