Cut & pasting
Local media , Issue 1680

IN SELLING his exciting vision of a more devolved UK, Andy Burnham has been helped by a toothless local press that struggles to hold his claims to account.

Late last month, regional papers around the country were sent an article purporting to be written by Burnham, giving the future PM’s “pitch” to their local area. There was just one problem: each piece was almost exactly the same, with the place names changed.

So while Burnham promised “growth in every postcode, hope in every heart”, the articles failed to account for existing variations around the country.

Suspicious minds
To their credit, hacks at WalesOnline were unimpressed and opted not to print the column. Instead, in a published piece, the paper criticised Burnham for sloppily saying he wanted to give greater autonomy to Wales over housing, business rates and education – pointing out that all three are already controlled by the Welsh government.

Most weren’t so thorough. The Scotsman published the piece in full, enabling Burnham to pledge that under him, Scotland would be able to “take greater public control of essential services such as water and transport” – something of an empty promise: Scottish Water has always been publicly owned, while ScotRail was renationalised in 2022.

Low Standard
Even worse was the London Standard, which printed Burnham’s piece with a separate “exclusive” news story it extrapolated from the column under the headline: “Andy Burnham: I’ll cut transport fares in London to lower cost of living for millions.”

Burnham’s cut-and-paste article hadn’t promised anything of the kind. While he had vaguely claimed he would “bring down the cost” of “essentials”, including transport, his basis for that aim was following the model of Greater Manchester’s bus system.

As rival local outlet London Centric pointed out a few days later, Manchester’s bus system was copied from London, and London already has lower bus fares than Manchester, making the idea of lower fares unlikely.

But who cares about the details? Certainly not the London Standard.

More top stories in the latest issue:

HOW CHURNALISM WORKS
Who needs journalists! Enterprising bosses at Reach plc are letting PRs write directly on their newspaper websites using their own names.

EXPRESS GRATITUDE
The Express made much of its Ann Widdecombe link after her death, calling her an “Express colossus” – but it didn’t mention having fired her in 2024.

NO CENSOR SHAME
Telegraph columnist and free speech champion Allison Pearson seems less keen on free expression when someone takes issue with her own work.

DATA PUSH
As Palantir’s share price slumps and calls to end its data contract with the NHS grow, the company’s cheerleaders in the UK press have sprung into action.

ORBAN RENEWAL
THE de-Orbanisation of Hungarian society under its new prime minister has caused turbulence among contributors to UnHerd and the Spectator.

THE PRINCE AND THE PAPER
Prince Harry et al achieved something special in spending four years fighting a court case at which every single one of their 97 claims was firmly rejected.