CAMPAIN I Fight misreprsentation and smear tactics I United Kingdom

CAMPAIN stands for:
Campaign Against
Misrepresentation in Public Affairs,
Information and the News

We founded CAMPAIN in 2021 at sheer frustration about the poor media coverage of important topics. Issues such as BREXIT, refugees and asylum seekers, global warming and minorities are routinely covered in such a way as to skew public attitudes. Instead of helping us reach sustainable solutions, this exacerbates the problems we face.

While we aim to call out misrepresentation wherever and whenever it occurs, events beginning in October '23 keep us concentrated on Israel-Palestine. As Caitlin Johnson says: The West's support for Israel is the No. 1 threat to free speech.

Why we formed CAMPAIN

Mission Statement

As the British establishment doubles down, Palestine supporters need new strategies

From 2015 to 2019, we witnessed the mainstream media’s systematic smearing/defamation of Labour Party members who stood up for the Palestinians, notably involving the BBC. This fraudulent behaviour has been amply revealed by independent media outlets, top-notch journalists like Jonathan Cook, Asa Winstanley, Peter Oborne and Richard Sanders and above all in a forensic study by Paul Holden called, literally, The Fraud.

However, the British Government and the mainstream media are doubling down, apparently showing undying fealty to Israel, a rogue state that enjoys undue influence in our affairs. This is evident in the Government’s absurd deference to Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans and Wes Streeting requiring the NHS to adopt the scurrilous IHRA mis-definition of antisemitism. We need new strategies, and CAMPAIN is playing its part, by bringing a motion to the forthcoming AGM Palestine Solidarity Campaign, a much larger body than CAMPAIN. It’s called Make media reform a strategic priority in PSC’s Annual Plans. We hope you'll be there.

Read about the motion here

Maccabi Tel Aviv THUGS Defended By UK Government - This Is INSANE

14:49

Maccabi Tel Aviv THUGS Defended By UK Government - This Is INSANE

29:34

The NHS and the IHRA Trap

24:12

The Crown Star Condemns Censorship Of Gaza Documentary | Khalid Abdalla Interview

Actions you can take

Your involvement is essential in combating misinformation and misrepresentation. By participating in our initiatives, you can make a substantial difference in our collective efforts.

Stay informed and engaged by joining our free mailing list. By subscribing, you will receive the latest news and updates, ensuring you are always aware of our activities and opportunities to contribute.

Strengthen our cause by becoming a member. Your membership will bolster our initiatives and amplify our impact. Join Us today.

We are committed to providing continuous opportunities for you to engage with our cause. Future actions will include supporting our targeted lobbying efforts, signing open letters which call out misrepresentation, and networking with other organisations to build a broad alliance that can tackle the scale of the problem.

Your participation is invaluable. Together, we can make a significant impact in the fight against misinformation and misrepresentation.

Become a member -
Strengthen our work

Join our Lambeth Witness Group, and campaign for the Churches to provide moral leadership

Join our free mailing list, for news and updates

JUST poster 20th May 2025_edited_edited_

Join our JUST Group and take part in weekly actions for peace and truth in Palestine

Donate to our cause
(you can find our bank details on
the 'Join us' form

- though you don't have to join!)

Latest Posts
hover over image for more information; then click

Join our Mailing list

Help us to grow and be more effective

Heroes and rogues of the British news media

We can count more heroes than rogues, but this does not mean British journalism is heroic. Most media misconduct is carried out silently, by journalists who self-censor or fail to publish stuff that challenges the editorial line of their newspaper or broadcaster. Here, we cite a few key examples that may provide insight into the British media scene.  

We apologise to the many heroes we have not cited. Let us know your comments HERE (link to ‘contact us’)

Patrons

Our Heroes

1/1

Champions of Truth

Our heroes are individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary courage and integrity in the field of journalism. They have gone above and beyond to expose truths, challenge unethical practices, and uphold the highest standards of their profession. Their contributions have significantly impacted public awareness and accountability within the media industry.

Nick Davies

has written extensively as a freelancer, and for the Guardian and the Observer. In his book ‘Flat Earth News’, of 2008, he exposed structural malpractice in journalism in the UK and around the globe. He was also the lead figure in exposing the truth about the News UK phone hacking scandal that came to public attention in 2011, writing the definitive history in his book ‘Hack Attack’ of 2014. Not surprisingly, Peter Oborne (see below) described him as the best investigative journalist in the UK. This blog comments on a video with some of Davies’ key reflections on the hacking scandal.

Lord Justice Leveson

In 2011-12, Leveson chaired a major inquiry into the ‘culture, practices and ethics of the press’, in light of the phone hacking scandal. He recommended a system of independent regulation, initially with cross-party support. However, in 2018 and following strong representations from the press magnates (like Paul Dacre – see opposite), the Government withdrew its support.

A cross-party group led by Kenneth Clark and Ed Milliband, and working with the House of Lords, almost managed to salvage Leveson’s proposals, but was twice narrowly defeated in the House of Commons.

Greg Philo

1947-2024: co-founder and Director of the Glasgow University Media Group, which pioneered the empirical analysis of television news. It showed how media narratives were forged, and how they favoured powerful forces within society. Topics include climate change, conflicts such as Israel/Palestine, the defamation of those who speak up for Palestinians, Northern Ireland, welfare benefits, economics and refugees – see Wikipedia and a tribute from Tom Mills.

Peter Oborne

was the Chief Political Commentator at the Daily Telegraph. He resigned in 2015 alleging that the newspaper was compromising its editorial line in favour of its leading advertisers, notably HSBC. Since then he has become increasingly iconoclastic, publishing 'the Assault on Truth', denouncing the growth of political lying and British newspapers' wholesale collusion in the same (see review by Media Lens), and ‘the Fate of Abraham; why the West is wrong about Islam’. He is also the only British journalist to have produced a documentary shining a light on Britain's pro-Israel Lobby. He writes prolifically and produces podcasts for specialist and alternative media including Declassified UK, Double Down News, openDemocracy, Middle East Eye and Byline Times. See Wikipedia entry.

Justin Schlosberg

a researcher in journalism has led two noteworthy empirical studies for the Media Reform Coalition:

(i) Labour, Antisemitism and the News, a Disinformation Paradigm, exposing wholesale bias and reporting failures behind mainstream media accusations about antisemitism in the Labour Party;
(ii) an in-depth analysis of John Ware’s BBC documentary ’Is Labour Antisemitic’ (see opposite), described as "a catalogue of reporting failures” both with regard to accuracy and impartiality.

Rogues Gallery

1/1

The Dark Side of the News

The rogues of British journalism have played detrimental roles by prioritising personal or corporate interests over journalistic integrity. Their actions have often led to misinformation, unethical practices, and a betrayal of public trust. These individuals have been at the centre of various scandals and controversies, highlighting the darker side of the media landscape.

Rupert Murdoch

was the key cheerleader for the UK’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, based on misinformation about Sadam Hussein’s ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ and relationship with Al Qaeda. Moreover, his News UK group was at the heart of the Phone Hacking scandal, but the punishment hardly matched the catalogue of crimes revealed by Nick Davies (see opposite) and others.

In 2014, six people got either short or suspended sentences for their involvement in the affair. Murdoch’s trusted assistant Rebecca Brooks was exonerated and by 2015 was back as CEO of News UK. According to Chris Bryant (the then shadow Culture Secretary), Murdoch had in effect put “two fingers up to the British public”.
In trying to explain the weak penalties imposed, Nick Davies (writing in Hack Attack, p422) pointed to a vast disparity between the financial resources available to the police and the prosecution on the one hand, and Murdoch on the other, asserting that the latter “had spent a least thirty times as much on the defendants”. In 2018, the Government reneged on Cameron’s commitment to Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry.

Paul Dacre

was formerly Editor of the Daily Mail and is now editor-in-chief of DMG Media. While he campaigned against the suspects acquitted of the 1993 murder in 1993 of Stephen Lawrence, the Mail under Dacre has often been criticised for a racist attitude.

From 1998, he was a key participant in, and advocate for, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). He bears heavy personal responsibility for its failure during the years of phone hacking and other scandals. PCC was closed in 2012, but Dacre helped form IPSO, ‘the Independent Press Standards Organisation which, like the PCC, was answerable to Dacre and other press magnates, but not to the public. At the same time, he became an inveterate opponent of Justice Leveson's regulatory proposal for independent regulation. He defended IPSO describing it as ‘the toughest press regulator in the free world’.

Jonathan Freedland

Many journalists have advanced the case for IHRA mis-definition of antisemitism and contributed to the chorus of allegations about antisemitism in the Labour Party from 2015 onwards. The Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland is one of the leading actors. This article by a former Guardian columnist illustrates the pressure upon journalists to self-censor and conform to the dominant narrative.

Laura Keunssberg

was BBC political editor from 2015 to 2022, after which she replaced Andrew Marr as host of the BBC’s Sunday political interview show. According to Patrick Howes (reported HERE), her strengths lay in her ability to produce a continuous newsfeed and turn early Ministerial briefings into scoops, not in her analytical capabilities. As evidence of this, he cited her reporting on BREXIT and Dominic Cummings breaking lockdown rules. Many have also found her biased against Jeremy Corbyn, as did we at CAMPAIN in our Open Letter to the BBC. We found she had fanned the hue and cry about rampant "Labour antisemitism", treating an unsubstantiated allegation as if it were a fact.

John Ware

Journalist John Ware, for long highly critical of Muslims and the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, is well known for a thoroughly unprofessional BBC Panorama documentary of July 10th 2019 called 'Is Labour Antisemitic'. Upwards of 2,000 people and groups, including CAMPAIN, have complained about the programme, only to find the BBC impervious to criticisms of the documentary’s obvious shortcomings. Most notably almost all the Jews it anonymously presented were officers of the pro-Israeli Jewish Labour Movement, and it failed to interview any anti-Zionist Jews.

Many of those complaining have escalated their complaints to the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, but have been similarly stonewalled.

We surmise that much of the explanation for the BBC’s behaviour lies in the growing politicisation of senior appointments in broadcasting, a matter explored in this blog.

CAMPAIN stands for: Campaign Against Misrepresentation in Public Affairs, Information and the News