Dear Editor
I very much regret the evolution of the Great Yarmouth Mercury as a mouthpiece for our Reform UK MP, Rupert Lowe. A local newspaper’s remit is to share news, events and opinions across its total distribution area. This is something that the Great Yarmouth Mercury used to do, and it’s the reason I purchase my copy every Friday. However, the amount of coverage dedicated to Rupert Lowe since his election has been astonishing.
He appears on the front page of the 14 February issue, under the headline, “Let’s make Yarmouth great again”, with a red Trump supporter cap illustrated, but branded MYGA instead of MAGA. We are told that this is his “battle cry”. He is then given a further two pages in the same issue, one article celebrating the nearly £10,000 income earned through his monetised posts on X (formerly Twitter), and boosted, as the article points out, by Elon Musk’s endorsement.
The next article amplifies the front page coverage, but with no indication that Lowe has bothered to consult with the Great Yarmouth Tourist Authority — a very effective partnership that works with the Borough Council to prioritise issues, and a strategy for tourist attractions and businesses in the town. His proclamations do not evidence knowledge or acknowledgement of what has already been achieved and what is planned. He fails to suggest pragmatic or constructive proposals of his own beyond the banality of disruptive sound bites promoting a sense of victimisation.
The Great Yarmouth Mercury‘s editorial Opinion slot announces that “we support Rupert Lowe’s comments on making the town a better place to live in.” On 17 January, it gave full page coverage to his declaration that the government “should be ashamed” over the ‘rape gang’ vote, including a concluding paragraph about Elon Musk’s intervention accusing Sir Keir Starmer of being “complicit in the rape of Britain.” On 24 January, there was a full page on Lowe’s call for the NHS to be “disassembled”. On 31 January, he was given the front page again, this time calling for free parking to save a “dying town”, and then another full page inside, plus a further endorsement in the editorial Opinion slot. And so it goes on.
Of course, there are many malcontents, those with genuine cause and those who just despair that “things aren’t what they used to be”. Rupert Lowe offers no effective policy to alleviate those experiencing genuine financial or housing difficulties.
However, for those nostalgic for better times past, he offers licence to lay blame on the council or immigrants. I do not object in principal to a local paper sharing the views of its representative MP, but I do object to what is beginning to feel like an abusive, manipulative flood of negativity. I don’t believe it represents the totality of attitudes here, where one can find so many, many people dedicated to constructive activity of all kinds.
Lowe won the election with 35.3% of the vote but the voter turnout was only 55.7%. It is a great shame that the Great Yarmouth Mercury seems to reflect only the views of this small proportion of the community at large. Shouldn’t a local newspaper report issues and events in an even-handed manner that reflects all sides? But Archant, its former parent company, is now owned by the American Newsquest Media Group Limited, which is itself owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. I can’t help feeling apprehensive that political affiliation and the call of brute money might be dictating apparent bias in what should be a local paper constructively engaged across community.
Bridget Heriz
Great Yarmouth
