Proprietor Richard Desmond treats his newspaper like a pro-Farage press release
‘Farage clings to UKIP leadership’. ‘Top donor tells Farage to quit as aids resign’. So went the headlines on the front of the Telegraph and the Times respectively today as UKIP infighting bubbles on. No doubt these Tory-supporting papers enjoy seeing the pain of a rival party, but the sudden chaos at the head of UKIP is certainly newsworthy.
The Daily Express thinks so too, though its coverage takes a different tack: ‘3.9 million reasons to save UKIP’ booms its front page, referring to the number of votes UKIP received in the general election. It quotes senior UKIP figures who it says are ‘urging’ Nigel Farage to remain party leader.
The story inside is headed ‘Farage is ‘the right man to fight for an EU vote”, citing supporters like deputy leader Paul Nuttall, donor and businessman Alan Brown, and, er, Nigel Farage himself on why he should stay.
In fact, the story almost reads like a press release for Farage, with quote after quote from supporters. It even breezes over the resignation/sacking of two senior aids to Farage yesterday by tucking it low in the story.
How to account for this difference in coverage? Well, this sentence near the end may provide a clue:
“Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond, who gave £1.3million to UKIP in the run up to the election, said:
‘Nigel has my support 101 per cent.‘”
Evidentially so. It’s good of the paper to include this in the story, but it doesn’t excuse porn baron Desmond using a national newspaper to protect his investment. Perhaps the headline should have read: ‘1.3 million reasons to save UKIP’?
***
Today’s Express also has a column by Stephen Pollard, ‘We must listen to Bank boss’s fears over immigration’ – fears he doesn’t have and never expressed. As MediaWatch reported yesterday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said immigration boosts UK productivity, adding that Europe is ‘the largest investor in the United Kingdom’, though he was widely misrepresented in yesterday’s papers. Another triumph for objective and accurate reporting in the Express!
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
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Read more:
Daily Express porn baron’s reasons for £1m UKIP splurge are a bit rich
Daily Mail’s junk report claims Bank of England chief blamed migrants for low wages
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5 Responses to “Express owner Desmond uses paper to protect his £1million UKIP donation”
AlanGiles
I just dont like the cut of the jib of UKIPs supreme leader Kim Jong-un Farage. I am sure his “resignation” last Friday and his “unresignation” on Monday were staged managed publicity stunts, but he couldn’t have foreseen Patrick Flynn’s intervention yesterday, or that of Stuart Wheeler et al.
The interesting thing is Flynn is an ex Daily Express journalist who was highly regarded by Mr. Desmond (at one time)…..
But Farage really is a one man band
Gerschwin
‘Farage is one man band’ – you’re not?
CGR
The party now has local organisations in many constituencies supporting councilors and organising to oppose our membership of the EU.
UKIP in general is in a very healthy state.
Harry Clark
this sounds somewhat like the ex tory now ukip MP Carswell could well be a Trojan horse set up by the Conservatives to destroy a valid threat to them from UKIP but that would assume that anyone in the Tory party had the brains to work that one out ? not a trait I have noticed in them I must admit
SarahTShields
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