• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact

Daily Business Magazine

A magazine complement to the Daily Business website

  • Life, Arts & Leisure
    • Creative
    • Festival
      • Festival Reviews
    • Film
    • Food & Drink
    • Stage Shows
    • Life
    • Leisure
      • Rio Recommends – dog walks and cafes
    • Homes
    • Style
    • Travel
  • Opinion
    • Bill Magee
    • Craig Alexander Rattray
    • Karen Harvie
    • Keith Anderson
    • Russell Dalgleish
    • Terry Murden
  • Interviews
  • Notebook
  • Working Life
    • Careers & Management
    • Finance and legal
    • Technology
      • Tech Talk
    • Well Being
  • Daily Business News
    • All Content

Boris can see off the media by staying true to himself

December 30, 2019 by Steve Sampson Leave a Comment

Boris Johnson: staying chaotically nutty may be the best solution

STEVE SAMPSON offers some tongue-in-cheek advice to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on media bias and how to defeat the BBC  

It’s a new political year. A thumping Tory majority to club any opposition with the enthusiasm of a seal cull. Boris’s political opponents are in disarray. Only the media are still seething – they believe they are the sole bulwark against his rampant extravagancies and Armageddon.

Here’s what Boris should do when he gets back from his Caribbean break to whip the reptiles into submission.

For a start, lift the ridiculous BBC Radio 4 ban. Bans don’t work, just ask Sir Alex Ferguson who banned the Beeb for intruding into his family’s commercial dealings. It made the Manchester United sponsors jittery.

Is the BBC unbiased? Must be, it is being attacked equally from all sides. Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg is excellent, Andrew Neil is the biggest beast and no leftie. Can they move opinions and votes?  Neil eviscerated Nicola Sturgeon on her record, left her floundering as never seen before. Didn’t alter a thing. Boris dodged him. The result is a thumping majority.

Solution:  Ignore bans and petty squabbling. Drop a bomb instead, make Neil Director General, and take it into the Netflix future. Scrub the millions spent on local websites and insane ideas like BBC Scotland’s Nine, produce more brilliant drama, do a deal with Amazon to win back live Premier League football. Demand every newsroom has a subscription to the Daily Telegraph.

Channel 4 News makes no pretensions – it hates Boris, starting with “F*ck the Tories” geriatric presenter Jon Snow. It’s brilliantly self-indulgent journalism, so slanted it makes The Guardian look middle of the road. But it’s must-watch TV, especially on Election night where it was fabulously shambolic.  Way more relevant than Sky News.  But who needs it?  The Government owns it, quite why nobody knows. It makes a profit unlike the railways.

Solution: Flog it for billions, stick the proceeds into the NHS and Redcar to keep your new Red Wallers smiling.

Sky is journalism’s germ-free clean machine. Hugely professional, covers everything beautifully. But does anyone give a damn?  Ever hear it quoted or complained about?  It has been so intent on distancing itself from The Sun and Fox News, the other Murdoch owned giants, that it has the identity of a hermaphrodite. Queen-building Sophie Ridge on Sunday hasn’t really worked. The only thing heavyweight about Editor at Large Adam Bolton is his monstrous girth. He squealed like a piglet when Alistair Campbell took him on. Worst of all – whoever thought John Bercow was a ratings winner should be shot. Don’t wait for dawn. Take Bercow too.

Solution: Keep them tight. Slow underarm bowling interviewing, that’s a plus. Murdoch has flogged it for billions, so no advantage in sucking up to them anymore for nice Sun headlines. Useful stick to beat those you don’t like, give Sky some exclusives to annoy them.  Beyond that, no-one’s watching.

ITV is the well-oiled machine, packed with medium-paced seamers. A new poll shows it to be more trustworthy than the BBC. You can always rely on it for a highly professional performance which won’t frighten the horses. It won the Election night coverage by a distance which was a surprise. Alan Johnson taking on Momentum a genuine headline from a night of big headlines.  An off-guard Prince Harry gave presenter Tom Bradby what will be an award-winning scoop. I bet no-one got drunk at its Christmas party or made a pass at the minxy blonde from the post room. They’re too buttoned up for malarkey.

Solution:  No change is good change. ITV will give Boris a fair shake – which these days is the most a new Prime Minister can ask for.

The Sun won it for John Major by destroying Neil Kinnock with the infamous lightbulb front page.  That was then, this is now. The tabloids don’t alter the course of Elections. Unless they catch you reversing out the backend of a camel in Oxford Street at 3am. Which in Boris’s case might be a vote winner. Major actually deluded himself that voters backed him. As opposed to rejecting Kinnock. I know – I was there.  And the daily sale was over four million.

Solution:  The Sun and the Daily Mail will stick with Boris – as long as he throws them some of the more wild republican ideas. No problem there then. More important to have them onside when he has another “red wine moment” with lover Carrie Symonds. The Daily Mirror, The Guardian? He’ll never win them over, so don’t bother.  Does Redcar Man or Woman read them? Probably not.

Social media is the huge unknown. It has destroyed traditional media. Readers and personalities have long since by-passed linear TV and print. But who to believe? The users certainly sniff out BS fast, phonies get short shrift. You might like Boris but you won’t take spoon-fed hand-outs. The prize is straight line access to millions of targeted voters. No Andrew Neil lurking in the undergrowth. But how do you make it authentic?

Solution:  Pour over the post-Election social stats. Keep piling millions into the dark arts. Threaten Facebook and Twitter with a real tax bill if they resist, not the sop of Prime Minister Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne. That should do it.

Lastly, the luvvies.  Blair had all the coke-snorters in his new Camelot. That backfired on him like an Italian tank. Hugh Grant canvassed in four constituencies against the Tories. His efforts lost them all. Steve Coogan no better.  One Election at The Sun we got the astrologer to ask Elvis, Adolf Hitler and Lord Lucan for their voting opinions. Way more relevant. They got it right as well.

Solution:  Don’t go all Hollywood on us Boris.  Stay as chaotically nutty as you are. You only need you.

Steve Sampson is former Assistant, Northern and Scottish Editor of The Sun newspaper and director of Trinity Mirror publications. He was a launch presenter of Radio5 Live, founder of First Press Publishing and contributes to the BBC. He is an investor/owner across a series of digital initiatives, and a media adviser.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Opinion, Steve Sampson

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar



Editor’s Pick

Struan Stevenson

Holyrood must get a grip on the bad bets

Struan Stevenson

… [More...] about Holyrood must get a grip on the bad bets

Bill Magee

Crypto needs rules to rein in volatility

Bill Magee

… [More...] about Crypto needs rules to rein in volatility

Terry Murden

Pay claims still driven by the ‘us and them’ grievance

Terry Murden

… [More...] about Pay claims still driven by the ‘us and them’ grievance

Reston Station

Reston back on track after half a century

Julena Drumi

… [More...] about Reston back on track after half a century

Advertising



Footer

  • All Content
  • Site Map
  • Privacy Policy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • WordPress

Copyright © 2022 · Design by jPAD Consulting · Magazine Pro · Genesis Framework

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...