By Julija Jegorova and Stephen Fothergill

Anindya Bhattacharyya, Leader of Unite Against Fascism, said BNP members are trying to get rid of “three H’s” – Hard image, Hitler and Hooliganism.

They want to stop these terms from being associated with their party, he said.

“The only way we can stop BNP is try to break its support and show its real aims.  Every mistake should be published. People must know that it is an organisation based on lies.”

Media against fascism: facing problems

Yakub Qureshi, from the Manchester Evening News, said that due to work deadlines and the industry’s competition to get the “hottest headlines” journalists are being forced by editors to interview and observe topics about the BNP without being given the time to fully analyse the issues.

Pete Lazenby of the Yorkshire Evening Post said: “Over the last 30 years I’ve done a lot of coverage of the Far Right. It’s vital to expose them for what they are. Unfortunately it looks as if we’re now going to have less time and money to do this.”

Things to be done

Speakers during the meeting called for a number of  ways of fighting against the BNP’s methods. They said:

• Big events are needed around the country, exposing British’s National Party aims
• Debates must be made for young inexperienced journalists to debate the nature of political coverage
• Try to prevent BNP’s support from increasing, by accurate reporting of social issues
• Media should take responsibility for intelligent comment on these issues

They expressed concern that without those steps the BNP might never be exposed and would continue to gain support from disaffected voters unaware of their true intentions.

Bhattacharyya said: “Many people don’t understand the concept of the “far right”, but they instictivley know that when a party is described as having Nazi beliefs they are inherently wrong.”