British media has lost the ability to influence public opinion

If you only looked at the British media, you'd think that Jeremy Corbyn's political career was over. Recently the American media has echoed the same sentiments.

NewYorker: Jeremy Corbyn’s Anti-Semitism Crisis
VanityFair: Jeremy Corbyn’s Anti-Semitism Scandal Is Spiraling Out of Control

It's universally understood in the British media that Jeremy Corbyn is a racist anti-semite.
Labour may as well start the search for Corbyn's replacement.

Before we bury Corbyn, maybe we should ask what the British public thinks?

The row over Jeremy Corbyn and whether or not he laid a wreath to commemmorate people connected to the Munich Olympic Massacre is a classic example of this. It has been the main political story for the last four days, yet YouGov polling today suggests it will have little impact. Only 6% of people say they are following the story closely, 20% fairly closely. Over half of the public say they aren’t following the story at all all (27%) or are completely unaware of it (26%).
...Overall, 16% of those who were aware of the story (that’s 16% of 74%, so about 12%) say it has made them think worse of Corbyn, but 68% say it has made no difference (21% because they had a good impression of Corbyn and still do, 47% because they had a negative impression of Corbyn and still do). Even that 16% is mostly made up of Conservative and Lib Dem supporters, who presumably were not Corbyn admirers to begin with.

It's like Americans with Russiagate. All of the media coverage in the world won't make it relevant to the lives of average voters.
Even Bloomberg has had to grudgingly admit the lack of impact in the polls.
Not only that, polls indicate that four million more voters could switch to Labour if the Tories continue to bungle Brexit, and if Corbyn announces his support of a new referendum.

How this plays out may be important to Americans, because the right-wing is already accusing progressives of being anti-Semitic if they don't obey the Israeli lobby.
(See here and here)

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Raggedy Ann's picture

They have tried hard to disparage Corbyn. It doesn't seem to be working and this essay validates that observation.

I am not anti-semitic. I am anti-Israel.

Pleasantry

up
0 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

up
0 users have voted.

@lotlizard

The corporate elite weaponised anti-semitism not because they care about the safety of Jews, or because they really believe that Corbyn is an anti-semite. They chose it because it is the most destructive weapon – short of sex-crime smears and assassination – they have in their armoury.

The truth is the ruling elite are exploiting British Jews and fuelling their fears as part of a much larger power game in which all of us – the 99 per cent – are expendable. They will keep stoking this campaign to stigmatise Corbyn, even if a political backlash actually does lead to an increase in real, rather than phoney, anti-semitism.

I'm surprised they haven't accused him of being a pedophile already.

up
0 users have voted.

the beginning of the end of the dollar

Germany and France said they’re working on financing solutions to sidestep U.S. sanctions against countries such as Iran, including a possible role for central banks.

The discussions, which also involve the U.K., are a signal that European powers are trying to get serious about demonstrating a greater level of independence from the U.S. as President Donald Trump pursues his “America First” agenda.

“With Germany, we are determined to work on an independent European or Franco-German financing tool which would allow us to avoid being the collateral victims of U.S. extra-territorial sanctions,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday during a meeting with press association AJEF. “I want Europe to be a sovereign continent not a vassal, and that means having totally independent financing instruments that do not today exist.”

up
0 users have voted.
Wink's picture

Not the end, but
@gjohnsit
Europe is smartening up!

up
0 users have voted.

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Mark from Queens's picture

Did a piece in my OT last year on the Glenfell Tower tragedy.

Check out this brilliant local guy who plastered another hapless lapdog of the corporate status quo masquerading as a journalist:

"Yesterday I watched on the media whereby some government minister, Theresa May or somebody, stands up and tells me about, 'lessons must be learned.' Do not dismiss or think you can bury this community in some hollow platitude, about “lessons will be learned..."

Do not dismiss this community as some ignorant, low IQ community. We're not going to be dismissed with hollow platitudes which you use to bury this, and give those who are responsible - you mitigate those who are responsible for those decisions.

This is not a case of negligence. This is a case of corporate manslaughter.

People should be held accountable. People should be in jail for this. But I very much doubt we will get that with this corrupt government.

You people are lucky there’s not an uprising in this country. If I had my way I wouldn’t be sitting out here talking - you'd be the one of the first places I’d be seizing.

You the media. You would be held hostage. You are the ones who facilitate this. You are the mouthpiece of this government. You are the people who make this possible. You are the ones who validate it. You are just as culpable as this government, holding it together since Thatcher and Reagan. You've monopolized and capitalized this country. It's not only about money. I had one guy from ITV Newsman say to my face, 'oh well look at the real estate here in Nottingham.' Is that how you look at it? You see people's lives, you see people in ashes and you talk about real estate?

You're lucky you never get lynched...

What do I want to happen? I want there to be a revolution in this country. I say fuck the media, fuck the mainstream. You don't deserve to be there. We should be campaigning not to government, but to the BBC, who act as mouthpieces for this corrupt government. People need a revolution in this country - nothing short of that. And if it was any other country they'd done a bit of revolution.

We've seen how you, the mainstream media, have responded and reacted. For two years you've hounded and demonized Jeremy Corbyn. You said he was unelectable, 'there's no possibility of this man being elected.'

You created that narrative, and people actually believed your bullshit - for a while.

But what this the election has done is shown that people are immune. They're in bulletproof vests to you and the other billionaires sort of media owners, and Rupert Murdoch and all those other motherfuckers. They're immune to that shit there. And that is a vote of confidence; not in terms of Jeremy Corbyn, but it dismisses May. But it also stands up to you as the mainstream media. It identifies the mainstream media as motherfuckers. You are a bunch of motherfuckers.

There are a few other examples in the OT of people on the ground, living in Neoliberal austerity, who completely get it. And understand how it works and who are the culprits.

up
0 users have voted.

"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

ggersh's picture

@Mark from Queens only thing he gets wrong is the revolution bit,
we in amerika haven't done jack in that area, but
he is right in that we need one, most likely it
should be global as I cant think of any countries
outside of Iceland that are free.

People need a revolution in this country - nothing short of that. And if it was any other country they'd done a bit of revolution.

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley