Boisterous UK media fuel EU myths, but is anyone listening?

[webfact]

Boisterous UK media fuel EU myths, but is anyone listening?
By JILL LAWLESS

LONDON (AP) — Britain, the European Union is coming for your bananas. And your kettles. Meanwhile, foreign criminals roam Britain's streets and migrants besiege its borders.

That, at least, is the impression conveyed by some British newspapers as voters prepare to decide whether to remain in the European Union.

Much of the British press views the EU as a meddlesome nuisance, showering the country in bureaucratic directives and sapping its sovereign power. Add public concern about mass immigration and the migrant crisis, and it means Britain's EU referendum campaign is being waged amid a perfect storm of Euroskepticism.

The tabloid Daily Express recently warned that "Migrants pay just 100 pounds to invade Britain" and claimed the EU is a "threat to your pension" and even wants "to ban our kettles." The Daily Mail has told readers that "1M more migrants are on their way" and profiled "the Albanian double killer" living openly in Britain.

Strident anti-EU headlines are commonplace across a spectrum of British newspapers, from the tabloid Sun, Express and Daily Mail to the higher-toned Times and the Conservative-backing Daily Telegraph. Of Britain's dozen or so national dailies, only the left-leaning Guardian and the business-minded Financial Times are firmly on the "remain" side of the EU debate.

British broadcasters are governed by rules about impartiality in their political coverage, but the rambunctious, partisan press has no such shackles. British newspapers have spent decades shaping the battlefield on which the referendum fight is being waged.

The last time Britain voted on its membership in the bloc, in 1975, almost all newspapers in the United Kingdom were pro-"remain." But since the 1980s, as the EU has grown bigger and more centralized, the British press has become ever-more hostile — sometimes crudely so, as in the Sun's famous 1990 headline "Up yours, Delors," directed at European Commission President Jacques Delors.

Oliver Daddow, senior lecturer in politics at Nottingham Trent University, says years of slanted reporting on the EU means that "in a sense, all Brits are now Euroskeptics."

Some media claims about the EU have almost become folk myths, like the allegation that Brussels tells Britons what kind of bananas they can buy — a charge recently repeated by "leave"-supporting former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a former Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. (The EU does, in fact, specify that bananas must be free from "abnormal curvature.")

The Telegraph recently reported the EU planned a "kettle and toaster crackdown" to ban high-powered small appliances under environmental regulations. The paper claimed the move had been postponed until after June 23 lest it be seen as "an assault on the British staples of tea and toast." (The EU is considering new regulations for energy-consuming appliances, but no new law has been introduced yet.)

Britain's newspapers also have a tendency — mystifying to many other Europeans — of viewing European affairs through the lens of World War II.

The Sun has depicted Prime Minister David Cameron as a hapless wartime Home Guard officer bracing for invasion from the continent, in a nod to the sitcom "Dad's Army." Johnson, picking up the theme, recently compared the centralizing aims of the EU to those of Adolf Hitler.

Despite the hyperbole and hysteria, Roy Greenslade, professor of journalism at London's City University, thinks newspapers are "preaching to the converted" and will have little impact on the outcome of the June 23 referendum.

Britain's papers have long boasted of their political clout, epitomized in the claim by Rupert Murdoch's Sun after an unexpected Conservative victory in the 1992 election: "It's the Sun wot won it."

Now, though, their circulations are plummeting, their readers aging. Britons under 40 — the most pro-EU segment of the population — are also the least likely to read daily newspapers.

Greenslade said newspaper readership is "old, white working class in the case of the Sun and the Express, and old, white middle class in the case of the Daily Telegraph," and the papers "are basically telling people what they already want to hear."

That doesn't stop politicians courting the papers, eager for their endorsement. Greenslade sees such behavior as a hangover from a bygone age.

"Politicians go out of their way to feed the daily news agenda — to rebut what's in the papers, meet the editors, court the owners," he said. "It's like a strange echo chamber. They read the papers so they think everyone else does, too."

The echo-chamber effect is not limited to traditional media. Clare Llewellyn, a University of Edinburgh researcher studying the way Twitter is being used in the referendum campaign, says many people use social media to reinforce their opinions rather than seek new information.

"You find what you want to find," she said, "That's true in all social media, in reading blogs, even in reading newspapers online."

The power of the media may be waning, but Daddow says the Euroskeptic atmosphere the press helped create will endure even if Britain stays in the EU.

"If you are constantly fed a diet of immigration, sovereignty, identity, the Germans are all nasty ... it must have an effect," he said.

"If I was a U.K. politician, I wouldn't see it as a good career move to be an open pro-European."


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-06-13

[shirtless]

You cannot believe the media as it has an agenda set by major customers. , example how much does the government spend advertising per year,

[bassman]

AP News, another voice of mainstream media. Suggesting that they and their pals are the only worthy news is frightening to free speech. Enough of this BS already!

[jaidam]

Brussels was laughing at us when they issued dictats stating that bananas must be a certain shape, or watermelons must be a certain shade of green. It was their arrogance coming from the thought they would always be in control. Well, I can bet they are not laughing now. The whole gravy train is about to derail.

[stevenl]

AP News, another voice of mainstream media. Suggesting that they and their pals are the only worthy news is frightening to free speech. Enough of this BS already!

You mean they are contradicting your opinion.

[Krataiboy]

What AP conveniently forgets to mention is that most of the time the mainstream media reflects the Establishment line. If it is true that most of the UK Press are backing the Brexit game, then maybe for once it is listening to the people and not its puppet masters.

[dick dasterdly]

I particularly liked :-

"Some media claims about the EU have almost become folk myths, like the allegation that Brussels tells Britons what kind of bananas they can buy......... (The EU does, in fact, specify that bananas must be free from "abnormal curvature.")"

and

"The Telegraph recently reported the EU planned a "kettle and toaster crackdown" to ban high-powered small appliances under environmental regulations. The paper claimed the move had been postponed until after June 23 lest it be seen as "an assault on the British staples of tea and toast." (The EU is considering new regulations for energy-consuming appliances, but no new law has been introduced yet.)"

I've emboldened parts to point out that there is truth behind the "myths"!

[wabothai]

AP News, another voice of mainstream media. Suggesting that they and their pals are the only worthy news is frightening to free speech. Enough of this BS already!

You mean they are contradicting your opinion.

not only bassman's but millions of others Steef.

[stevenl]

AP News, another voice of mainstream media. Suggesting that they and their pals are the only worthy news is frightening to free speech. Enough of this BS already!

You mean they are contradicting your opinion.

not only bassman's but millions of others Steef.

Which makes no sense at all in this thread.

The thread is about the UK media fueling negative myths about the EU. The poster, clearly anti EU, complains about the media's positive portrayal of the EU. That is not only exactly the opposite of this thread, but also totally not true.

[dick dasterdly]

Its a ridiculous piece from the journalist - he proves the truth of the "myths" (by putting the facts in brackets) .

Edited June 13, 2016 by dick dasterdly

[dick dasterdly]

But its always good to read a POV that disproves the point- whilst trying to prove said point.

[i claudius]

The E.U is an unelected body that is only interested on how much they can screw out of us before the whole bloody shambles implodes,just look at the sort of failed politicians like Mandelson and Kinnock,have their greedy snouts deep in the trough

[pitrevie]

The E.U is an unelected body that is only interested on how much they can screw out of us before the whole bloody shambles implodes,just look at the sort of failed politicians like Mandelson and Kinnock,have their greedy snouts deep in the trough

Strange how it is that all all the people who have served as EU commissioners you could only name two Labor appointees. I guess there were no Tory ones you could think of. Talking of having their snouts in the trough Nigel and Co haven't been shy claiming every expense in sight.

Just to add the UK elected 73 members to the European Parliament.

[i claudius]

The UK might have,we the people didnt as for those toe rags being Labour ,I agree plenty of Tory snouters as well

Edited June 13, 2016 by i claudius

[dick dasterdly]

The UK might have,we the people didnt as for those toe rags being Labour ,I agree plenty of Tory snouters as well

Good point. The electorate has little interest in EU elections - knowing that its largely a 'snout in trough' scenario..

Edit - not that Brit MPs are any better - they too are only looking to their own interests.

Edited June 13, 2016 by dick dasterdly

[pitrevie]

The UK might have,we the people didnt as for those toe rags being Labour ,I agree plenty of Tory snouters as well

I really don't know what you think you are talking about. The UK elected 73 MEP's in the way we normally elect parliamentary MPs, there was a ballot, these people were not appointed by anyone they were elected on a constituency ballot. Its the reason Farage got elected who the hell would want to appoint him with his views on Europe.

[dick dasterdly]

Can we talk about the original article - which pointed out why the "myths: were nothing of the sort?

[dunroaming]

Anyone who believes the written media, politicians, second hand car salesmen, anglers or ex girlfriends should know better.

The reality is that we know what it is like being in the EU and everything else is just speculation. Being in works for some and being out works for others. It's just about numbers.

[dick dasterdly]

Anyone who believes the written media, politicians, second hand car salesmen, anglers or ex girlfriends should know better.

The reality is that we know what it is like being in the EU and everything else is just speculation. Being in works for some and being out works for others. It's just about numbers.

Its not that simple.

I like some EU policies (and know that the Brit govt would never have endorsed those policies), whilst hating the way the EU is a 'snouts in trough' organisation.

Edit - but now I'm guilty of veering away from the original article, which set out to prove that the "myths" were not true - and then proved those "myths" were true.

Edited June 13, 2016 by dick dasterdly

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

AP News, another voice of mainstream media. Suggesting that they and their pals are the only worthy news is frightening to free speech. Enough of this BS already!

You mean they are contradicting your opinion.

AP is just one bureau of many press agencies that contribute to all the "news" reports you can read wherever you wish. The odd thing about this report is it is almost self denigrating. It also doesn't obviously take sides, but like I see too much these days, is purely a report on other reports - in other words Ms Lawless, a waste of space...

But I'm only an old hack.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

AP is just one bureau of many press agencies that contribute to all the "news" reports you can read wherever you wish. The odd thing about this report is it is almost self denigrating. It also doesn't obviously take sides, but like I see too much these days, is purely a report on other reports - in other words Ms Lawless, a waste of space...

But I'm only an old hack.

[uksomchai]

Have a read of this very enlightening article on just how the EU came about and how it has been a complete lie from day one. Something that continues to this day. The people that came up with the idea and plan realised that the little people would never give in to this plan hence the lies and the deceit of the politicians throughout the EU

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/679277/History-EU-how-bureaucrats-seized-power

The leave camp have a 19 point lead this morning and the threats from both our politicians and those in the EU are getting more desperate by the hour as they can see the end of their little scam coming with the British voting to leave