ALL the really great writers and thinkers?????

I think there are plenty of great journalists in this country if you bother to look for them and as for the media not ‘upsetting the powers that be’ then I suppose that does not include the supposedly establishment Daily Telegraph then who have basically bought Parliament to its knees? Sure, they paid for the privilege but that was money well spent in my eyes and they did us all a great favour. And trust me this is where the media has truly hurt the ‘powers that be’ and shown the vital role for democracy the press plays in this country.

And OK, you didn’t like the first BNP piece – that is your choice and I understand why you say that. But to say papers don’t wnat to upset the racists is ridiculous. Have you READ any of the national papers lately? A strong anti-BNP consensus is growing in papers of the left, right and centre – perhaps you have chosen not to see that?

We are not all bad mate. Honest.

We don’t. We do however seriously question the intelligence of some in the media. And that’s quite a concern when it results in fascist rhetoric being regurgitated unquestioningly, and a family of racists being portrayed as The Waltons.

With regards to treating the BNP in a ‘fair and balanced way’ – they are a party of extremists who would not treat non-whites, LGBT people, trade unionists, lefties, travellers etc etc etc in a ‘fair and balanced way’ if they got a whiff of power (to say the very least) so why should they be treated ‘fairly’? And let’s be honest, ‘fairly’ here translates to ‘dishonestly’. I simply could not believe that fluffy piece written about them – sickening stuff.

And I for one will never ‘defend to the death’ a fascist’s ‘right’ to promote hatred and violence towards minority groups. No way.

Thank you Sarah – please keep it up!

I am afraid you just don’t get what independent, impartial journalism is all about.

I have said throughout this thread that in a news story (not a comment one) in the regional press journalists should be as impartial as possible and let the readers make up their own mind.

That quote was said by the BNP and there was nothing I could (or should) have added to – in my opinion the man was condemned out of his own mouth. You see it, I saw, it, I think readers will see it. If I had qualified it then I could have been accused of spin or proganda – that is NOT MY JOB. And if people thought that I was spinning the story I would lose all my credibility as a journalist and peopel wouldn’t believe any element of the story.

Taking further, should I have also have ‘qualified’ what the Bath Activist Network, the Labour MEP, the Lib Dem, guy, the Green canddiate or the English Democrat one said as well?

Our job in a news story is to report what is said and let the readers make their own mind up. Don’t understimate the intelligence of our readers.

Sam, I’m sorry if you feel I’m picking on you but I have an issue with the latest piece. If you’re going to use a quote like this:

“In recent weeks, I have shaken hands with Negroes, Muslims, Arabs – even my dentist is Egyptian. I am not a racialist. The BNP just puts the British people first and foremost.”

You might perhaps want to point out that it is possible to be “Negroe” or “Muslim” and also be British. Because without such mitigating comment, use of this quote implies that only white people can be British.

It’s rather strange to realise that the BNP candidate hasn’t understood that putting “British people first and foremost” is itself a ‘racialist’ viewpoint. So it’s hardly surprising that he believes that his party’s manifesto isn’t racist!

Thanks for a great report, Sam.
Hope we’ll see more in the future.