Hope Not Hate - Guide to Journalists

Dealing with race hate - a guide to journalists The British National Party thrive on publicity. They realise that they can only hope to grow by presenting a more respectable and moderate image of themselves. For this they need the media. The BNP will abuse, manipulate and lie to journalists in order to get a more favourable message across.

Searchlight has produced a few simple reminders for journalists when dealing with the race hate groups.

Always remember to whom you are talking. The BNP and other far right groups are not normal political parties, but racist extremists who want to kick out all non-white people from Britain and, in the words of the BNP leader, "hang race traitors", in which group he includes "liberal journalists". The BNP try to present a more respectable image but they are the same extremists that they always were.

The BNP lie to the press. Ask them to provide evidence for everything they say. If they can't, or won't, then don't report it. Time and again they have made spurious claims about themselves and issues such as immigration and asylum which have later been proved inaccurate.

Beware the coded language. In its attempts to appear more moderate, the BNP has toned down its public views on race, Holocaust denial and antisemitism. The old harsh language has been replaced but the underlying message is the same. Where once it would have openly denied the Holocaust, it now calls for a "public debate" about whether it occurred, claiming that there is disagreement among "historians". This is obviously a euphemism for Holocaust denial. The BNP claims not to be antisemitic but goes on to list all the Jewish people working in the media as if to prove Jewish brainwashing of British people. By listing all the Jews it can, the BNP insinuates that all these people are working to the same agenda and are conspiring against British people. This is the same old Jewish conspiracy theory redressed.

Always remind your audience of the racist nature of the BNP. The BNP claims not to be a racist party.

Hogwash. Race is the defining identity of the BNP and despite attempts to infiltrate the countryside and fuel campaigns, it is because of its racism that the BNP attracts recruits and votes. The BNP claims not to be a "race supremacist" party but its publications report on the genetic superiority of the white race. It claims not to have any connection with "race hate" yet many of its leading members have convictions for racist crimes.

Read the small print. The BNP claims no longer to be in favour of compulsory repatriation but will offer "non-whites" (regardless of whether they were born in Britain or not) money to return home. However, if you read the finer details of its policy you will see that after those who have chosen to "return" go back, a BNP government will take a decision on the rest. The coded message is that the BNP will then dispatch those as well. Other parts of its programme reveal how it plans to force people out. The BNP states that "native Britons" will be given priority in the job market - the coded message being that "non-whites" will be forced out of jobs and effectively driven out.

Report responsibly and in proportion to the story. The formation of a BNP branch or a leafleting session does not warrant two pages of a local paper as has occurred in the past.

Don't be bullied. The BNP will react furiously to bad publicity, writing letters of complaint and bombarding journalists with phone calls. Don't be put off by this intimidation.

If the fascists are upset by your story you must have done a good job