''The Skwawkbox'' is a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

news site An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, founded in 2012 by Steve Walker.

Aims

''The Skwawkbox'' states that its aim is to "present information and analysis that will rarely make it into the

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...

." Founder Steve Walker has said: "The people we're trying to reach are what we call the outer parts of the

Venn diagram A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between set (mathematics), sets, popularized by John Venn (1834–1923) in the 1880s. The diagrams are used to teach elementary set theory, and to illustrate simple ...

. Not the real dedicated people on the left, but maybe their auntie or their uncle who reads their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page."

Content

According to ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

'', ''The Skwawkbox'' has published a "regular run of stories that appear to have been briefed by insiders close to the top of the

Corbyn Corbyn is a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Frederick Corbyn (1791–1853), British surgeon in India * Jeremy Corbyn (born 1949), British politician and leader of the Labour Party 2015–2020 * Piers Corbyn ...

project", suggesting that certain senior individuals in the Labour Party use it to get their messages out. It has been involved in rallying online support for pro-Corbyn hashtags on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and emailing and petitioning MPs within the Labour Party. ''The Skwawkbox'' has had genuine scoops. For example in June 2019 it reported that

Luciana Berger Luciana Clare Berger (; born 13 May 1981) is a British former Member of Parliament who was MP for Liverpool Wavertree from 2010 to 2019. Initially a member of Labour Co-op, in 2019 she left and co-founded The Independent Group, later Change UK ...

was set to join the Liberal Democrats and would stand for election in

Finchley and Golders Green Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Mike Freer of the Conservative Party, who has held the seat since 2010. Boundaries 1997–2010: The Lond ...

in the next parliamentary election. The story was dismissed by ''

Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

'' journalist Lee Harpin among others, but proved to be well-founded. In common with other left-wing alternative media sites, ''The Skwawkboxs stance towards the Labour leadership became more critical after Corbyn stepped down and

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...

was elected as Labour leader in 2020.

Grenfell Tower fire

In June 2017, ''The Skwawkbox'' published an article suggesting that the real death toll from the

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...

was being covered up, based on claims from "multiple sources" that the government had placed a

D-Notice In the United Kingdom, a DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice) is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security. DSMA-Notices were formerly called a ...

on coverage. A correction was published later. There was no such notice, which led ''

MailOnline MailOnline (also known as ''dailymail.co.uk'') is the website of the '' Daily Mail'', a newspaper in the United Kingdom, and of its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday''. MailOnline is a division of dmg media, which is owned by Daily Mail and Gen ...

'' and '' The Sun'' in turn to publish articles accusing the site of spreading "fake news". Walker complained about the ''MailOnline'' article to the

Independent Press Standards Organisation The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) is the regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK. It was established on 8 September 2014 after the windup of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which had been the main ind ...

. IPSO concluded that the ''MailOnline'' characterisations of the D-Notice story as "fake news" and of allegations against

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

in the article as "false" were not misleading and the complaint was not upheld. See ''16690-17 Walker v Mail Online''. The ''MailOnline'' D-Notice story referred to Steve Walker's business dealings with the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. This aspect was also covered by ''The Sun''. Both outlets published corrections to their accounts of these dealings. The IPSO ruling noted that ''MailOnine'' had offered to append the following footnote, with a similar wording to be published as a standalone correction:

Libel case

In November 2019, Labour MP

Anna Turley Anna Catherine Turley (born 9 October 1978) is a British politician. She was the Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 2015 until 2019. Turley was chair of the Co-operative Party from 8 June 2019 until December 2019. ...

sued

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...

and Steve Walker, editor of ''The Skwawkbox'', for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

in respect of an article which appeared on ''The Skwawkbox'' on 7 April 2017., p.44. On 19 December 2019, following a six-day trial at the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

, Turley won the libel claim against Unite and Walker and was awarded damages of £75,000. An application to appeal was filed, but refused on 7 May 2020.

Regulation

''The Skwawkbox'' subscribes to independent, Leveson-compliant press regulator

IMPRESS The Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS) is an independent press regulator in the UK. It was the first to be recognised by the Press Recognition Panel. Unlike the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), IMPRESS is fully compliant w ...

. In March 2018, ''Skwawkbox'' considered cutting ties with IMPRESS following the publication of a controversial 1961 political pamphlet by key IMPRESS supporter

Max Mosley Max Rufus Mosley (13 April 1940 – 23 May 2021) was a British racing driver, lawyer, and president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association which represents the interests of motoring organisations and ...

; however, it has remained a member. According to the regulator's 2017/18 annual report, it upheld three complaints against ''The Skwawkbox'' in the year up to 31 March 2018, the most of any member over the period. The same number of complaints were dismissed. In November 2018, IMPRESS ruled against ''The Skwawkbox'' for breaching standards in its reporting on Labour MP

Wes Streeting Wesley Paul William Streeting (; born 21 January 1983) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 2021, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015. He serve ...

. The complaint upheld was that the publishers did not take all reasonable steps to ensure accuracy, because Streeting had only been given four hours to respond to the blog's enquiry. The panel did not make a judgment on the factual accuracy of the article. In August 2019,

NewsGuard NewsGuard is a journalism and technology tool that rates the credibility of news and information websites and tracks online misinformation. It operates a browser extension and mobile apps for consumers as well as services for businesses, includ ...

gave ''Skwawkbox'' a green approval mark with a pass on all relevant criteria, saying that Skwawkbox "generally maintains basic standards of credibility and transparency" and commenting that " ticles on ''The Skwawkbox'', while agenda-driven, are typically fact-based and well-sourced, citing interviews or official statements from political leaders and activists, primary documents such as government reports, and subject matter experts. Links to supporting documents, social media posts, and other sources are often embedded in articles. Headlines accurately reflect content.". In June 2020, NewsGuard reviewed its rating of ''Skwawkbox'' and again awarded a perfect score for transparency and credibility, of 100/100.

References