Editors tell political parties to ditch fake newspapers

POLITICAL parties will be named and shamed for using “absurd” fake local newspapers as campaign material, the Society of Editors has warned.

The society said the practice is “insulting to the electorate”, and pledged to take action to stamp it out as the next general election approaches.

Earlier this month, the Liberal Democrats were criticised for distributing material that mimicked local newspapers.

The Conservative Party faced criticism last year after using the name of the defunct Lincoln Chronicle on material distributed in the area, as well as using fictional newspaper titles on campaign literature.

The Society of Editors, which represents newspapers and broadcasters at a national, regional and local level, wrote to all the political parties yesterday urging them not to engage in the practice.

Dawn Alford, the chief executive, said: “We have written to representatives of all political parties urging them to put an end to this mimicry as well as vowing to name and shame those who continue to attempt to pull the wool over voters’ eyes.”

The fake title “Wokingham Focus” in Berkshire, distributed by the Liberal

Democrats, had a mocked-up front page criticising local Conservative MP, Sir John Redwood, over his record on dealing with sewage.

Phil Creighton, the editor of local newspaper Wokingham Today, shared a photograph of the material online, and said: “Seriously disappointed to see this. No political party should be issuing campaign material that looks like a bona fide local newspaper – it can easily be mistaken for the real thing.”

Liberal Democrats in Sheffield similarly distributed material made to look like a local newspaper called the “Hallamshire Herald”, which they used to attack the local Labour Party.

Ms Alford said: “Not only does this absurd practice damage democracy and undermine public trust in both politics and the news media, but it is also insulting to the electorate.

“Instead of employing vast time and effort into brazen deception, parties should instead look to highlight and promote the work of the actual local press as a trusted source of news and information to the public.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “All election literature comes with a legally required imprint. This imprint makes it clear the literature is from the Conservative Party.”

The Liberal Democrats have been approached for comment.