From Europe News:
The Daily Star regularly asks its readers to call in to comment on their stories. As the video below reveals, most stories receive only a handful of calls. But when asked whether readers supported the policies of the EDL, the paper received over 2000 responses – 99% of them in support of the EDL.
Now we should point out that we don’t have policies as such – we’re not a political party, so we have no need for them. But what we do have is some pretty clear ideas about what’s going wrong with this country and what we’d like to change. Further information is available in our Mission Statement, but it is probably fair to say that the following three points sum up what it is we want:
We want the government to outline a convincing strategy for defeating Islamic extremism.
We want the Muslim community to make serious efforts to counter extremism.
We want an open and honest debate about Islamic extremism; about what we can do to stop it, and about its causes.
There are larger issues which have prevented these things from happening, including, but not limited to, a seriously flawed approach to immigration, a profound misunderstanding of the nature of the threat posed by Islamic extremism (in its many forms), and the increasing demonisation (or even criminalisation) of dissenting views – however respectful and fair-minded they might be.
Unfortunately, these larger issues provoke a lot of controversy, and there are many who see criticisms of current immigration policy, criticisms of the unrealistically positive portrayal of the religion of peace, and criticisms of the steady erosion of freedom of speech, as forms of extremism that must be countered by whatever means necessary – no matter the form in which these criticisms are made.
These issues have an impact on peoples’ lives, and so do attempts to portray legitimate concerns as bigotry or prejudice. So it’s no wonder that those who do not want to recognise these concerns, or the criticisms that grow out of them, also do not want to accept how widespread the appeal of the EDL really is.
Not everyone will join a demonstration. Not everyone will publicly announce their support for the EDL on Facebook. But the Daily Star clearly recognised that we are talking about issues that matter to people, and that we’re representing voices that are struggling to be heard.
The following video is of former Daily Star journalist Richard Peppitt giving evidence at the Leveson enquiry, which is looking into press standards and ethics following the recent phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.
Despite the condemnation that the Daily Star attracted for merely reporting on issues that evidently mattered to people, it’s interesting to note that these figures were never made public at the time. If we’re looking to make generalisations based on surveys of 2000 people, then the evidence is clear: we’re actually rather popular!
Video: 99% of Daily Star Respondents Support the EDL
English Defence League 1 December 2011
Now we should point out that we don’t have policies as such – we’re not a political party, so we have no need for them. But what we do have is some pretty clear ideas about what’s going wrong with this country and what we’d like to change. Further information is available in our Mission Statement, but it is probably fair to say that the following three points sum up what it is we want:
We want the government to outline a convincing strategy for defeating Islamic extremism.
We want the Muslim community to make serious efforts to counter extremism.
We want an open and honest debate about Islamic extremism; about what we can do to stop it, and about its causes.
There are larger issues which have prevented these things from happening, including, but not limited to, a seriously flawed approach to immigration, a profound misunderstanding of the nature of the threat posed by Islamic extremism (in its many forms), and the increasing demonisation (or even criminalisation) of dissenting views – however respectful and fair-minded they might be.
Unfortunately, these larger issues provoke a lot of controversy, and there are many who see criticisms of current immigration policy, criticisms of the unrealistically positive portrayal of the religion of peace, and criticisms of the steady erosion of freedom of speech, as forms of extremism that must be countered by whatever means necessary – no matter the form in which these criticisms are made.
These issues have an impact on peoples’ lives, and so do attempts to portray legitimate concerns as bigotry or prejudice. So it’s no wonder that those who do not want to recognise these concerns, or the criticisms that grow out of them, also do not want to accept how widespread the appeal of the EDL really is.
Not everyone will join a demonstration. Not everyone will publicly announce their support for the EDL on Facebook. But the Daily Star clearly recognised that we are talking about issues that matter to people, and that we’re representing voices that are struggling to be heard.
The following video is of former Daily Star journalist Richard Peppitt giving evidence at the Leveson enquiry, which is looking into press standards and ethics following the recent phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.
Despite the condemnation that the Daily Star attracted for merely reporting on issues that evidently mattered to people, it’s interesting to note that these figures were never made public at the time. If we’re looking to make generalisations based on surveys of 2000 people, then the evidence is clear: we’re actually rather popular!
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