Run your thumb along the sliding scale of media things. By this measure something can be real – or it can become a thing only after being mentioned so often by the media. This handy ruler in part explains the long-suppurating row about antisemitism in Labour.
Chase down angry wormholes on Twitter and you will discover that there is no problem at all and it’s all the invention of a hostile ‘establishment’ media opposed to Jeremy Corbyn ever becoming prime minister. Emerge blinking from those caves and you might wonder at the difference in what’s said down there and ‘up here’.
In the latest twist to this sorry tale, Derby North MP Chris Williamson, a close ally of Corbyn’s, was filmed at a meeting saying that Labour had been “too apologetic” about antisemitism. He has been suspended pending an internal inquiry – or possibly a bit of mildly condemnatory mumbling.
Returning to that sliding scale, if antisemitism never was a thing, it has become one now. An odd turnabout when Jeremy Corbyn is clearly an anti-racist politician, but he is an anti-racist politician with certain set views (Palestine good, Israel evil). While it is perfectly reasonable to condemn Israel’s actions and aggression, 6.5 million Jews live in Israel, so sometimes being anti-Israel can be interpreted as being anti-Jewish.
The vile treatment meted out to the Jewish MP Luciana Berger, who was among those who quit the party last week, certainly suggests a strain of antisemitism in Labour. Such prejudice clearly exists, but it also clearly exists in society, and are the percentages higher among Labour members? No idea, by the way – it’s only a question.
What’s undeniable is that the problem has grown under Corbyn’s tenure and he doesn’t seem able to put out that fire. In this unhappy situation, blaming the ‘mainstream media’ is a favourite tactic.
While valid criticism can be flung at the media – too London-centric, too dominated by upper middle-class people, too nepotistic – blaming the media for everything allows Corbyn to hide behind a banner saying: “Nothing to do with me – it’s all their fault.”
It also puts him in odd company. Donald Trump is forever laying into the mainstream media for their ‘lies’. He attacks fake news all the time, and what he means by that is any news that doesn’t flatter him, or any questions that are awkward.
At a recent “let’s pretend there’s an election” rally, Jeremy Corbyn used part of his speech to criticise Sky News for wanting to ask questions about topics he’d rather not address; yet that’s their job when dealing with him and all politicians.
More worryingly, on the same day that Corbyn rallied followers in the Broxtowe constituency of ex-Tory MP Anny Soubry, the vile Tommy Robinson was holding his own rally outside of the BBC’s offices in Salford. This was in protest at Panorama daring to investigate him. In an extreme example of anti-media behaviour, the former leader of the English Defence League drew a crowd estimated at 4,000 (what percentage of those were bullying big-bellied thugs is anyone’s guess).
Jeremy Corbyn clearly has nothing in common with Tommy Robinson – other than a willingness to lay into the ‘mainstream media’. He is also far from the first Labour leader to suffer at the hands of a hostile press, as Neil Kinnock will remember (“If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights”).
Back then hostile headlines in the Sun had more punch than they do now. And all Labour supporters could do was air their grievances down the pub after another dull meeting.
The ‘mainstream media’ is still powerful, of course, but that power has been diluted by social media. And the very Labour supporters who disparage the ‘mainstream media’ can now have their opinions widely shared in what you could, on an optimistic day, call a democracy of opinion created by social media.
Not that optimistic days come along that often.