Ah apologies. Just seen this thread. Ignore mine. X
It's par for the course for politicians from the Steve Bannon 'stable'. Trump has his Twitter feed, Salvini does most of his communications through Facebook posts and live videos, and now BJ is doing the same.
Ratcheting up conflict with the press from the beginning is another tactic they have in common and I expect BJ to follow suit. It's about getting everyone outraged on purpose early on in your mandate, so that when you do something that really deserves the outrage, nobody notices.
Expect constant election campaigning on what should be government time and money too.
I've got no problem with you or anyone else who wants to see/hear the BBC continuing to pay your licence fee, much like I pay a subscription to watch Sky TV, but there's no reason why I should fund your viewing/listening if I don't want to watch the Beeb. In order to see the channels I want to watch on a television, I'm currently forced to do so.
To be fair, if the BBC offers what I want to see, I might be a subscriber myself, but it would be by choice, not by coercion.
Given that the Guardian isn't exactly an impartial arbiter, I've posted below Guido Fawkes' take on events from earlier today.
Senior Lobby hacks have staged a walkout of a Number 10 briefing this afternoon, in protest at smaller titles not being invited to the extra briefing. A briefing after Boris’ speech took place for all accredited journalists, and this afternoon’s briefing is still set to go ahead as planned…
Guido understands that Number 10 invited a small group of senior political editors of larger media organisations including the BBC, ITV, Daily Mail, Guardian, The Sun, Sky News, and The Times for an additional detailed briefing in Downing Street. This is not the first time this has happened, nor the first time that Downing Street has favoured selected hacks from the so-called “inner Lobby”. This has happened under previous administrations.
Today many more Lobby hacks turned up uninvited to this extra briefing, causing a stand off in the entrance hall of Number 10, with journalists demanding to attend the extra briefing and Number 10 rebuffing them. Eventually, the invited journalists walked out along with the uninvited ones, and the briefing did not go ahead. Remember that two weeks ago the same Lobby hacks walking out today tried to get Guido reporters banned for live tweeting the briefings…
Guido Fawkes are by no means impartial either, of course, but you pays your money and takes your choice what you believe.
In the interests of balance here's how the Daily Mail covered the boycott. Couldn't find it mentioned in the Telegraph or Murdoch press, but if others find links please share: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ttendance.html
Sorry Dave I've just realised you've abandoned your other thread, in which case I'll re-post Guido Fawkes' take on things here, to give yet another perspective.
Senior Lobby hacks have staged a walkout of a Number 10 briefing this afternoon, in protest at smaller titles not being invited to the extra briefing. A briefing after Boris’ speech took place for all accredited journalists, and this afternoon’s briefing is still set to go ahead as planned…
Guido understands that Number 10 invited a small group of senior political editors of larger media organisations including the BBC, ITV, Daily Mail, Guardian, The Sun, Sky News, and The Times for an additional detailed briefing in Downing Street. This is not the first time this has happened, nor the first time that Downing Street has favoured selected hacks from the so-called “inner Lobby”. This has happened under previous administrations.
Today many more Lobby hacks turned up uninvited to this extra briefing, causing a stand off in the entrance hall of Number 10, with journalists demanding to attend the extra briefing and Number 10 rebuffing them. Eventually, the invited journalists walked out along with the uninvited ones, and the briefing did not go ahead. Remember that two weeks ago the same Lobby hacks walking out today tried to get Guido reporters banned for live tweeting the briefings…