On the Sad State of the British Press · 9:57pm Jan 10th, 2018
Greetings my good ladies and gentlemen on this chilly winter evening. May you be warm and toasty.
As we move into mid-January I feel inclined to look back at the year we have just escaped. With that in mind, I had a look through the last year's headlines. Sadly, one thing soon became apparent: the Daily Mail and the Sun can always be relied upon to live down to one's expectations. However low those expectations are, rest assured, they will find a way.
With that said, always remember:
If you are: LGBTQ+, non-white (particularly if, god help you, you're an immigrant), non-Christian, poor, female or unemployed, the Daily Mail and the Sun are Not Your Friends.
At the lower end of the spectrum, they will hold you in barely concealed contempt, but would still rather like your money. This is the lot of anyone female and or poor. Should you fall into either catergory, expect to be patronised and talked down to a lot. Indeed, the red-tops in general are so transparency patronising to their readership that I am endlessly astonished that anyone can tolerate reading them.
For anyone else listed, expect an ongoing campaign of thinly veiled, or not veiled at all, abuse. In particular, the LGBTQ+ community, and particularly the transgender community, have come under sustained attack. It is the latter I will focus on for the remainder of this blog.
Leading the way, as ever, is a "gentlemen" by the name of Mr Richard Littlejohn. For anyone unfamiliar with the gentlemen in question, this quote from Marina Hyde should give you a fuzzy idea of what to expect from him:
"In the past year's Sun columns, Richard has referred 42 times to gays, 16 times to lesbians, 15 to homosexuals, eight to bisexuals, twice to 'homophobia' and six to being 'homophobic' (note his scornful inverted commas), five times to cottaging, four to 'gay sex in public toilets', three to poofs, twice to lesbianism, and once each to buggery, dykery, and poovery. This amounts to 104 references in 90-odd columns — an impressive increase on his 2003 total of 82 mentions. There is, alas, no space for us to revisit the scientific study which found obsessivehomophobes more responsive to gay porn. But Richard, we're begging you: talk to someone.
Or, for those less inclined to subtlety, Andy Parsons has you covered:
I would like to describe Richard Littlejohn as like the film ‘The Shining’ - a dangerous psychopath, sat at a typewriter, going demented, typing the same crap over and over again.
The first quote was from 2004, fourteen years ago. Nine years after this, the inevitable happened and Mr Littlejohn was directly linked to the suicide of Lucy Meadows. From Wikipedia:
In December 2012, Littlejohn wrote an article criticising the decision of Accrington teacher Lucy Meadows to return to the same school after undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
Littlejohn cited concern for the sensibilities of the children and stated: "he's not only trapped in the wrong body, he's in the wrong job". In the same article he sympathised with those who were "trapped in a body of the wrong sex" and underwent gender reassignment operations, and expressed support for the operations being paid for by the NHS, provided it was for a genuine medical reason, but argued transgender people should not be teachers as it could upset children.[39]
In March 2013, Meadows was found dead with police reporting no suspicious circumstance, suggesting suicide. [40] Littlejohn's article, which included a caption criticising the school for "burying" the news of Miss Meadows, was later removed from the Daily Mail's website following Meadows' death,[41]with an anonymously-authored obituary, repeatedly referring to Meadows as a man and making no mention of Littlejohn's article, [42] appearing online and in print.Trans Media Watch, a charity for transgender people, said: "We have been deeply saddened to hear of the death of Lucy Meadows, who was outed by the press when she decided to transition."[41]A petition drive was launched demanding Littlejohn be sacked.[43][44][45][46][47][48]Two petitions signed by over 240,000 people were handed over to theDaily Mailoffices.[49]
At the inquest into her death on 28 May 2013, it was revealed Meadows had contacted the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) over press harassment citing Littlejohn. [50] Blackburn and Hyndburn Coroner Michael Singleton stated that press coverage of her gender reassignment was "ill informed bigotry" and that Richard Littlejohn in his article had "carried out what can only be described as a character assassination, having sought to ridicule and humiliate Lucy Meadows and bring into question her right to pursue her career as a teacher".
It's particularly lovely how the Mail (and Mr Littlejohn) insisted on refering to her as a man. Even in the obituary. Even after being linked to her suicide. They're just classy like that.
Four years down the line, and Mr Littlejohn has not changed his tune.
I’m astonished they’re still allowed to call it ‘Men of the Year’. Surely that suggests a celebration of privileged patriarchy. That’s probably why they were giving away eye make-up and hydra-energetic wossname, as a plea of mitigation.
Still, I’d have thought anything called ‘Men of the Year’ was about as welcome as a mouldy old jock-strap in this age of identity politics.
Unless, of course, the Man of the Year award was won by a woman — or a transsexual. These days, anybody can pretend to be whatever they want to be — and woe betide anyone who gainsays them.
This lunacy is a direct consequence of the deliberate policy of Campbell’s New Labour to divide and rule — carving up society into a gaggle of competing ‘victim’ groups based on race, gender and sexual preference.
It was inevitable that having won every other battle, they would turn their attention to reordering the world to suit the demands of ‘trans’ activists, a minuscule, but gobby, minority within a minority.
One might think that being linked to at least one suicide might cause Mr Littlejohn to consider if the "gobby minority" have a point, but that would be expecting far too much introspection from him. He continues:
There’s been plenty of comment this week about John Lewis scrapping the distinction between boys’ and girls’ clothes. I don’t propose to add to it, other than to observe that the mooted boycott of the store isn’t going to happen.
Unlike the pond life who swim in the sewer of social media, and the Left-wing parasites who populate the Stalinist directorates in our Town Halls, the kind of decent folk who shop at John Lewis don’t go in for petulant gesture politics.
But, not for the first time, I can’t help wondering where it’s all going to end. Now education authorities have put hijabs for five-year-olds on the uniform list, it’s probably only a matter of time before some right-on retailer starts selling burkas for boys.
Absurd, of course, and Mr Littlejohn knows it. But that's not the point. The fact is, Mr Littlejohn hates the LGBTQ+ community with a deep and longstanding passion, and he has long worked to invoke the same feeling in his readers. And the Mail? They paid him a lot of money to write these articles. They cleared it. They published it.
The Mail and the Sun have been responsible for untold misery over the years, and not by accident; it sells papers, after all.
Do not think that Mr Littlejohn is alone. Pink News has published a fun top twelve on the topic of the Mail's attacks on the transgender community. Some highlights:
12 ridiculous times the Daily Mail got upset about LGBT people in 2017
It’s been another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for the avowedly heterosexual and non-transgender denizens of the Daily Mail.
The newspaper has spent much of the year losing its collective marbles about all things gay, lesbian bisexual, or – god forbid – transgender.
As 2017 draws to a much-welcomed close, we look back at a small selection of the many, many, many things that got the Mail into a tizz this year.
In a year in which the Mail published37opinion pieces attacking transgender pieces alone, and dedicated hundreds of column inches to negative dog-whistle stories on LGBT people, we were truly spoilt for choice – but here are some of the most ridiculous offenders.
The Church of England spoke out against homophobic bullying
The newspaper lost it when the Church published guidance entitled “Valuing all God’s children”, aimed at tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in Church-run schools.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in the update: “All bullying, including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying causes profound damage.
“We must avoid, at all costs, diminishing the dignity of any individual to a stereotype or a problem.”
However, the Daily Mail lost it over advice in the document that tells teachers to allow children to express themselves, and not to restrict dress-up and play.
The Daily Mail ran the story with the headline: “CHURCH: LET LITTLE BOYS WEAR TIARAS”.
It claimed that “Boys as young as give should be able to wear tiaras at school without criticism”.
Evangelical activist Andrea Williams told the Mail “We are getting to the point where if you are not careful the slightest slip from the correct agenda in a Church of England school will get you punished.
“The anti-bullying agenda is aimed against people who step out of line – the anti-bullies are becoming the bullies.”
This is old hat for the Mail; whilst they claim to be anti-bullying, they are oddly hostile to attempts to combat homophobic bullying.
The National Trust revealed gay people existed before the 1960s
As the National Trust explored LGBT people’s hidden hand in 2000 years of British history, the newspaper ran a non-stop stream of critical stories.
The Trust came under fire for asking volunteers to wear a rainbow badge, for making a film about a gay owner of a National Trust property, and for undertaking a diversity monitoring survey.
Writing in the Mail, right-wing columnist James Delingpole lamented that he had already cancelled his National Trust membership so can’t cancel it again.
He wrote: You can only resign in disgust once — or I’d definitely be doing it again over the announcement that the NT plans to stage a special season of LGBT (that’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) events.
“Older readers may remember when the National Trust used to concern itself with such fuddy-duddy stuff as preserving Britain’s architectural heritage. But apparently the LGBT audience is a vital one that it has hitherto neglected.”
One can feel the Mail's contempt for "the LGBT audience" oosing out of the page.
Drag queens ‘corrupted’ some children
The idea behind Drag Queen Storytime is simple – local drag queens visit schools and libraries to read to children.
The project promotes childhood literacy as well as teaching kids about tolerance – but the Daily Mail could not handle the plans.
It ran the story claiming that “drag queens drafted into nursery schools” to teach two-year-olds about “sexual diversity”.
It claimed: “Drag queens are being brought into taxpayer-funded nursery schools so that children as young as two can learn about transgender issues.
The Mail spoke to some very concerned anti-trans voices.
Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, fumed to the newspaper: “One of the most disturbing things about the transgender agenda is the way that it tries to distort our perception of reality and deny something as fundamental as the distinction between male and female.”
Dilys Daws added: “There’s this idea that’s sweeping the country that being transgender is an ‘ordinary situation’.
“It’s getting so much publicity that it’s getting children thinking that they might be transgender, when it otherwise wouldn’t have occurred to them.”
If children were quite so easily "corrupted" as all that, one might scarce imagine the damage that grand pantomime dames of ages past have inflicted upon the little dears. Perhaps we should inform the Mail of this terrible ongoing problem.
Doctor Who introduced a lesbian companion
Pearl Mackie made her debut in sci-fi series Doctor Who as lesbian character Bill.
The right-wing newspaper’s readersreacted with predictable outrage to the shocking news that her character happens to be both black and gay.
One wrote: “I will no longer allow my kids to be brainwashed b the BBC and their leftist PC agenda and this will be banned by me. Why do I still by law have to pay with this?”
Another complained: “They’ve wrecked an iconic show for politics half the viewers disagree with. This is hijacking.”
If they are utterly horrified by the concept of LGBTQ+ persons in Doctor Who now, these true fans of the show clearly weren't paying a lot of attention to Captain Jack Harkness. Or Torchwood. Frankly, this is not news.
Others noticed this anti- transgender trend as well. From the Huffington Post:
The Sun And Daily Mail Accused Of Putting Transgender Kids At Risk With LGBT+ Stories
Campaigners say front page stories have left trans people 'scared and fearful'.
The Sun and Daily Mail have been accused of putting transgender children at risk with stories focused on attempts to stamp out LGBT+ bullying amongst kids.
Both newspapers dedicated their front pages today to articles about children and transgender issues, looking at “trans lessons” and transphobic bullying respectively.
But activists have warned that the tone of the coverage could “help fuel the horrific bullying and abuse” that trans people face, while others say the articles have left many in the community “scared and fearful”.
The Sun used its splash to inform readers that “men in women’s clothing are teaching kids as young as two” about gender diversity.
The red-top was referencing classes run by the group Drag Queen Story Time, which attempts to give children a “glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role model” through its reading groups.
“The Skirt On The Drag Queen Goes Swish Swish Swish,” The Sun’s headline read, claiming toddlers are being given “trans classes” where they learn “specially adapted trans songs”.
“Now Kids, It’s Alice In Transgenderland,” a later headline declared next to a photo of one of the drag queens involved in the group.
The Green Party has now reported The Sun to press regulator IPSO, accusing the paper of discriminating against trans people.
Party spokesperson Aimee Challenor said: “The Sun’s coverage of gender fluidity classes is a sad mix of scaremongering, discrimination and inappropriate jokes about drag queens.”
“The rates of suicide and self-harm for young trans people are staggeringly high and it’s simply immoral for TheSun to feed into the prejudice towards them,” Challenor added.
Note the Sun's coverage of the same story the Mail picked up. If anything, they are even more aggressively transphobic and hostile. As is the Sun's habit, they managed to have even less class than their already bottom-feeding competition.
Let's finish up with our good friend Mr Littlejohn. If ever there was a man who could invent a story where non exists, it is he:
A military officer looked ‘a bit gay’The newspaper was not at all happy when the Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces, Rear Admiral Alex J. Burton, appeared to come out against Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops.
Transgender people have served in the UK armed forces for years, but Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn wrote a 1500-word piece attacking Burton, peppered with old-school homophobic jibes.
He wrote: “Rear Admiral Burton’s official photograph makes him look like one of those gay Dutch policemen played by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.
“Sorry, but I couldn’t help thinking of Julian and Sandy, the alter egos of Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick in Round The Horne. ‘Oooo, ’ello, I’m Julian and this is my friend Rear Admiral Burton. Isn’t he bona?’
“Hello, sailor. Or was that The Navy Lark?”
He laments: “These days, the military takes diversity so seriously that even Dick Emery’s camp character, Clarence — catchphrase ‘Hello, Honky Tonks’ — would have no difficulty signing up.”
In one of the most disgusting homophobic smears in the piece, Littlejohn appears to allude to the homophobic slur ‘pillow biter’, quipping: “There’s also mention of a boat called ‘HMS Biter’.”
Attacking the approach to LGBT diversity within the Armed Forces, Littlejohn claims: “It’s nobody’s business. We didn’t ask the soldiers at Dunkirk how many of them were wearing silk cami-knickers under their khakis.”
Barton, incidentally, has two children with his wife, according to his official MoD profile.
FYI: the gentleman in question is straight. Mr Littlejohn simply decided he looked gay, and took that as a good enough excuse to write an article attacking and mocking gay people, because that's what he likes to do, and that's what the Mail pays him to do.
Taken individually, each of these articles would be a problem, and should be an embarrassment. But collectively, they present a rather darker picture of an ongoing, grinding war of attrition. The Mail and the Sun want to "other" the LGBTQ+ community, and to keep them that way. It's quite alarming.
Remember, my good ladies and gentlemen, should you be tempted to buy a paper or click a link, exactly the sort of people your money would be going to.
…Not to mention that they haven’t seen the 2017 Christmas special…
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It's probably for the best that they don't.
Oh hey, relevant.
UK crew, please stop voting Tory. This is apparently how they choose to advertise through the media.
On the other hand, it's nice to know that Fox News isn't a monopoly on terrible, homophobic press!
Ugh. Anytime I hear anyone referencing the Daily Fail without irony, I automatically assume they're an idiot, or a horrible person. I've yet to be mistaken in my initial assessments. And they're my favorite go-to anytime someone from the UK starts denigrating and dismissing all Americans and American media because of Fox News.
Friggin British Press. American journalism used to try for a more impartial "one the one hand", non-judgemental tone in their reporting. This had plenty of problems with it, liking giving climate change deniers equal air time, but it did cut down on nasty editorializing on the front page. And I feel like most American Journalists that have moved away from trying to sound impartial to trying just ramming their opinion down their throat learned this from Fox News, who got it from Rupert Murdoch, who saw how effective it is as a means of selling papers and tv subscriptions in Britain.
I am continually baffled by the ability for so many people to continue to give both money and votes to people who clearly despise both them, and humanity in general. I mean, I don't want to call millions of people idiots, because that's elitist and negative, but so many of them do seem to challenge that principle really really hard.
And these public opinion shapers are at the heart of it: keeping people uninformed and focused on blame and mistrust rather than on improving society or examining themselves. They've been corrupting society for decades now.
The most direct challenge to this dirty old institution, in the UK at least, is a movement called Stop Funding Hate, which involves directly appealing to advertisers - the brands who like to present a positive and wholesome image - to stop buying adverts that run alongside hate-filled articles like the ones above. These rags are businesses, and they only keep running articles like this because it keeps making them money, so changing that equation by taking the money away is the surest way to disrupt the trend.
You know what's strange? UK's journalism policies are what we look up to in journalism from Chile. I'm not kidding. When we have to check international news, or want to know how Chile looks like from outside, the Le Monde Diplomatique, El País and the BBC are the first stops. Going from there to Thatcher Era intolerance is honestly baffling.
With that said, I want to ask: Is there still journalistic media on the other side of the spectrum? Are there left and right papers?
I swear I don't want to go into "there's worse" fallacy, but here in Chile, we don't. All the press papers left here are the ones in line with a "monstrous" dictator. Chile has no left wing press outside the digital media. So, if the answer was yes to the UK having representation on both sides, I don't say "it's all okay", but I want to take a moment to respect that fact and cherish the little victories.
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You should see Chile's press. Everything printed belong to one of two companies, both in line with what the far right would call extreme. They also own most of radios, while TV is split between them, another right right-extreme and a Mexican transnational investor.
Point is that, while countries like the UK or the US have extremists cases, like Fox News, others like Chile have all the media act like one giant Fox News. It's as frustrating as it sounds.
Yes, there is still decent journalism in the UK. It's under constant threat from the changing market - nobody wants to pay for news nowadays - but it does exist.