BE PATRIOTIC, TOP BRITISH MINISTER TELLS NEWS MEDIA

LONDON:The British news media’s long history of holding power to account has faced some challenge in recent years, but advice by a top cabinet minister for the media to be “patriotic” has sparked a backlash.

Andrea Leadsom, leader of the House of Commons and one of Prime Minister Theresa May’s challengers in last year’s Conservative leadership election, was questioned on BBC’s Newsnight on Brexit talks in Brussels and the less-than-enthusiastic response to May’s plans for the future of EU citizens in the UK.

To tough questions from presenter Emily Maitlis, Leadsom said: “It would be helpful if broadcasters were willing to be a bit patriotic. The country took a decision, (and) this government is determined to deliver on that decision.

“We took a decision a year ago today to leave the European Union, we have a very strong hand and we are very well prepared for the negotiations.”

Media academics criticised Leadsom’s comment, saying it would have resonance in India and elsewhere.

Savyasaachi Jain, senior lecturer at Swansea University, said: “Asking media to be ‘patriotic’ is often no more than a thinly disguised effort by politicians to get the media to fall in line.

“Unfortunately, this phenomenon seems to have gathered pace in recent years, taking the form of labelling the media as ‘fake news’ in the US or ‘’lugenpresse’ (lying press) in Germany, or ‘presstitutes’ in India.”