THE PAPER TRAIL

Tens of thousands of copies of a spoof Metro newspaper with the headline “Gordon Brown to be deported to Scotland” were distributed last Friday (2nd) as part of ‘two days of action against racist press’.

The mass spoofing operation saw the Metr0 go out across London, Brighton and Nottingham. Confused commuters were treated to a mix of immigration myth busting, exposure of the racism of the British press, subverts and satire as well as the news that the Brown’s recent misery has been compounded by arrest and imminent deportation to his ‘home country’.

The Metro’s owners, Associated Newspapers, were not impressed with the attempt to muscle in on the free-paper-with-made-up-news market and immediately unleashed the lawyers. They quickly managed to obtain a High Court injunction against “all persons responsible for the publication and/or distribution” of the paper. Unfortunately for the corporate legal whizzes, the publication was produced and distributed anonymously, which left them at a loss about who to serve the injunction on. In the end, they plumped for the coalition of anti-racist and migrant rights groups that called for the campaign against the media, Press Action, and a social centre, London Action Resource Centre, where the website featuring the spoof was registered.

Describing the proceedings as a “desperate search for a scapegoat that is guilty by association”, Press Action responded by claiming they had nothing to do with the production and distribution and had only posted it on their blog after receiving an electronic copy. While the Press Action blog has since taken it down, the spoof website remains live and the paper can still be seen at www.metr0.co.uk.

* As part of the days of action Nottingham No Borders activists also plastered the city with banners accusing local rag the Evening Post of racism in its coverage of migrants.