‘I’m never going to allow’ Senedd to ‘control’ more of the Welsh media, says Tory minister
A Tory minister has said that he is “never going to allow” the Senedd to control more of the Welsh media.
David TC Davies, the MP for Monmouth, who is a minister in the UK Government’s Wales Office, said he feels “very strongly about this”, during an interview with Welsh language news website Golwg360.
The Conservative politician was defending comments he made about Nation.Cymru on TV, in which he claimed that the news site is “propaganda” and that it shows why broadcasting should not be devolved to Wales.
He was speaking on S4C show Pawb a’i Farn when he said that Nation.Cymru and Welsh language news site Golwg showed why the responsibility for broadcasting should not be devolved to Wales.
In an interview with Golwg360, defending his comments on Pawb a’ Farn, David TC Davies said: “Where does this big demand for devolving powers come from?
“I’m sure a lot of platforms that receive money from the Welsh Government would like to see powers over broadcast being devolved.
“I’m never going to allow some sort of coalition in the Senedd control even more of the media, and I feel very strongly about this.
“It’s almost impossible to work in the Welsh media if you make this point and speak out about this like I am doing.
“We have a problem if the Welsh media is against one party as an editorial policy, while they’re receiving money from the public purse, and that’s the situation in Wales.”
‘Criticism from journalists’
The comments by David TC Davies on Pawb a’i Farn came in for criticism from journalists.
The political commentator Theo Davies-Lewis said:
Not content in trying to strip down the BBC, here’s a @UKGovWales Minister attacking English & Welsh language media outlets because they don’t like the stories. A very strange way to try and influence the news agenda. That rabbit hole @WelshConserv finds itself in grows… https://t.co/IoNmxAmr5c
— Theo Davies-Lewis (@TDaviesLewis) January 28, 2022
Daily Post business journalist Owen Hughes said: “Never like seeing this from politicians. Most (maybe all) media organisations will receive taxpayer money through advertising or direct support. I don’t think that should be dependent on the political leaning of that site/paper. We need a diverse media in Wales.”
‘Independent panel’
In 2019 Nation.Cymru was awarded a £20,000 a year grant from the Welsh Books Council, alongside five other English magazines and news services and 15 magazines and news services in Welsh. The distribution of the grants is decided by an independent panel.
Over 80% of Nation.Cymru’s revenue now comes from over 1,000 financial supporters and advertising.
Nation.Cymru Director Ifan Morgan Jones said: “I think it’s quite telling that the minister could not identify which political party we are ‘propaganda’ for. Combined Labour and Plaid Cymru won 60% of the vote at the Senedd election, so perhaps he is mistaking occupying the centre-ground of Welsh politics for supporting those parties.
“We’re always pleased to carry pieces by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and have published every opinion piece sent to us over the years by leaders Andrew RT Davies and Jane Dodds and their MPs and Senedd members.
“The truth is that we’re not pro any political party – we’re just pro-Wales, and want a national conversation about what is best for Wales. We will give a platform to anyone who wishes to argue in Wales’ best interests.
“However I think it is always a good sign for any news organisation when a government minister feels the need to criticise them on TV. Nation.Cymru was set up fewer than five years ago thanks to our supporters and readers we’re already making a mark on Welsh politics.
“We have over 1 million readers a month which shows we have become a significant part of the media landscape in Wales and our journalism clearly appeals to a large section of the country.”
The Chief Executive of Golwg, Owain Schiavone, said: “We are an objective magazine which treats everybody the same and we’re very proud of that principle
“We have a range of columnists from different backgrounds and we respect their freedom to treat and discuss subjects in the way they see fit.”
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“We have a problem if the (Welsh) media is against one party as an editorial policy”
Why do we allow the Daily Mail and The Sun to be sold in Wales then?
LIke most media, the Welsh media are generally keen to hold the Government of the day – of whatever flavour – to account.
If you can’t bear to hear anyone say a word against your lord’s and master’s actions, perhaps you and the shower your represent are just too thin skinned to be of any use to any of us.
Probably best if you don’t run for office again. Go find yourself a job where everybody loves you.
Our Senedd, our money, our media, our decisions.
A vote of no confidence needed…’I will not’ one man against a nation…get from here…
Isn’t it crazy that one MP can control what happens in a Nation such as Wales. Another clear argument for Welsh independence
This guy has not made a positive contribution to society since he stopped driving lorries for a living.
This MP is the type that would ban the printing press in Wales again if he could.
FASCIST!!
He is not going to let the democratically elected Senedd, let’s just write that again David Davies is going to stop our democratically elected Senedd doing something, these are words of a dictator, I’m afraid the Tory party is well down the path of fascism.
The people of Monmouth must kick this idiot out of wales 🏴 kick all English party’s out of wales 🏴 stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh it’s time for a new wales 🏴
“ ‘ Never ‘ is a long word in politics “my old mentor the late Lord Merlyn Rees PC used told me once while I was having coffee in his garden over looking the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire …….then adding in Cabinet Gvt it usually meant about 18months to 2 years. 🤔
David may wish to remember these wise words this one time Home Secretary and security chief 👍🏼
We in wales must stop buying English newspapers and stop watching English news stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh
If only for our sanity…
It’s time we
In wales had only welsh news and not the English news and welsh people stop following English football teams follow welsh teams stop being little Englanders and and be proud to be welsh it’s time for a new wales 🏴
why the capital letter for England and lower case for Wales? You cintinue to do it despite my many attempts at tryign to get an answer from you? Are you real?
Another Tory who thinks he can allow or not allow our elected government to take action. Never mind we’ll soon be free.
A member whose party has never secured a majority of seats in Wales in the history of democratic elections at Westminster or the Senedd tells Wales what it can or can’t have. He says it without a shred of shame. What’s worse is that he and his colleagues, owing to their majority in England, are in a position to deny Wales what it requests. He probably thinks that this is a good thing and that exercising “Muscular Unionism” will keep the UK together. He is mistaken. He might want to look at the difference between the 1979 and 1997 referenda… Read more »
Worse than that I bet this one has a secret wardrobe…
Bechod. Bet he doesn’t even have control of the remote at home.
Spoken like a true autocrat who can’t stand accountability.
I would be interested to see how future historians judge this MP.
LIke most media, the Welsh media are generally keen to hold the Government of the day – of whatever flavour – to account.
If you can’t bear to hear anyone say a word against your lord’s and master’s actions, perhaps you and the shower your represent are just too thin skinned to be of any use to any of us.
Probably best if you don’t run for office again. Go find yourself a job where everybody loves you.
Our Senedd, our money, our media, our decisions.
Tory motormouth David TC Davies is a traitor. He an enemy of Wales. I despise him with a passion. And yes some might say my attack on him is unjust, extreme even, but read on further. He is not only a liar but Wales answer to Lord Haw Haw. Remember, this is a man who campaigned in 1997 using money provided by his father who resides in a Jersey tax haven to stop Wales having devolution. A man who learnt Welsh soley to bate Plaid Cymru during Senedd debates and said so in a TV interview. He also said Wales… Read more »
Well David TC Davies, the MP for Monmouth, by defending your boss’ antics regardless, your standing and opinion of anything is pants in the minds of most good people of Wales.
What is this Man up to you could bet if he was French living in France when the Germans invaded I know what he would have been doing helping the Garman’s. what a trater he is too WALES God help Wales with MPs like him in Wales
Who does he think he is? He is only an MP for one area of Wales, the Senedd represents all of Wales 🏴
Hang on…. he claims nation.cymru and golwg propaganda….but yet all the English media and newspapers we have had for hundreds of years are without sin?
He also claims that the Welsh Not never existed….hes really in cuckoo land
I can’t believe the arrogance of such a person! He demonstrated that his ignorance is obviously shaped by his prejudice .
I can only conclude from comments such as these and the rest of the daily union jack, god save the queen, loony tune horse manure… that the current incumbants of Toryland, must in fact all be closet Welsh nationalists …because litterally everything they utter furthers the cause of Welsh nationalism.
EIther that or they are locked in some sort of death spiral with each other – trying to outdo one another in their servility towards what has becoime the fetid carcass of ‘British’ (English) nationalist toryism.
The statement ‘Wales is a country and should be treated as such’ really ought to be a politically neutral one. It only becomes political due to the existence of political forces that believe the opposite.
This of course is the prevailing strategy of the modern right wing. Drag the political conversation (the Overton window) further and further to the right, until what would previously have been considered centrist can then be misrepresented as a biased position.