It’s increasingly common knowledge that much of the UK corporate media amounts to propaganda. British people have ranked their mainstream media the least trusted in Europe, for example, for the past four consecutive years.
But the front pages across the board on 4 October take the biscuit.
Conservative HQ or Fleet Street?
From the Guardian to the Times, newspaper outlets took the prime minister’s claim that “austerity… is over” at face value. Never mind that May’s chancellor literally announced a £1.3bn cut to vital council services 48 hours beforehand. And don’t worry yourself that the Conservatives plan to continue spending cuts until beyond 2025.
On top of parroting May’s claims uncritically, many papers also painted a cutesy May, who ‘danced‘ on stage to Abba’s Dancing Queen before her conference speech.
TIMES: May moves to end austerity #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/kQL8wmqnHa
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
GUARDIAN: Back me on Brexit #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/tpq6LPJd1z
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
Thursday’s i
“The PM makes move to end austerity”
#tomorrowspaperstoday#bbcpapers
(via @hendopolis) pic.twitter.com/KDLjzaxuuD— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 3, 2018
DAILY TELEGRAPH: Dancing to a new beat #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/nYk3xZFYW2
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
DAILY EXPRESS: Let’s all dance to May’s tune #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/WiWIgR16Fo
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
“Complete con”
At least folks on social media were quick to call May and the press out:
https://twitter.com/davidschneider/status/1047484029480722432
May's claim that this is an end to austerity is a complete con. The Tories have promised this before – and it was a con then too. The Government has already told us that spending for the next 4 years will be hit by many more vicious cuts. Nothing, sadly, has changed.
— John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) October 3, 2018
And let’s not forget, May actually promised the end of austerity as part of her general election post-mortem in June 2017:
478 days apart. But the same headline. You can call this many things but journalism it is most definitely not. pic.twitter.com/wFyETWDCow
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) October 3, 2018
1043 days apart. The same headline. In 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 the Tory Press ran stories saying austerity has ended. Don’t believe a word. This ain’t journalism, it’s propaganda. pic.twitter.com/iDw4MQoJfc
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) October 4, 2018
Besides, if May can simply declare austerity is over when it becomes unpopular, why was it necessary in the first place? It’s Catch 22 for the Conservatives. They have nowhere to turn.
The Tory party is only surviving at all because of the corporate media and their millionaire backers. And when it comes to today’s front pages, it’d be hard to tell the difference if May wrote them herself.
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Featured image via the Telegraph/ YouTube
