News-watch

[[File:News-watch-logo.png|thumb|right|165px|Not to be confused with {{wpl|BBC Newswatch||.}}]]{{media}}
{{cquote|''Today's media has enjoyed an easy ride, and thinks it can get away with murder. But, from now on, it will have to think twice.|||Barclay Thompson<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2007/oct/10/mediabiasisintheeyeofth Media bias is in the eye of the beholder] by Roy Greenslade (Feb 3, 2018) ''The Guardian''</ref>}}

'''News-watch''' (previously known as '''Minotaur Media Tracking''') is a right-wing anti-[[BBC]] watchdog and [[webshite]] founded in 1999 by former BBC/{{wpl|TV-am}} publicist David Keighley and former TV-am features editor [[Kathy Gyngell]] to expose perceived pro-EU bias at the public service broadcaster. Minotaur Media Tracking was dissolved in 2006 and its succeessor Newswatch UK Ltd co-owned by Keighley and managemant consultant Barclay Thompson was dissolved in 2009. Somehow News-watch returned and now focuses on areas of public policy such as the EU, immigration and climate change which it describes as ''politically controversial''. It has received over £200,000 of funding from conservative charity the Institute for Policy Research and has had donations raised by [[Arron Banks]] and [[Richard Tice]]'s [[Brexit]] campaign group {{wpl|Leave.EU||.}} Its reports have been covered by various right-wing sources including think-tank {{wpl|Civitas (think tank)|Civitas}} and Tory broadsheet ''[[The Telegraph]]''.<ref name=ds>[https://www.desmog.com/news-watch/ News-watch] ''DeSmog''</ref><ref name=od>[https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/whos-paying-for-these-reports-on-bbc-brexit-coverage/ Who's paying for these 'reports' on BBC Brexit coverage?] by Adam Ramsay and Peter Geoghegan (23 October 2017) ''openDemocracy''</ref>

==Criticism==
Tom Mills, lecturer in sociology at Aston University and author of ''The BBC: Myth of a Public Service'', told {{wpl|openDemocracy||:}}<ref name=od />{{blockquote|News-watch and other pro-Leave lobbyists are obviously trying to influence debates around Brexit in certain interests, and they are doing that through what looks like a rather crude coding framework. The problem with dividing everything into pro and anti camps is that it makes a substantive and informed discussion of the issues at stake very difficult.<P/>If the evidence makes one side of an argument look worse, then what is it the duty of the BBC to report? There’s a tension here between accuracy and balance. And that is a grey area that lobby groups are always trying to exploit. News-watch do analyse a lot of reports, which is good. But what’s lacking is a clear and transparent methodology that can deal with how the underlying issues are dealt with, rather than the question of how much time is given to two sides of a political argument.}}<P />

==Commissions==
The following organisations and individuals have comisssioned media reports:
* {{wpl|Centre for Policy Studies||:}} an influential free-market think tank co-founded by [[Margaret Thatcher]].
* Global Britain: a Eursceptic think-tank founded by life peers {{wpl|Malcolm Pearson||,}} {{wpl|David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon|David Stoddart|,}} and {{wpl|Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross|Ralph Harris|.}}
*Eurosceptic MPs {{wpl|Kate Hoey||,}} [[Philip Davies]], {{wpl|Kelvin Hopkins||,}} {{wpl|Philip Hollobone||,}} [[Ian Paisley]], and {{wpl|Graham Stringer||.}}

==Key People==
===David Keighley===
David Keighley is the co-founder and Managing Director of News-watch.

Keighley worked as a publicist first for the BBC and later for {{wpl|TV-am}} where he befriended the Managing Director {{wpl|Bruce Gyngell}} and his wife Kathy who was the co-founder of Minotaur Media Tracking.  

He also serves on the editorial board for Kathy Gengell's ''[[The Conservative Woman]]'' for which he has contributed the regular ''BBC Watch'' column and climate change denial articles.

===Others===
* Barclay Thompson: former co-owner and Managing Director of News-watch.
* Andrew Jubb: senior researcher for News-watch.
* [[Kathy Gyngell]]: co-founder of Minotaur Media Tracking, former associate director of News-watch, and founding editor of ''[[The Conservative Woman]]''.

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Brexit]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Webshites]]

Categories: Brexit, Global warming denialists, Webshites