A ‘newspaper’ produced by a political party and delivered to households in Argyll and Bute risks eroding public confidence in the press, a media regulator has warned.
Thousands of copies of the Argyll, Bute & South Lochaber Gazette – described on the front page as ‘your free newspaper from the Liberal Democrats’ were delivered last month.
With a general election expected this autumn, it included statements about ferries, the NHS, fuel duty and jobs at Faslane – as well as a ‘comment’ section.
Press regulator Impress says there has been an increase in political parties producing campaign and electioneering materials disguised as independent local newspapers.
CEO Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana has written to all political parties on this issue, asking that they review this practice in the lead up to the next election.
Of the Argyll, Bute & South Lochaber ‘newspaper’, she said: “Public trust in both politicians and journalists continues to diminish and this practice only damages it further.
“It has to be reviewed by political parties, particularly with an election on the horizon where transparency and accuracy of information will be more important than ever.
“At Impress, we have sought to provide the public with a list of the politicians taking part in these practices so that if they receive such materials, they can consult our page and check if the publication is legit or paid for by a political party.”
She added that these ‘newspapers’ are not regulated by a press regulator, nor are they subject to oversight from the Advertising Standards Authority or the Electoral Commission, leaving the public vulnerable to being misled into thinking they are made by independent journalists instead of politicians.
However Alan Reid, the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for the new constituency, said the name ‘Gazette’ was carefully chosen so it could not be confused with any local or national publication sold in the constituency.
“No free newspapers are distributed in the constituency,” he added.
“The only free publication regularly distributed is the “Community Advertiser” in Helensburgh & Lomond. The “Gazette” could not be confused with it.
“The Gazette makes it clear just below the front page banner that it is from the Liberal Democrats. There’s a photo of Lib Dem diamonds in the top right hand corner of the front page
“This is not an attempt to mislead people into reading something without knowing who has published it.
“Newspapers are published in this format because it’s the cheapest way to publish that amount of information in a way that’s easy to read.
“An eight-page A4 magazine would be needed to cover the same amount of space, but would cost a lot more to print.
“I reject Ms Kirkconnell-Kawana’s assertion that all publications in this format distributed by political parties are not ‘legit’.
“Will she say the same about all the press barons who publish editorials on polling day calling on their readers to support a political party? If she is being consistent, she will.”
Leave a Reply