The new Daily Express editor, Gary Jones, has highlighted the impact of the Stop Funding Hate campaign on his thinking, and talked about the changes he’s made since taking over the newspaper last year.
In 2016, the Daily Express ran around 70 anti-migrant front page stories – more than any other UK newspaper. Since Gary Jones was appointed, this has dropped to zero.
In an interview with Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Jones was asked:
“What’s been your biggest success do you think? In terms of change?”
GJ: “We were on… Stop Funding Hate’s list, and I was conscious of that from… early days…”
KGM: “Because of Islamophobia?”
GJ: “Yeah, yeah. That kind of troubled me greatly. You know, ‘Stop Funding Hate’ – I mean the mere words don’t resonate well with anybody. And they published a report actually not long into my tenure that kind of said look, they noted the Express had changed – and that was really important to me…”
Together we’re showing that hate can be challenged – and pushed back
When we started this campaign, we never expected to see such a big change so quickly.
But together we’re proving that the rise of hate is not inevitable.
The change at the Express shows that when enough of us come together and use our voices as consumers, even the most powerful media organisations can be persuaded to rethink their approach.
Now let’s make hate unprofitable for good
Together we’ve shown that hate can be challenged, and pushed back – but with your support we can go further.
Your donation will help to build our movement, train more activists, share our tactics more widely, and persuade more big brands to ensure that they stop funding hate on an ongoing basis.
Please support our work and let’s make hate unprofitable for good!