Voice of London

Update: And the winner is…

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No doubt, the panel of the Trashies  2018 were spoilt for choice when selecting the year’s most ignorant and bigoted examples of Great British journalism but alas, a decision had to be made. Kath Viner’s ‘The Guardian View on the Gender Recognition Act’ took home a trophy alongside  Rod Liddle’s, ironically titled, ‘Is it possible to draw Serena Williams without being racist?‘. Viner’s article was critiqued for legitimising transphobia within the feminist discourse and she has since removed her byline from the piece; Liddle’s Spectator piece is yet another example of the blatant misogynoir that exists within mainstream media and Serena Williams deserves a break!

 

Get to know the Trashies, read the article below!

 

Once a year comes an award ceremony that is actually beneficial to society. One that cares not for red carpets, floor length dresses and even longer waffled speeches but is working to improve the world we live in – one trash piece of journalism at a time.

 

 

The Trashies is the journalistic equivalent of the Hollywood Razzies, a mock award honouring the worst in cinema. Unlike the Razzies, however, those awarded a Trashy are not to be pitied or dismissed, instead we should consider them and their work extremely dangerous. Set up by online News platform Media Diversified, the aim of the Trashies is to critique all the racist, islamophobic, transphobic and xenophobic news coverage that circulates in the UK mainstream media.

 

The awards have been running since 2015 and consistent nominees include Katie Hopkins, Boris Johnson and even entire news organisations like the Daily Mail. In the words of the award’s founders: “The Trashies are back to counter the boiled chicken takes, in news rooms so white and mail they should come with a health warning for minorities and women”.

 

I for one, have never been more ready! This year has seen countless racially insensitive and overtly bigoted views plastered all over our front pages. This kind of journalism disenfranchises whole sections of our society from the media and by calling it out with something like the Trashies, we begin to put pressure on those who control the national dialogue.

 

Nominations for this year’s awards are now closed but you can take a look at some of the Trashy worthy journalism below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more on the Trashies, visit https://mediadiversified.org/

Words: Memuna Konteh | Subbing: Maria Campuzano

Photo credit: Jon Person via Flickr

Hearst BAME network “not a box-ticking exercise”

 

 

For more on the Trashies, visit https://mediadiversified.org/

Words: Memuna Konteh | Subbing: Maria Campuzano

Photo credit: Jon Person via Flickr