Disabled People are being demonised in the press as “work shy” and “scroungers” and as a result are facing hostility from the public and in some cases physical attacks.
In response, the NUJ’s Disabled Members Council has issued a statement urging journalists to operate within our recognised code of ethics, which calls in all NUJ members and media colleagues to “support and sustain fair and balanced reporting of matters relating to disabled people”.
The council talks of a drip feed of stories relating to incapacity benefit fraud, when the facts show it is, at 0.3 per cent, the lowest of all welfare benefit frauds.
NUJ Release: Stop calling disabled people scroungers – Disability Alliance UK (United Kingdom)
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17 November 2011 at 07:59 |
this is well overdue……….the government know this has been happening for some time, if this kind of reporting was about any other minority group there would be outrage………no one has been defending disabled people against this tabloid outrage, as it fits the dwp ministers propaganda tactics, so no sympathy is shown or understanding of the true facts are known by the general public…therefore they can push ahead with their reforms……