Spiked

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Spiked is part of the libertarian anti-environmental LM network. It is an online magazine currently edited by Brendan O'Neill and previously by Times columnist Mick Hume. Spiked is a private company limited by shares with seven staff and an annual turnover of about £175,000.[1] Its directors are Helene Guldberg (company secretary and managing editor, previously co-publisher of LM) and Frank Furedi. The great majority of the shares in the company Spiked Ltd, which has the same address as that of Spiked magazine and which runs Spiked magazine, are held by Frank Furedi and Jennie Bristow.[2][3]

Spiked was launched in 2000 after the magazine Hume edited, LM, was terminated after unsuccessfully defending a libel lawsuit. Helene Guldberg's co-publisher, Claire Fox, launched Spiked's sister organisation, the Institute of Ideas (IoI) around the same time. The staff and many of Spiked's contributors are members of the same network of Living Marxism/Revolutionary Communist Party supporters.

Thus very many of the personnel of other entities associated with the LM network have written for Spiked. Spiked has promoted the events and publications of the Institute of Ideas and its projects, the Battle of Ideas and Culture Wars. Many of Spiked's writers write for and appear at the events of these entities.

Spiked has featured a number of pro-GM articles by Vivian Moses of CropGen and Thomas Deichmann, the person at the center of the ITN/LM libel case. Spiked has also published a number of articles downplaying the hazards of pesticide residues in food which suggest that there is nothing to worry about. It has also published articles attacking organic food by Dennis Avery and Alex Avery of the Hudson Institute and Center for Global Food Issues.[4]

Debates on the environment

Spiked has also run a series of online debates about the environment sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), a UK public funding body whose mission is to support independent scientific research in the environmental sciences. One of the series was a debate on GM called "The future of GM"[5]. It features the opinions of "five experts" (Les Firbank, Tony Gilland, Robin Grove-White, Gregory Conko and CS Prakash) together with three "Commissioned responses" from other "experts" (Alan Gray, John Conroy, and the Agricultural Biotechnology Council). Of these eight experts only one has been known to take a critical attitude towards the technology, and it would seem incompatible with NERC's aim to obtain "independent" and "impartial" input. However, when the history of those behind Spiked was brought to NERC's attention, Marion O'Sullivan, the Press Officer, replied that:

"NERC is satisfied that there is no evidence suggesting that, on environmental matters, Spiked have any particular agenda." (emphasis added)[6]

In fact, those involved in Spiked are pro-GM and ignore or attack environmental concerns in almost any form. Two of the contributors to this debate on GM (John Conroy, Tony Gilland) are part of group which includes Spiked, but their affiliation with the organization was not made public. Gilland's contribution, "Let the Sowing Begin", argued that:

The [GM] farm-scale trials are an unnecessary obstacle to the introduction of this beneficial technology.[7]

The other experts commissioned by Spiked included the biotech industry lobby group, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), and the pro-GM lobbyists Greg Conko and CS Prakash, who have also previously written for Spiked.[8]

Members of the LM network are among those who post comments on Spiked "debates", and these invariably support the party line but without revealing their affiliation. The same goes for other articles published by Spiked, many of which are penned by members of the LM network.

Debates on mobile phones

BT subsidiary O2 sponsored five Spiked Debates on mobile phones during 2005, 2006 and 2007[9] while another was sponsored by Orange. The Mobile Operators Association is also on record as having funded Spiked. In return, BT/ O2 and other operators had the opportunity via Spiked to challenge public concerns about the perceived effects of mobile phones on health, child protection and the environment.

Coverage of Israel/ Palestine

Categorising Spiked articles as pro, neutral or critical of Israel, and calculating an average for each year where 3 is pro Israeli and 1 is pro Palestinian, the pattern is this [10]:

  • 2003 0/2/3 1.4
  • 2004 0/2/1 1.7
  • 2005 02/0 2.0
  • 2006 4/9/0 2.3
  • 2007 5/4/0 2.6
  • 2008 1/3/0 2.3
  • 2009 21/7/0 2.8
  • 2010 5/1/0 2.7

2010 up to 7th June

This actually underestimates the pro-Israeli proportion in that the ‘neutral’ articles either call for no foreign external interference in what is a profoundly unequal struggle or analyse Israeli politics and society from a sympathetic perspective. There is little equivalent analysis of the Palestinians.

Key points:

  • The last article critical of Israel was in 2004
  • The trend has been for articles to be more sympathetic to Israel over time
  • Articles can either be pro Israel or, more usually, attacking its critics.

Campaigns 2010

Spiked campaigns in 2010 included:[11]

  • Challenging China-bashing
  • Drink and drugs
  • Environment
  • For Europe, Against the EU
  • Genetics
  • GM food
  • Hands off the human footprint - Climate Change
  • Mad cow panic and BSE
  • Open the Borders - Anti-immigration control

Seminars

Besides its website, Spiked also organises seminars which draw well-known figures to events carefully designed to promote its own agenda. In March 2003, Spiked co-sponsored with International Policy Network (IPN) a seminar held at the London headquarters of PR firm Hill & Knowlton entitled: "'GM food: should labeling be mandatory?"[12]

This seminar, in common with other Spiked seminars, was held at Hill & Knowlton, an influential public relations company.[13]

Principals

Contributors

Funding

In October 2009, Spiked appealed to its readers for funds to help it keep going. Spiked state[14] that current and former partners and sponsors include:

Officers and shareholders of Spiked Ltd

According to Spiked Ltd's Annual Return 2010:[15]

Officers

Shareholders


Resources, references and contact

Resources

Spiked, Brand Managers Pack

Contact

Website: www.spiked.org (Accessed 21 August 2007)
Address: spiked, Signet House, 49-51 Farringdon Road, London, EC1M 3JP
Tel: +44 (0)207 40 40 470
Email: general-enquiries@spiked-online.com


Notes

  1. ↑ Companies House,Spiked Ltd. Financial Statement 2009
  2. ↑ Companies House, Spiked Ltd. AR01 Annual Return 2010
  3. ↑ Support Spiked, Spiked, acc 29 May 2010
  4. ↑ Alex Avery and Dennis Avery, Unearthing the truth about organic food, Spiked, 5 Sept 2001, acc 25 May 2010
  5. ↑ Spiked Science Debates: The future of GM, Spiked, 16 Sept 2002, version placed in web archive 19 May 04 (Accessed in web archive 25 May 2010)
  6. ↑ Marion O'Sullivan in an email to GMWatch, September 2002, archived here
  7. ↑ Tony Gillan, Let the sowing begin, Spiked, 16 Sep 02, version placed in web archive 2004, acc in web archive 25 May 2010
  8. ↑ Spiked Science Debates: The future of GM, Spiked, 16 Sept 2002, version placed in web archive 19 May 04 (Accessed in web archive 25 May 2010)
  9. ↑ "Online debates", Spiked website, accessed 7 June 2010
  10. ↑ "Search: Israel", Spiked website, accessed 8 June 2010
  11. ↑ All Spiked Issues, Spiked, accessed 25 May 2010
  12. ↑ 'GM food: should labelling be mandatory?', IPN website, version placed in web archive 23/4/04, acc in web archive 25 May 2010
  13. ↑ 'GM food: should labelling be mandatory?', IPN website, version placed in web archive 23/4/04, acc in web archive 25 May 2010
  14. ↑ "Spiked partners and sponsors", Spiked website, accessed 3 May 2010
  15. ↑ Companies House, Spiked Ltd. AR01 Annual Return 2010
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