We were pleased when the BBC banned the use of the phrase electoral “reform” in its coverage of the referendum on whether to change the voting system. “Reform” is indeed too positive a word, as the corporation decided, to be used in supposedly neutral reporting by its journalists ahead of the referendum due on 5 May. The Yes to AV lobby were’nt happy but there is no surprise there. Today, the Staggers rightly points out that Cameron shouldn’t get away with NHS “Reform”. Hooray you shout. But haven’t we been there before. What about New Labour “reforms”? Otherwise know as anything designed to piss off your core voters so you could triangulate the odd Daily Mail reader. The BBC certainly has its work cut out.
Tagged with Spin
Spin is dead, but the spinners refuse to die.
Two weeks ago, Labour Uncut announced the death of spin. Ed Miliband had decreed an end to factionalism and to hostile media briefings. But in this week’s Tribune, Labour Uncut’s commissioning editor, Dan Hodges, asks “will the real Ed please stand up?” The problem, it seems, is that he hasn’t got, well, the Right spin.
What he lacks, according to Dan, is definition which, along with biography and narrative, is what we need to win. Continue reading
