Wed, 22nd July Cardiff 17°
Nation.Cymru wordmark
Advertisement

Opinion

Vote now: Is the Welsh media racist in its coverage of the scandals involving the First Minister?

By Mark Mansfield
Screen grab from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry live stream of of Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health minister during the pandemic. Photo UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA Wire

Supporters of First Minister Vaughan Gething have sparked controversy over the weekend with claims that coverage in the Welsh media of the scandals engulfing him in recent months is racist.

Several MSs and Labour activists pursued this line of attack over the last 48 hours in the face of a considerable social media backlash.

Nation.Cymru CEO, Mark Mansfield, News Editor Emily Price and Associate Editor Martin Shipton have fiercely rejected the claims, which they say are an attempt to close down legitimate journalistic scrutiny of Mr Gething.

[mid-content-banner]

Controversy

Since he announced his campaign to replace Mark Drakeford as First Minister, Mr Gething has been embroiled in controversy.

His problems include the revelation that he accepted a £200,000 campaign donation from a convicted criminal and publication of a leaked message in which he said that he was deleting iMessages relating to discussions during the Covid pandemic.

Vote below to let us know what your opinion is of these claims.

This poll is now closed.

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News

18 comments

GCJ

No racism, merely distraction politics at work by VG and his supporters!

Reply
CapM

That's a failing by the English media Our media is showing itself to be of a higher calibre. The criticism made was of the Media in Cymru rather than Social media where it's easy to find racist and other hateful comments of all kinds.

Reply
Jon Coles

Remember: for Wales, do not read England. News about Wales on a website reporting news about Wales. Whatever next? An accountable devolved government in Wales?

Reply
Garry Jones

Reporting and analysis on these issues around FM by Martin Shipton, Emily Price, and Ben Wildsmith in Nation.Cymru have been evidence based it seems to me.

Reply
Padi Phillips

Seriously? Gething should not be First Minister as the whole campaign was clearly of a dubious nature, not just the £200,000 he received from a convicted criminal, but also the way the union votes were jerrymanderd in his favour.. It's a new low for him now that his support is playing the race card, as nowhere in the Welsh media has anyone mentioned Vaughn Gething's skin colour, it's utterly irrelevant. Given that he attained the position of First Minister using questionable means isn't going to go away anytime soon, even another fortnight won't change a thing.

Reply
Richard Davies

I wanted to vote no but it didn't allow it!

Reply
Mark Mansfield

Has someone else voted on the same I.P address Richard?

Reply
Richard Davies

That is possible Mark. I wanted to vote "NO!"

Reply

In reply to Richard Davies

Mark Mansfield

It's limited to one vote per IP address Richard but you would be on a different IP if you voted on your phone's 3G, 4G or 5G.

Reply
Robert Williams

Quite. And it has the same effect as the ‘Israel defence’ - undermining honest and genuine allegations of racism/antisemitism.

Reply
Tim jones

"the Welsh media"! As if it is all the same?

Reply
A Evans

The "Welsh Media" should be the vanguard for truth & honesty! Unfortunately they have "laid off" Drakeford, Water's & now Gethin, which can only mean one thing - corruption is deeper than I thought!

Reply
Ianto

One cannot (or at least shouldn't) be seen as the bad guy based solely on the colour of his/her skin, but can't be absolved of guilt on that basis either.

Reply
Graham

When reading this article I thought I was on Facebook for a while. The outcome of the vote has no real meanining. Better for NC to stick to what it does best rather than straying into vox pop journalism. You've certainly pushed one of my buttons, but I won't be clicking yours.

Reply
Paul

When you talk about the "from the river to the sea lot' which lot are.you refering to? Tha Lakut party "from the river to the sea there shall be only Israeli sovereignty" Or the pro Palestine protestors who parody that slogans with " from the river to the sea Palestine shall be free"? (Remember that Palestinians are also Semitic people.)

Reply
Eva Trier

Obviously missed the poll, but where is the result?

Reply
A Evans

The last refuge of an incompetant spiv is to play the "race card"!

Reply

Leave a reply

Replying to Padi Phillips Cancel

Seriously? Gething should not be First Minister as the whole campaign was clearly of a dubious nature, not just the £200,000 he received from a convicted criminal, but also the way the union votes were jerrymanderd in his favour.. It's a n...

Comments are reviewed before they appear.