THE editor of the Croydon Advertiser has admitted that he is personally interfering in the democratic process by denying the readers of his newspaper the opportunity of hearing all of the viewpoints of the candidates standing in the London Assembly elections.

Ian Carter has turned down a request for advertising space from the British National Party, despite saying he will accept political adverts from all the other parties.
“The BNP are a legitimate political party and will no doubt argue they should have the same right as the others. But I’ve turned them away on the basis I’d feel deeply uncomfortable with any of their material appearing in our publications,” he told the Hold the Front Page website.

Quite what right Ian Carter, a former BBC journalist (surprise, surprise), has to deem which party political manifestos Croydon Advertiser readers are to be given access to, is debatable. For many people in Croydon, it will sound rather like personal censorship by someone who is unelected and whose own political leanings are kept well hidden from view.

Let’s hope the public in Croydon react to Carter’s personal censorship in the traditional manner and stop buying the Croydon Advertiser.