Tag Archives: the sun

Mark Pack

Well fancy that! Two other poll results The Sun paid for but didn’t report

By Mark Pack | Thu 29th April 2010 - 12:47 pm

There’s this:

All the main parties have promised to cut the government’s deficit after the election. Which party do you think is being the most honest about what spending cuts they would make to deliver this?

Liberal Democrats 29%
Conservatives 26%
Labour 21%

… and then there’s this:

Gordon Brown was challenged on Wednesday morning by Gillian Duffy, a 65-year-old voter in Rochdale. Mrs Duffy complained about taxation for pensioners, immigration from eastern Europe and students’ tuition fees. At the end of the televised encounter, Mr Brown told her ‘it was very nice to meet you’. But when he got into his car, Mr

…

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged , and | 14 Comments
Mark Pack

Exclusive poll: newspaper hostility makes voters more likely to back Lib Dems

By Mark Pack | Wed 28th April 2010 - 11:24 am

A poll carried out exclusively for Lib Dem Voice shows that opposition from the Daily Mail, The Sun and Daily Telegraph to the Liberal Democrats actually makes people more likely to vote for the party.

Asked the impact on their voting intention of those papers opposing Nick Clegg becoming Prime Minister, 15% said it made them more likely to vote Liberal Democrat and only 4% said it made them less likely, making for a net +11% saying they are more likely to vote Liberal Democrat.

Of the rest, 19% would vote Liberal Democrat regardless, 35% would not vote Liberal Democrat anyway and …

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged , , , , and | 15 Comments
The Voice

“It is my job to see that Cameron f****** well gets into Downing Street” – Sun’s political editor

By The Voice | Mon 26th April 2010 - 8:50 pm

Full marks for frankness if not for political independence:

“It is my job to see that Cameron f****** well gets into Downing Street,” proclaimed Tom Newton Dunn, political editor of the Sun, to a group of journalists from rival papers, recently.

Newswer has more.

Posted in News | Also tagged | 5 Comments
Alex Foster

LibLink: David Yelland – “Clegg’s rise could lock Murdoch and the media elite out of UK politics”

By Alex Foster | Sun 18th April 2010 - 11:52 pm

There are, of course many good reasons why the Lib Dems in power would be in the interests of our nation, but some of the most intriguing yet have been outlined by David Yelland in a piece for the Guardian’s Comment is Free.

The piece has many telling details of how journalism works in this country these days, but the chilling conclusion of the piece is this:

Over the years the relationships between the media elite and the two main political parties have become closer and closer to the point where, now, one is indistinguishable from the other. Indeed, it is

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Daily Mail: big boost for Lib Dems in poll – but editorial line even more striking

By Mark Pack | Sat 17th April 2010 - 9:16 am

There’s straight-forward good news for the Liberal Democrats in today’s Daily Mail:

A Harris poll for the Daily Mail, the first in-depth survey of the public response, showed him decisively ahead of David Cameron and Gordon Brown on measures of energy, honesty and strength.

The survey of over 1,000 people who watched the clash found 32 per cent intended to back Mr Clegg’s LibDems – level with the Tories – and just 26 per cent Labour.

Those poll results are dramatic – and reflect what we’ve seen in other polls too. But most striking is the Daily Mail’s …

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Posted in General Election | Also tagged and | 29 Comments
Mark Pack

Well fancy that! Another unreported poll finding

By Mark Pack | Fri 9th April 2010 - 3:50 pm

Continuing my occasional series of opinion poll results that newspapers have paid for but then not published (all for reasons of space you understand, nothing to do with editorial lines and not liking the result, oh no of course not) we have the latest YouGov poll for The Sun:

Do you think the following will or will not happen if the Conservatives win the coming election?

The number of crimes committed each year will fall: 22% will, 47% will not – net -25%
The quality of education in state schools will improve: 25% will, 46% will not – net -21%
Britain’s economy will …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

The weirdest criticism of Gordon Brown, ever – FACT

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th November 2009 - 8:55 am

Weirdness is in the eye of the beholder of course. But I think I’m on safe ground on this one.

Cast your mind over the many things Gordon Brown has and hasn’t done. Plenty to criticise. Plenty of criticisms made.

But what did The Sun wheel out yesterday? In amongst the story about his letter-with-spelling-mistakes to a dead soldier’s mother was this:

He also wrote the letter “i” incorrectly 18 times – mostly by leaving the dots off them.

Yes, verily – The Sun decided to criticise Gordon Brown for not dotting all his i’s. Let’s hope he crosses his t’s or we are all …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 5 Comments
Ed Randall

Opinion: Cast-iron Conservatism – brittle promises obtained from a flexible friend

By Ed Randall | Wed 4th November 2009 - 11:45 am

On 26th September 2007 David Cameron gave what he called a cast-iron guarantee. The guarantee appeared in a piece published under his name in Mr Murdoch’s Sun. Liberal Democrats, who set some store by their own political education and haven’t read the piece, really should take the opportunity to read it in its entirety.

The aspiring party leader explains that it is an article of faith for him that: “No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.” And, because of that, he promises, any Conservative government led by him will “hold a referendum on any EU treaty.”

Mr Cameron explains, in the same piece, that his determination to hold a referendum isn’t simply a reflection of his deepest political beliefs but a practical matter too. It is integral to Conservative economic policy making. Why should that be? The explanation seems straightforward. It is vital because: “One of the great challenges rolling back the tide of bureaucracy.” And, Mr Cameron continues, “you can’t do that without targeting one of the main sources of this bureaucracy – Brussels.”

Without the referendum he’d promised Mr Cameron makes it clear it will not be possible to free UK businesses from red tape; the kind of European regulation which makes it impossible for the UK economy to succeed. Of course what most of us call regulation – and Mr Cameron calls red tape – isn’t quite the easy target that it once was. And Mr Cameron’s cast-iron guarantee has almost completely rusted away.

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Some 0.5m Lib Dems read the now-Tory-again Sun

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st October 2009 - 12:35 pm

Apologies, readers, I appear to be on a bit of poll roll over the last 24 hours, what with this, this and now this … Yesterday’s ‘big news’ – or, more accurately, the story which garnered most column inches – was the announcement that The Sun has jilted Labour, and is shacking up once again with the Tory party.

There was no real surprise there: The Sun backs winners, and follows (and doubtless re-inforces) its readers’ opinions. Ipsos-Mori was quick off-the-mark to press release its figures showing the voting intentions of Sun readers in 2009 compared with 2005, general election year. These show a collapse in Labour support with hefty swings towards both the Tories and Others:

2005 – Tory 33%, Labour 45%, Lib Dem 12%, Others 10%
2009 – Tory 42%, Labour 29%, Lib Dem 12%, Others 17%

Interestingly the Lib Dem figure is unchanged between 2005 and 2009, at 12%.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Does it matter if The Sun backs the Tories?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 30th September 2009 - 9:35 am

suncover.jpg The Sun is shining on the Tories this morning, with the announcement by Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid that it will back the party at the next general election for the first time since 1992. Indeed, so proud was the rag paper of its announcement that they took the trouble to email Lib Dem Voice (twice) to let us know all about it – you see how much we matter to them!

The Sun’s endorsement of the Tories in not full-throated.

Most of its leader article is devoted to setting …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 20 Comments
Mark Pack

The Sun versus reality: how do they compare?

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd September 2009 - 8:23 am

The Sun says: “Every August poll carried out before a spring election since 1996 has predicted the result to within one per cent.”

Reality says: MORI 24 August 2001 2000 – Con 29% (out by 4%), Lab 51% (out by 9%), lead 22% (out by 9%)

Although this is the most striking example, overall for example eight out of the 12 August polls since 1996 had the Labour lead out by more than 1%. Similarly, only three got the Labour share to within 1%.

Not exactly a case of “every”.

UPDATE: Himmelgarten Cafe points out that the graphic accompanying the Sun story isn’t …

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Posted in Polls | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Even The Sun covers a Lib Dem press release today

By Mark Pack | Thu 13th August 2009 - 8:06 pm

I suspect it may in part have been because it gave them a chance to take a pop at Harriet Harman – but there’s big coverage in The Sun, and other media, today for figures collated by the Liberal Democrats about the gender pay gap in central government:

Official figures show female civil servants are paid up to A THIRD less than male colleagues.

The revelations are an embarrassment to the party’s self-styled women’s champion Harriet Harman.

She has vowed to close the gap between the sexes – and has threatened to name and shame firms who give men more.

Furious critics last night

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Another BNP fakery scandal

By Mark Pack | Tue 19th May 2009 - 3:52 pm

The BNP like to style themselves as the party that tells the truth, which is why the tales of their fake photos and made-up statistics matter. Here’s the latest BNP fakery:

AN ex-Guardsman branded the BNP “scumbags” last night for using his photo and faked words on an election flyer.

Former Scots Guards NCO Stuart Walker, 37, was shocked to see a picture of himself in uniform outside Buckingham Palace on a poll leaflet.

He told The Sun: “I was completely outraged when I saw this leaflet. I think they got the photo off a website and the quote they’ve made

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

The dark side of citizen journalism: The Sun and the bus driver libel case

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th February 2009 - 12:25 pm

In March last year The Sun ran a story painting a bus driver, Arunas Raulynaitis, as a Muslim fanatic. The story claimed:

1. That he ordered his passengers off the bus so that he could pray
2. That passengers saw a rucksack and feared he was a fanatic*
3. That therefore passengers then refused to get back on the bus

The paper has just lost a libel case following this report, because as it turns out:

1. No passengers were ordered off
2. There was no rucksack
3. No-one refused to get back on the bus

So far, just another tale of a tabloid newspaper getting its story …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Confusing letter-writers with terrorists: the PCC investigates

By Mark Pack | Wed 28th January 2009 - 11:13 pm

Earlier this month I blogged about the questions over a story run by The Sun claiming that the likes of Alan Sugar were being targeted by terrorists. There were two problems with the story: first, the initial discussion looked to be one purely about running a polite letter-writing campaign, and second, the subsequent inflammatory comments that were made looked to come from an agent provocateur.

Well now the Press Complaints Commission are investigating, as The Guardian explains.

Hat-tip: Tim Ireland

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Terrorists target Alan Sugar – or freelance journalist goes undercover and winds up polite letter-writers?

By Mark Pack | Thu 8th January 2009 - 8:55 am

The Sun – Tabloid Lies blog has a demolition of The Sun’s story that Alan Sugar is being threatened by terrorists:

The Sun today has an exclusive: TERROR TARGET SUGAR their front page shrieks, with EXTREMIST THREAT TO UK JEWS in a banner above it…

However, all is not as it seems for not only is this story seemingly based on an appeal for addresses actually so that a “polite” letter-writing campaign could be run, but also the moderator of the board where the appeal appeared said:

I can confirm that the User “AbuIslam” who was posing as a Muslim on this forum

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Lester: Paul Dacre and Graham Dudman have got it wrong

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th November 2008 - 8:15 am

Part of the recent Paul Dacre attack on Justice Eady (who ruled against the News of the World in the Max Mosley case) was that he was unaccountable for his actions and basically a one-man band introducing a privacy law on his own. He was supported in this attack by The Sun’s managaing editor, Graham Dudman, who said, “The issue here is that Justice Eady is unelected and unaccountable. Parliament has not made these decisions, one man has”.

But Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lester has hit back today, pointing out that when the law on which Eady’s rulings are based …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

A case of media bias? The Sun, MySpace and Facebook

By Mark Pack | Sat 2nd August 2008 - 11:51 am

Is The Sun (owner: Rupert Murdoch) indulging in a campaign of partisan reporting designed to damage Facebook, one of the main rivals to MySpace (owner: Rupert Murdoch)?

That’s a question that has been raised a few times on blogs (such as towards the end of this posting ), so I thought I would take a look at The Sun’s website and compare the coverage on there of Facebook versus MySpace.

To be fair to The Sun, I asked the site’s own search engine to give me the top fifteen headlines for stories including the word “MySpace” and then the same …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 19 Comments
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