Posted by johnlilburne on December 17, 2019, 5:25 pm
Just to be clear, media campaign against Corbyn went far beyond anything against any previous Labour leader. It was surely the biggest propaganda campaign in UK history. Key to this is agenda-setting: shaping what people think *about* (and what they don’t). See thread.
Media search using Factiva: articles in UK national press (not broadcast) from Corbyn elected leader 12 Sept 2015 to 12 Dec 2019 election, mentioning:
“Corbyn and IRA” – 3,001 “Corbyn and antisemitism” - 12,700 “Corbyn and [exact phrase] ‘threat to national security’” - 233
It's difficult to compare exactly to media treatment of B.Johnson/Tories, but as an indicator over the same time period:
"Johnson and Islamophobia" - 666 "Conservative and Islamophobia" – 1,155 "Johnson and Yemen and war crimes" - 89 "Conservatives and Yemen and war crimes" - 23
One direct comparison of media treatment of Corbyn compared to Tories is shown in the following, again in period since Corbyn was elected until general election. UK national press articles mentioning:
"Conservative and Islamophobia" – 1,155 "Labour and antisemitism" – 14,064