Britain’s enfant terrible of journalism is not what it seems. Once The Guardian newspaper spoke ‘their truth’ to power, now it is the voice for the new establishment and all manner of nefarious interests. How do we know this? Sport shows the way. The popular game of association football, and its showpiece tournament, is the analytical device by which press fairness and reliability can be assessed. Reporting on the 2022 FIFA World Cup is the litmus test that shows which newspapers can and cannot be trusted.
In a report, illustrated with detailed analysis, titled Who Can Be Trusted? Fake News and the FIFA 2022 World Cup Media Coverage it has been shown that sections of the press may have fallen prey to an insidious campaign that weaponises workers’ rights to undermine the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Hypocrisy is also exposed as some turn a relative blind eye to other tournaments in countries with appalling human rights records. The Guardian newspaper has published articles claiming that 6,500 workers have died as a result of constructing world cup venues; shocking if true. However, a full independent evaluation by FIFA Ethics and Regulations Watch tells a very different story.
The conclusions are stark. Original research in the report exposes serious discrepancies in press reporting and shows that readers cannot trust The Guardian newspaper. Through analysing coverage of sport tournaments, where facts should trump any political agenda that a newspaper may have, we can discern that some newspapers are either dishonest, the useful idiots of an insidious agenda, or perhaps even willing actors in a deceitful campaign.
Sport is now the continuation of politics by other means. For good or ill, the two are irrevocably linked. It is now an integral part of influencing government policy on benefits, a part of weaponizing anti-racism campaigns as we saw in the final of the Euro 2020 championship, and is an established part of the culture war. Indeed, the FIFA 2022 World Cup is a political football in a wider cold war for power and prestige in the Persian Gulf. It appears The Guardian have taken a side in that dispute and are playing along with someone else’s game in that regional cold war. Britain has a dog in the fight; the UK relies on Qatar for the liquefied natural gas that heats homes and generates the electricity that keeps the lights on.
The question is why has The Guardian decided to take such an editorial decision regarding the world cup? The Saudi led campaign against Qatar, which even went so far as instituting a blockade to force them into surrendering the world cup, may be playing a part. The Guardian, and other woke outlets, have become voices for the security services. It has been found that The Guardian is paid to produce articles on similar topics to those which disparage the FIFA 2022 World Cup. A loss-making venture such as The Guardian¸ which relies on its trust fund, adverts from the BBC and bulk sales to that broadcaster, would no doubt have to consider such advertorials. There may be other factors at work that go beyond the media’s search for mammon.
Mainstream media misinformation comes at a cost. In recent memory there are few international tournaments that have left the world a better place. A comprehensive study by FIFA Ethics and Regulations Watch proves, as Nelson Mandela explained, that “Sport has the power to change the world”. The example set by Qatar established a model that others should be mandated to follow. Using the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar as a case study, this exemplar shows how international sport can be reformed and become a force for good with positive change legally stipulated in legacy commitments.
An alternative system will prevent ‘sportswashing’ and provide powerful incentives for countries to reform their labour laws, democratise, and improve human rights. Yet The Guardian is not helping with that process. That aids certain states who seek to use sport to hide human rights abuses, and legitimise their regimes. The desire to obscure those positives and the failure to report on the adoption of an ethical procedure for awarding the hosting rights of sporting tournaments, means that football remains part of the geopolitical battle used by Russia and China. Indeed, the awarding of the Olympics to Beijing in 2008 rewarded authoritarians in that country leading to more abuses. The decision to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia also sent an unfavourable message to President Putin. Granting Communist Party controlled China the recent Winter Olympiad compounded the egregious disregard of human rights and emboldened dictators.
It is important to correct the disinformation that has been spread about the football tournament in Qatar. This has important implications for geopolitical events, but also an honest and open look at the World Cup, one of the greatest celebrations of sport on the globe, will allow for it to be recognised as a model for change in the world.
The current unbalanced media coverage, in comparison to other sporting and mega cultural events, is telling. Interestingly Olympiads and football championships in China and topically Russia have received less criticism. That is despite the fact that civil liberties in those nations are on a very different trajectory to those of Qatar. Indeed, whilst there is still progress to be made, the positive story behind the changes that football has achieved in Qatar needs to be told. Recognising them and learning their story can lead to a better world with improved human rights and international stability.
Research in Who Can Be Trusted? Fake News and the FIFA 2022 World Cup Media Coverage summarises both the positive changes that have been produced by the world cup and analyses the manipulated coverage of this great occasion. It is time to look beyond the lurid headlines and engage with Qatar’s FIFA 2022 World Cup. The relentless disinformation campaign of which The Guardian is willing to place itself in the vanguard, or perhaps forlorn hope, of those who wish to aid the campaign against the tournament. This is even more remarkable as that newspaper had itself reported about the nefarious nature of the anti-Qatar campaign. The corporate cognitive dissonance does not deter it from its lurid headlines.
Newspapers in the Guardian Media Group had articles that waged a disinformation war against Brexit, serving the interests of a powerful few against the interests of the many, and undermining the democratic mandate of the referendum; The Guardian has mounted a similar campaign against Qatar. That country is one of the few nations in the region that is attempting to reform and indeed sets a positive example to others on how to change and improve the rights of migrant employees.
The Guardian newspaper at times follows an insidious agenda. If that newspaper cannot be trusted to fairly report on a football tournament and aligns itself with the campaign to undermine the world cup, then newspapers in The Guardian Media Group cannot be trusted on other issues. The status of newspaper of record should be removed from The Guardian. The Competition and Markets Authority should reduce the power of press barons and breakup both the BBC and media groups, first amongst them should be the Guardian Media Group. The Guardian must explain its links to foreign organisations that are seeking to influence its coverage.
This report has been formally submitted to the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
For more information, please visit the Trust Campaign: https://thetrustcampaign.org.uk/
Robert Oulds MA, FRSA is the longstanding Director of the Bruges Group, the respected think tank which since 1989 is at the forefront of the debate about the UK’s relationship with the EU and the wider world. Robert Oulds regularly appears on the television and the radio debating topical issues. The President of the Bruges Group was the former Prime Minister the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Robert is the co-author of Moralitis, A Cultural Virus. He is also the author of Montgomery and the First War on Terror and Everything You Wanted to Know About the EU But Were Afraid to Ask, and co-author of Federalist Thought Control: The Brussels Propaganda Machine. Robert served as cabinet member for education in a London borough council and serves as a treasurer and standard bearer for the Royal British Legion. Robert Oulds’ Masters Degree, in Communications Management, included comprehensive, detailed, and scientific discourse analysis of the British print media.
The Guardian receives funding from, among others, Bill Gates – so obviously can be trusted for impartial coverage of the disastrous COVID “vaccines” rollout.