Mail on Sunday made false claims about Labour's tax plans

[Mike Sales]

The Mail on Sunday falsely claimed that Labour was planning to scrap a tax exemption on homeowners, in a prominent story that has since been used by the Conservatives as part of their election campaign.
The press regulator Ipso ruled that the newspaper’s reporting was inaccurate and “could cause significant concern to readers that, under a Labour government, they could be liable to pay a tax they are exempt from under current legislation.”
The Mail on Sunday headline was then used in Conservative campaign literature and shared by Tory politicians on social media.
The story said Labour wanted “to scrap the capital gains tax exemption on main homes”, citing a report called Land for the Many, written for Labour by a group of academics and campaigners.
Contrary to the Mail on Sunday’s claims, the third-party report explicitly rejected proposals to scrap the capital gains tax exemption for main homes, and instead recommended an annual levy on any increase in value of a property.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/09/ipso-rebukes-mail-on-sunday-over-labour-movers-tax-claim

[[XAP]Bob]

In other news water is wet, bears defecate in the woods...

[Mike Sales]

In other news water is wet, bears defecate in the woods...

Nice to see 'em bang to rights though.

[dodger]

Anybody know why The Mail is so anti-Labour?
Is there something they fear, or is it simply the whim of the (technically, but not really) expat owner?

[francovendee]

Can't imagine why anyone would be surprised by anything printed in the Mail publications.
They are a very successful paper and clearly aim their articles and the way they are written at a certain section of the public who just want their own views reinforced.

[Mike Sales]

Monbiot writes about how the Mail has avoided publishing the IPSO mandated correction until after the election.

Two weeks ago, Ipso ruled against the paper, and imposed a major sanction. The Mail on Sunday asked for a review of the decision, delaying its publication.
As far as voters are concerned, the lie stands. A key claim used to tip the balance against Labour remains uncorrected
The review upheld the decision, but it still hasn’t been published. So, as far as voters are concerned, the lie stands. A key claim used to tip the balance against Labour remains uncorrected. I owe more to the truth than I do to the embargo.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/10/break-embargo-expose-press-lies-labour

[Mick F]

People only buy the newspapers that reflect their own personal views.
One cannot buy a "newspaper" which is independent of political bias.

[Mike Sales]

People only buy the newspapers that reflect their own personal views.
One cannot buy a "newspaper" which is independent of political bias.

Political bias in editorial opinion is one thing.
Printing demonstrably false reporting is quite another.

[bovlomov]

People only buy the newspapers that reflect their own personal views.
One cannot buy a "newspaper" which is independent of political bias.

Political bias in editorial opinion is one thing.
Printing demonstrably false reporting is quite another.

Once more, we need to guard against the idea that 'they are all as bad as each other'. They are not.

All papers editorialise. Some print absolute lies. All put their own spin on the news. Some invent stories. The Mail and Telegraph are, by any measure, worse than the Times and Guardian.

Disclosure: I'm no fan of any of them. I stopped buying the Guardian because I felt its choice of stories and the weight it gave them was editorialising to an unacceptable degree. I've tried a few others and am unhappy with all. For a while I found the NY Times to be the best for me, mainly due to its lack of interest in UK political gossip.

[PDQ Mobile]

As a general point I think much of the European Press is better than much of the UK's.

We had a detailed report about the abuses so prevalent in the UK Press not so long ago.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveson_Inquiry

It found that the existing Press Complaints Commitee was severely wanting and should be replaced by something with more "teeth".

The Tories initially gave lip service to the idea but have since backtracked. The whole report is now sidelined and disregarded.
It is a disgrace.

The power of the Press extends right into the very heart of this Govt in particular- they are controlled by it. Hence the inaction.
That in itself is a travesty and a reason to be very concerned.

I think, and I do not hsve time to research it, that a Labour administration would implement some of Leveson's recommendations. They are long overdue IMV.

An excellent reason to wish for a change of Govt.

[djnotts]

Expect worse mis-truths tomorrow.... even if have to retract and apologise on Friday!

[Polisman]

The Queen is dead. She had a massive haemorrhage this afternoon and passed peacefully in Buckingham Palace around 3pm.

[Polisman]

The Queen is dead. She had a massive haemorrhage this afternoon and passed peacefully in Buckingham Palace around 3pm.

This story broke on Reddit about a month ago, and people are still re tweeting and circulating it, even though its palpably and proven untrue.

Something is wrong with the world, and politics. The buck for truth has to stop with someone and somewhere. I hope people involved in dissemination of lies and mistruths in this election campaign get jail time. They so richly deserve it.