Tackling the BNP in print

Submitted by Matthew on 5 March, 2010 - 7:57 Author: Will Lodge

A new campaign has been launched to highlight and improve the impact that the media can have in fighting the British National Party (BNP).

EXPOSE has been set-up by a range of media workers across the left, and the launch event was backed jointly by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU), which represents media workers.

Speakers at the launch event (23 February) included Peter Hain MP, Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism (UAF), and Michelle Stanistreet, deputy general secretary of the NUJ.

Most spoke about rallying against the fascists, and outlined the poor record of journalists in pandering to the BNP’s media machine.

Medhi Hasan from New Statesman talked about the live coverage of the emergency general meeting when the BNP voted to allow ethnic minorities to join the party, he told of how the BBC’s banner called the BNP a “right-wing party”. “If I was a Tory, God forbid, I would be outraged. This is what we call the normalisation of the abnormal.

“This has to stop. We have to get our coverage of the far-right, right! Cover the BNP, do it, cover them; but do it properly! Why do we have such excessive coverage? They crave the oxygen of publicity; it’s our duty not to give it to them. Don’t treat them like a normal political party. The BNP, even to the most stupid and ignorant people, is not a normal political party.”

The strong theme that came out of this event was that journalists need more readily available resources with which they can take apart the BNP. When journalists are working to a tight deadline, it might be tempting to just re-word the BNP press release without being critical of their policy. The new campagin plans a website from which journalists can access background information on the BNP, to create more balanced articles to be more balanced. The NUJ already have a site, www.reportingthebnp.org, which they hope to expand and make more readily available, as a part of the EXPOSE campaign.

Despite a considerable Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) presence at the event, and SWPer Weyman Bennett speaking for UAF, the event didn’t turn into a mass SWP rally, partly because a large proportion of the audience and speakers were journalists and NUJ members. Bennett himself didn’t even mention the UAF, and focussed on the media aspect. Addressing the room he said: “We are a beacon of hope, and the media can be a shining example of how to expose these people.”

Unfortunately there was little debate on the issue of “no platform” politics. Encouragingly, most of the speakers spoke about taking on the BNP by giving them critical coverage, rather than no coverage, although many expressed the view that “pantomime” events such as the BBC’s Question Time shouldn’t be held.

Sunny Hundal, editor of the Liberal Conspiracy blog, came closest to advocating a “no coverage” approach. “Should the BNP’s threat be played up or down? I think down, to prevent media frenzy.” He did, however, advocate taking action, and the “need to tackle the myths of the right.” It is important politically that a debate on no platform is held within the movement, if EXPOSE is to maintain democratic principles.

There was much talk about action, and taking the campaign forward. Pat Styles of BECTU said: “All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to stand aside and do nothing… We should be vigilant.”

A planning and organising meeting hosted by the NUJ was advertised. Hopefully organising meetings will allow for a broader media campaign to critically analyse and report the BNP, by setting up media activist networks. It may also try and create fractions within existing unions and campaigns.

At the event AWL member Vicki Morris called for the NUJ to move away from being apolitical, and there were a few calls from both speakers and the floor to try and get the NUJ to adopt a stronger, more rigorous, conscience clause. At the moment it is only expressed as a pledge to support journalists who refuse to work on assignments that break “the spirit or the letter” of the NUJ’s code of conduct. The EXPOSE campaign looks promising, but it will take time to see if it lives up to early expectations.

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