In Britain, it is often asserted that we have a free press. This is not completely true. There are numerous subjects which national newspapers and broadcasters either ignore or devote token attention.
Sometimes the reason for this is sinister – for instance the conspiracy of silence over phone hacking. More often, editors decide that certain important issues will not command the attention of a wide readership. This is why it is so hard to get stories about oppression, exploitation, abuse of human rights or Islamophobia into any newspaper.
