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Under
The
The
Labour
Radar
Leadership
While the media landscape is
Contest
preoccupied 2020
by COVID-19, politics
and business grinds on. ‘Under the
Radar’ provides a concise overview and
thoughtful analysis of critical stories
Summary
currently being & Analysis
overlooked.
Trump tears into Indeed, Trump’s surrogates are already
shopping around some anti-Trump tweets
Twitter from the account of Yoel Roth, Twitter’s
‘Head of Site Integrity’, as proof of bad
faith on the platform’s behalf. “Twitter
What happened? has now shown that everything we have
been saying about them (and their other
U.S. President Donald Trump is turning compatriots) is correct”, Trump tweeted.
his sights on Twitter, sniping at the social “Big action to follow!”
media company for tagging a series of
his tweets about mail-in ballots with fact But would Trump actually be so stupid as
checks, a new service being offered by the to bite the hand that made him politically
company as it steps up the fight against famous? Trump’s greatest asset is his
misinformation on its platform. Twitter following; would he really shut
down the platform entirely?
“.@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020
Presidential Election,” Trump tweeted. The answer you’re looking for is “no”.
“Twitter is completely stifling FREE Trump’s dig at Twitter over their fact-
SPEECH, and I, as President, will not check is more likely an attempt to chill the
allow it to happen!”, he added. Trump platform into cancelling its fact-checking
then went on to threaten the shutdown of of his false claims about issues like mail-
the entire platform. in ballots. Trump has been using Twitter
for weeks to rail against mail-in ballots,
The move came as the President was alleging their use will lead to widespread
actively using Twitter to push his so- fraud (it won’t) and giving himself ground
called ‘Obamagate’ conspiracy, along to protest the result should he lose come
with a separate - and even more bizarre November.
- conspiracy theory involving the death
in 2001 of a staffer working for Joe It’s a win-win for the President, even if the
Scarborough, the now-MSNBC television outcome is bad for the truth or the U.S.
host who was a Florida congressman at constitution. The more Twitter sticks to its
the time. guns, the more ammo the President will
have with his followers in falsely alleging
an abuse of his free speech, something the
What does it mean? President abuses daily with his libellous
tweets toward people like Scarborough
The President is clearly looking to open (who can’t sue a sitting President for
another front in the culture war to defamation).
mobilise his corona-demoralised base
- smashing a bunch of tech titans for As ever, there is genius in Trump’s evil.
supposedly ‘stifling free speech’ is one way
of doing it.
Media scum idiocy - the ex-felon did admit that he
‘didn’t really believe’ in COVID-19 when
questioned by police as to the essential
What happened? nature of his trip to Barrow.
A local journalist in Cumbria has been As raised in a previous edition of UTR
put under police protection after being (see 22.4.) there are significant concerns
subjected to numerous death threats over with how the UK protects its journalists.
the coverage of a criminal case. Chief Statistically we still rank behind Namibia
Reporter at The Mail in Barrow, Amy and Suriname in the global press freedom
Fenton has been on the receiving end index but this latest incident does signal
of a sustained campaign of abuse since an impetus for change.
her report last week on a local woman
accused of false rape allegations. “Only a continued
The 19-year-old in question has been
commitment to tougher
charged with perverting the course sentences will make
of justice after claiming she had been reporting the news feel
abused by a grooming gang of Asian men.
Attempting to stoke the case’s fires, far-
safe again”
right activist Tommy Robinson journeyed
Last month, a New IRA gunman
to Barrow under the guise of an
was finally charged with the murder
‘investigative journalist’ where he was met
of Northern Irish journalist Lyra
with a statement from the woman’s family
McKee (and denied bail) more than
insisting ‘we do not want him involved …
a year after the tragic incident took
We are a peaceful family who condemns
place. In February, a man was jailed
any form of racial hatred.’
for five months for suggesting the
aforementioned reporter Amy Fenton
What does it mean? ‘needs raping’. Only a continued
commitment to tougher sentences will
Journalists being targeted for the make reporting the news feel safe again.
reporting of facts is always cause for
grave concern. Cumbria police made it Of course, phrases like ‘scum media’ will
clear ‘no evidence’ of Asian sex grooming continue to trend on Twitter- as was the
gangs were found in Barrow after a year- case throughout the whole of yesterday.
long investigation alongside the National Let’s hope for the sake of journalists up
Crime Agency. Unwilling to pick a fight and down the country that the more
with the police, local reporters often bear we do to link such views to the likes of
the brunt of blame from the braying mob. Tommy Robinson, who referred to the
press as ‘scum’ and ‘enemies of the people’
The less said about Tommy Robinson during his infamous 2018 court case, the
the better, although - just to highlight his less mainstream they become.
Relapse in Race African American killed in police custody
- a pattern that has come to define
Relations relations between the two.
The death of George Floyd bears a
What happened? striking resemblance to the death of
Eric Garner. In 2014, Garner was put in
In Minneapolis, an African American a chokehold by police officers in Staten
man was killed during an arrest on Island and, like Floyd, died as a direct
Monday. Footage of the incident shows result of the heavy-handed arrest. The
a white officer kneeling on the neck of footage of his pleas also went viral and
George Floyd, who can be heard shouting served to widen the chasm between black
“please, I can’t breathe.” The Minneapolis communities and the police, in what is
police department later confirmed that often cited as a defining moment in the
Floyd had died a short time after the Black Lives Matter movement.
incident. News of his death sparked
outrage, with hundreds taking to the
streets to demand justice for his death,
and clashes being reported with riot
“The victims and cities
police. The four police officers involved may change, but the story
have since been fired. remains the same”
In New York, footage of a confrontation
between a black birdwatcher and a white The incident in Minneapolis is an
dog walker in Central Park has gone viral important moment for Minnesota
and caused further outrage. Christian Senator Amy Klobuchar. Widely tipped
Cooper was bird watching when he asked to be Joe Biden’s running mate, her call
Amy Cooper to put her dog on a leash. for the officers to be prosecuted will play
Footage shows the woman responding well with African American voters. After
to Cooper by saying “I’m going to tell the debacle surrounding Biden’s claims
them there’s an African American man that ‘you ain’t black if you don’t vote for
threatening my life”. me’, and an ad campaign attacking his
role in writing mass incarceration laws,
Biden’s ability to attract black voters has
What does it mean? taken a hit. If Klobuchar continues to take
a strong stand against the police, Biden
While the incident in New York will no doubt see her as a potential means
encapsulates the everyday racism that of shoring up his teetering support in the
African Americans continue to endure black community.
across the US, the Minneapolis incident
is just the latest in a steady drip of such
cases. The victims and cities may change,
but the story remains the same: another
What Trafalgar Is
Reading
SpaceX’s first-ever human flight is Elon Musk’s biggest
moment yet
Wired
“Could Musk’s company upend the cosmic apple cart and launch humans before its
accomplished rival?”
- Jonathan O’Callaghan on Musk’s plan to launch two Nasa astronauts to the
International Space Station.
The Amazon Will Soon Burn Again
New York Times
“With all eyes on the pandemic crises, the Amazon and its Indigenous groups face
existential threats, while criminals act as if they have permission to plunder”
- Bruno Carvalho on the crisis facing the Amazon.
But if you must read about Coronavirus
Drug wars: how AstraZeneca overtook GSK in UK pharma
Financial Times
“The companies’ contrasting approaches may also presage the changing fortunes of
Britain’s pharmaceutical sector”
- Peggy Hollinger and Sarah Neville on how AstraZeneca’s efforts to develop and
manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine is fuelling a change in big pharma.
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