It’s great to see yesterday’s budget demo getting some coverage in the msm. It’s just a shame though that all that coverage amounts to is the regurgitation of a press release.
Here’s the text of the press release I received in my inbox yesterday:
ACTIVISTS BLOCKADE CHANCELLOR’S CAR IN ATTEMPT TO STOP BUDGETIn an audacious attempt to stop George Osborne delivering the budget this afternoon, 20 women blocked the five main exits of Downing Street. They blocked Osborne’s car from leaving, but were dragged away from the car. One member of the group was arrested, and later released without charge.
The group was trying to stop George Osborne from delivering the budget because the government’s cuts agenda will decimate the Welfare State, harming the poorest and most vulnerable people the most.
At 11.15am, a group of protesters arrived at Downing Street carrying placards in the shape of red briefcases reading ‘Block the bankers’ budget’. Minutes later groups of three women lay in front of each of the four vehicle exits of Downing Street, and locked themselves together inside arm tubes, which makes it difficult for the Police to remove them quickly. The groups remained in position until 11.52, when the vehicle carrying George Osborne broke through one blockade.
The group of women pointed out that the cuts will have a devastating impact on the lives of women, citing examples such as the closure of women’s refuges, cuts to child, disability, carers and housing benefits, the roll back of maternity rights and that women are thought to make up 80 per cent of the expected job losses from the public sector.
Sara Ayech, one of the women lying outside the main gates of Downing Street said:
“We are stopping George Osborne from delivering his bankers’ budget because this budget has been written for the benefit of big business and the banking sector, not for ordinary people. The banks destroyed the economy and in return received the bail out and bonuses. But the government is choosing to make everyone else pay the price through unemployment, the decimation of the Welfare State and the NHS.
“The Welfare State was fought for and won by ordinary people only 64 years ago. It’s now under attack by the coalition government and we are here to defend it and show that people will resist the injustice of these cuts.”
Here’s the text of the release that went out from the UK Press Association:
Group tries to block Downing Street
“A group of women has tried to block Downing Street ahead of the Budget to protest at its “devastating” impact on the welfare state and poor people.
They carried placards in the shape of the Chancellor’s red briefcase, reading Block The Bankers’ Budget, and sat down in the road outside the main exit.
They said that the cuts will have a huge impact on the lives of women, such as the closure of women’s refuges, cuts to child, disability, carers and housing benefits, the roll back of maternity rights and public sector job losses.
Sara Ayech, one of the protesters, said: “This Budget has been written for the benefit of big business and the banking sector, not for ordinary people. The banks destroyed the economy and in return received the bail-out and bonuses.
“But the Government is choosing to make everyone else pay the price through unemployment, the decimation of the welfare state and the NHS.
“The welfare state was fought for and won by ordinary people only 64 years ago. It’s now under attack by the coalition government and we are here to defend it and show that people will resist the injustice of these cuts.”
And now here’s the Daily Mail’s take on the story – see if you can spot the difference:
Women lie in road in bid to block Downing Street exit in protest at ‘devastating’ Budget
A group of women tried to block Downing Street ahead of the Budget to protest at its ‘devastating’ impact on the welfare state and poor people.
They carried placards in the shape of the Chancellor’s red briefcase, reading Block The Bankers’ Budget, and sat down in the road outside the main exit.
They said that the cuts will have a huge impact on the lives of women, such as the closure of women’s refuges, cuts to child benefits, the roll back of maternity rights and public sector job losses.
Sara Ayech, one of the protesters, said: ‘This Budget has been written for the benefit of big business and the banking sector, not for ordinary people. The banks destroyed the economy and in return received the bail-out and bonuses.
‘But the Government is choosing to make everyone else pay the price through unemployment, the decimation of the welfare state and the NHS.
‘The welfare state was fought for and won by ordinary people only 64 years ago. It’s now under attack by the coalition government and we are here to defend it and show that people will resist the injustice of these cuts.’
See also The Morning Star, the Blackpool Gazette, the Batley and Birstall News, the West Sussex County Times, the Londonderry Sentinel, the Ripon Gazette and I could go on. And on. And on.
Click here for the analysis from Churnalism.com
Like I said, it’s good to see the demo getting some press coverage (and well done to all the women involved!) It would be even better though if newspapers could actually be arsed to send reporters out to cover a story, and if those reporters then reported on what they saw and wrote up their stories with their own individual take on things. Or is that asking too much?
For more on churnalism, see Flat Earth News by Nick Davies
Too Much To Say For Myself 
It’s so heartening to see the level of activism that you have over there. I wish we had something like that here in North America. Your populace is not as dumbed down and brainwashed as ours.
Er, newspapers pay the Press Association large sums of money in order to be able to use their copy, word for word if they wish. That’s how news wires work across the world. Not sure what the issue is here, or if you have even a basic grasp on how the media operates…
Of course I know that’s how it works James, the point is it didn’t always work like this, at least, not to this extent – more and more copy is now nothing more than regurgitated releases from these news wires.
Seriously, if you don’t get how this is an issue or why people have a problem with it I can’t recommend enough the Nick Davies book. See also this piece in the Press Gazette.
My absolute favourite though is ‘facebookism’. Whereby the Mail/other tabloid read something on facebook and then print it as though it’s a great piece of investigative journalism. Mind you they can get stung like that, this was a great example…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352111/Royal-Wedding-Network-X-group-plotting-chaos-smoke-bombs-roadblocks.html
Love this bit.
An 18 foot wooden horse is apparently been made by students and will be burnt with effigies of the Royals inside
note to the ‘journalist’ who wrote that – you just got scammed by the activist equivalent of Jeremy Beadle…..
Hmmm, I agree it could have been covered better. But on the other hand, the press release only went out after the event, I certainly didn’t get an advance notice that there was going to be a protest. Unless you happened to have a reporter there who witnessed it, that’s the best that could be expected I think.
Of course, the protesters weren’t going to give advance notice though.
I think this is more of an unusually good example of feminists putting out a decent press release that managed to get media coverage, no?
If only they’d managed to get a friend to take a photo, or some video…
I don’t agree Jess. I mean, I agree the feminists involved did a fantastic job, but what the Mail did is just lazy journalism.
The email/press release I was sent had phone numbers to call for further info – I’d at least have expected a national newspaper to call one of those numbers and get a bit more on the story than was contained in the PA release.
At least it got some coverage. 10,000 women marched through Central London on 5 March 2011 to call for an end to violence against women and it received hardly any covarage in the press at all!!!
Good on these women though. I
Cath, from my experience of dealing with the media, they rarely call to check up or follow up stories. On the few occassions that the Daily Mail did bother calling (couple of years ago) , it was to ask if Cherie Blair had anything to do with my organisation and/or if my funder was the National Lottery! Bizarre hey? I suspect they were looking for a different story than the one we wanted to publicise.
I would have thought they were trying to do a ‘lottery money given to disabled lesbian asylum seekers, and Cherie Blair is their patron’ type story at a rough guess Pakeezah (a rough guess because I don’t know what your organisation is, I just know the Mail ).
Yes, I think you are absolutely right, Polly. Which is why there is little point expecting anything else but this kind of journalism from the Daily Mail. Press release is about A, let’s try and cover story about our current obsessions B and C. Job done.