The Liberal Democrats have said they’ll continue to use ‘fake newspapers’ in their Mid Beds by-election campaign, despite voters overwhelmingly criticising the tactic and calling for the propaganda-style leaflets to be banned.
Speaking to the area’s local democracy reporter, John Guinn, Liberal Democrat’s deputy leader, Daisy Cooper MP said newspapers do “play an absolutely vital role”, but they won’t stop using fake newspapers despite evidence it undermines trust in both politicians and journalists.
A recent poll by Byline Times found that 62% of people in Britain think that the ‘fake newspaper tactic’ used by political parties should be banned if they do not make it clear which party is behind it.
The Bedford Independent has seen fake newspapers being delivered across Mid Bedfordshire by both the Liberal Democrat candidate Emma Holland-Lindsay and Conservative candidate Festus Akinbusoye.
Read: Mid-Bedfordshire candidates “deceive the public” by using fake newspapers ahead of by-election
Spokespeople for both candidates claim that they make it clear the fake newspaper is from a political leaflet and that is enough to counter any confusion.
However, a number of Bedford Independent readers have told us they had thought the publication was a local newspaper until they saw an article we published about the issue in August.
This is backed up by pollsters Omnisis who carried out research on behalf of Byline Times. They found that 62% of people in Britain think that the fake newspaper tactic should be banned if they do not make clear which party is behind it.
The Liberal Democrats’ fake newspaper being delivered in Mid Beds has their declaration in tiny font on the back page.
The number of people who believe this tactic should be banned, rises to 65% among Conservative voters, the same as for Labour voters.
Liberal Democrat voters, however, say they are less in favour of a ban (55%).
The figure rises significantly among those over 75s, some of whom may be more vulnerable to misleading campaign materials, with 75% of those backing a ban on the practice.
But, Daisy Cooper MP, seems to believe no one would be fooled.
“Honestly, I have never met anybody who has received one of these sort of political newspapers who doesn’t realise it’s political within about 30 seconds of reading it,” she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service last week.
“We’ve been putting out some of these newspapers locally, and they’ve got Emma’s [Holland-Lindsay] face all over it, it’s got Ed Davey as party leader all over it.
“It’s clear it’s a Liberal Democrats publication… and not a local newspaper,” she said.
The Lib Dem candidate for the Mid Bedfordshire by-election, Emma Holland-Lindsay, added, “Daisy is right, local papers play an absolutely vital role and we need to champion them and support them.
“I did my work experience on the Biggleswade Chronicle and that is very dear to my heart.
“We do need to support our local papers, but equally political parties have to be able to communicate to different groups of people in different ways,” she said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Conservative Party representing Festus Akinbusoye told the Bedford Independent, “In a busy world, political parties use diverse formats to communicate with voters effectively and stand out.
“Our promotional material always contains a clearly identifiable ‘imprint’ so voters can rightly see who and where the information has come from.”
Apology
The News Media Association (NMA), which promotes the interests of news media publishers to the government, has campaigned against political candidates using fake newspapers in a cynical attempt to mislead the public.
“The NMA remains gravely concerned over the circulation of party-political literature, dressed up to mimic the look and feel of independent, local newspapers,” said an NMA spokesperson.
“The NMA has written to all the main Party chairs urging them to commit to a ban of such practices, which only seek to deceive the public and undermine trust in both politicians and journalists.”
Despite this warning, however, in another part of the country, the Conservative party had to apologise recently for publishing a fake newspaper that used a title trademarked by the Midlands News Association (MNA).
As reported in Hold the Front Page, the Conservative party was found to be circulating pamphlets under the titles of the Wolverhampton Chronicle, Sandwell Chronicle and Dudley Chronicle.
The names used by the Conservatives are trademarked by the MNA and are distributed as free local weeklies across the parts of the West Midlands under the title Chronicle Week.
In their apology, a Conservative Party spokesperson said it “was a genuine mistake” and “it was never our intention to mislead residents”.
Editors note: If you continue to see fake newspaper style publications delivered or handed out by these or any other political party, please email news@bedfordindependent.co.uk.
Additonal reporting by John Guinn,
Local Democracy Reporter
