The Daily Echo, Romsey Advertiser, Caroline Nokes and the cancer of censorship
It has become clear in recent weeks that the Daily Echo, Newsquest and their editor Ian Murray – who is responsible for the content of at least eight other titles on the South Coast including the Romsey and Andover Advertisers – are engaged in a Putinesque attempt to censor stories about Caroline Nokes MP and the Conservative Party.
To date their actions have included:
1. Repeating a verbatim press release from the office of Caroline Nokes MP, citing that a ‘Fathers4Justice’ supporter had been cautioned for sending abusive messages to her.
2. Failing to fact check the story or report that Leicestershire Police at no time mentioned Fathers4Justice, or factored this into their investigations. In fact the MP chose to engage with this man after asking for his details and then – in a highly unusual step – solicited a statement from him linking Fathers4Justice, not the Police.
3. Failing to report that background to the story, which was the MPs involvement in an attack at the home of the founder of Fathers4Justice.
4. Creating the impression that Fathers4Justice are associated with the actions of a lone individual – which is the same as suggesting that the MP is responsible for the actions of her constituents.
5. Failing to contact Fathers4Justice or offer them a right to reply.
6. Failing to publish a letter in response to the article from Fathers4Justice.
7. Selectively quoting from an old statement from the F4J site.
8. Censoring comments beneath the online articles of the Andover Advertiser and other papers under Ian Murray’s control, which put the story in context.
9. Refusing to report the involvement of Caroline Nokes MP in attack on the Stockbridge home of the founder of Fathers4Justice, Matt O’Connor on 20th February 2014, where she was interviewed by Hampshire Police and where the former Vice Chair Romsey Tories, Adrian Yalland, was arrested after forcing entry onto the property before biting Mr O’Connor’s landlord. This despite the story appearing in the national press.
10. Yalland was later given a Police PIN notice for harassing the family and their 8-yr-old son.
11. Refusing to report further attacks at the O’Connor’s home where the family received hate mail linked to the local Conservative party and their car was attacked. The family were forced to move from the area last year.
12. Refusing to report ongoing civil action brought by the O’Connor’s against Caroline Nokes MP for harassment and intimidation.
The fact that Newsquest is selectively reporting these events and manipulating the flow of information to the electorate across the South Coast is a matter of serious public interest and should be of grave concern to those candidates seeking fair representation before the election in these papers.
The electorate cannot make an informed judgement about the conduct of their MP before an election when there is such blatant disinformation at play.
This cancer of censorship and distortion of the facts is eating away at the truth. Newsquest are deliberately covering up the involvement of an elected representative in a violent campaign of political intimidation that targeted the 8-yr-old son of the founder of Fathers4Justice.
Worst still, it appears that this is part of a concerted attempt to shut down the voice of opposition and stifle democratic debate on the South Coast, and ensure Conservative MPs are elected.
F4J will continue to press for open and democratic debate and for the case against Caroline Nokes MP to be reopened by an outside Police force and criminal charges to be brought against her alongside ongoing civil and campaign action.
To complain about the conduct of Newsquest, email the Editor [email protected] or tweet him at https://twitter.com/editorianmurray
Pic: Caroline Nokes MP, the victims bite mark at a violent incident at the home of the founder of Fathers4Justice where she was interviewed by Hampshire Police and images of other incidents.
