Remember this Daily Star front page from last week?
The article, which dubiously claimed that the English Defence League were going to become a political party, could not have been more sympathetic towards the far-right group.
Not only was it entirely uncritical and one-sided, it was also accompanied by the news that “98% of readers said they agreed with the EDL’s policies”.
This front page story was sandwiched between two other arguably pro-EDL articles; one claiming that the EDL “will fight for hero’s [sic]” and another about supposed threats made to the group’s leader, Stephen Lennon.
On Sunday, I blogged about how the Daily Star Sunday had decided not to jump on the EDL bandwagon, publishing a number of articles which were very critical of the group.
Well now, it seems like the Daily Star has backed off from its support. According to the Jewish Chronicle:
A spokesman said: “The Daily Star will clearly not be endorsing EDL in the future.”
We cannot be sure of the reasons for this sudden change in course. If we believe the Daily Star’s initial poll on the EDL, it’s safe to say that the decision wasn’t made to keep its readers happy. Was the U-turn down to Richard Desmond? We may never know.
Either way, you can rest assured that the Star will still continue the drip-drip of stories that unfairly and disproportionately demonise Muslims, supporting the EDL in all but name.
(Hat-tip to Roy Greenslade.)
Interesting that the comment from the Star seems to confirm that the paper actually did back the EDL. It doesn't say 'the Star doesn't back the EDL'.