EXPRESS REPORTS THAT BUSINESS LEADERS SAY ECONOMY WILL BE STRONGER AFTER BREXIT, BUT THEY’VE SAID NO SUCH THING

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The Daily Express is continuing with its strategy of looking the other way, ignoring any evidence to the contrary and spinning every Brexit-related story to convince its readership that things are gonna be wonderful once we leave the EU.

Despite some worrying economic wobbles and no emergence of any substantial post-Brexit plan, the paper’s message to its demographic of mostly Leave voters is the same every day – don’t listen to the naysayers folks, we’ve definitely done the right thing.

The latest gust of journalistic hot wind featured in an article yesterday called BRITAIN’S ECONOMY WILL BE STRONGER AFTER BREXIT, BUSINESS LEADERS CONFIRM.

Now there is nothing actually wrong with this headline, apart from the bit about business leaders confirming that Britain’s economy will be stronger after Brexit.

What the paper was referring to was an event hosted by the Evening Standard which brought together a handful of business executives, including some who had been supporters of the Remain campaign, to discuss how businesses in London can best move forward now the decision for the UK to extricate itself from the EU has been made.

Unsurprisingly, there were calls to make the best of the situation and a warning that too much ‘doom and gloom’ could create a downward spiral that would further harm the economy.

Those present drew up a 10-point manifesto for how London can best respond to the challenges posed by Brexit.

But according to the Express, attendees ‘made mincemeat out of twin reports from the IMF and PMI this week which suggested the UK’s economy would weaken in the wake of Brexit.’

They did no such thing. They had not been called together to bury their heads in the sand.

The Express article is not able to offer a single example of any of the business representatives present – including those from Barclays and Virgin Money – saying anything about the UK economy strengthening after Brexit.

Nor are there any examples of anyone contradicting any of the evidence that has emerged of the economy struggling in the wake of the referendum vote.

That’s because this didn’t happen. There seems to be a lack of credible business opinion that Brexit has definitely been the right move. So instead the Express has to resort to desperately spinning stories out of the most tenuous of links. Their readers, fed a diet of anti-EU rubbish for so long, are unlikely to notice.

Tabloid Corrections Facebook page: here.

PAPERS ACCUSED BY POLICE OF ‘TRIVIALISING’ ABUSE TOWARDS WOMEN

A police chief has accused newspapers of trivialising attempts to clamp down on misogynistic abuse in the streets.

Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police Sue Fish was talking about her force’s initiative to record street harassment, verbal and physical abuse, and unwanted sexual advances towards women as a ‘hate crime’ in order to try and encourage people to report such offences.

The news was given a sensationalist spin in The Daily Mail and The Telegraph, with both using the headline WOLF WHISTLING TO BECOME A HATE CRIME.

The Guardian and the Huffington Post also reported on the story using the ‘wolf whistling’ angle.

In a statement on the Nottinghamshire Police website, Chief Constable Fish said: ‘Claiming we are focusing on wolf-whistling and cat-calling does nothing more than trivialise our intentions.’

‘We want to encourage women to feel that they can report incidents where they have been made to feel intimidated or frightened by unacceptable unwanted behaviour.’

Nottinghamshire Police have been working with Nottingham Women’s Centre to develop the project after hearing many first-hand accounts from women who have experienced various forms of abuse ‘but felt there was nothing they could do about it’.

Testimonies from women at the Women’s Centre included stories of a builder near a school repeatedly shouting abuse at women with their children, teenagers being sexually propositioned and a woman who was threatened with physical violence by a stranger in a takeaway restaurant.

Tabloid Corrections Facebook page: here.