Why we refused to comply with the D-Notice committee

by Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 17 February 2022 A body run by the UK military has asked us to remove part of our story revealing British support for an African dictatorship. Here’s why we said no to its “formal advice” not to publish. Last week I received an email from a body called the DSMA committee asking Declassified to […]

‘CIA sidekick’ gives £2.6m to UK media groups

by Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 17 January 2022 A US government-funded agency that claims to promote democracy but which helps undermine governments independent of Washington has moved decisively into Britain’s media space since 2016. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has funded groups such as Bellingcat, Index on Censorship, Article 19, Finance Uncovered, […]

Assange judge is 40 year ‘good friend’ of minister who orchestrated his arrest

By Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 2 December 2021 Julian Assange’s fate lies in the hands of an appeal judge who is a close friend of Sir Alan Duncan – the former foreign minister who called Assange a “miserable little worm” in parliament. Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett, the judge that will soon […]

Like billionaire-controlled media, The Guardian misinforms its readers on the UK’s role in world

By Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 26 April 2021 Millions of its readers believe the Guardian offers critical, independent reporting that is different to the right-wing, billionaire-controlled UK media. But its limited coverage of British foreign and security policies gives a misleading picture of what the UK does in the world. The paper is in reality […]

Sky News acts largely as a platform for the UK defence and foreign ministries, research finds

by Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 1 February 2021 Declassified UK’s analysis of the written outputs of three of Sky News’ principal foreign affairs journalists has found that the media outlet acts largely to amplify the views of the British Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office, while rarely offering critical, independent analysis. A study by Declassified, […]

The Ministry of Defence blacklisted Declassified – but won’t admit it

by Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 11 December 2020 A UK government review into how the Ministry of Defence (MOD) handled relations with the organisation I edit, Declassified UK, concludes the MOD “did not have a policy” of blacklisting us, despite providing evidence that it did. It reveals a deep problem in UK governance – that […]

How the UK press supports the British military and intelligence establishment

by Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 11 March 2020 Britain’s national press is acting largely as a platform for the views of the UK military and intelligence establishment, new statistical research by Declassified UK shows.  The UK press, from The Times to The Guardian, is also routinely helping to demonise states identified by the British government as enemies, while tending to […]

How the UK press is misinforming the public about Britain’s role in the world

by Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 9 March 2020 Britain’s national press consistently portrays Britain as a supporter of noble objectives such as human rights and democracy. The extraordinary extent to which the public is being misinformed about the UK’s foreign and military policies is revealed in new statistical research by Declassified UK. The research suggests […]

How the UK Security Services neutralised the country’s leading liberal newspaper

By Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 11 September 2019 The Guardian, Britain’s leading liberal newspaper with a global reputation for independent and critical journalism, has been successfully targeted by security agencies to neutralise its adversarial reporting of the ‘security state’, according to newly released documents and evidence from former and current Guardian journalists. […]

Julian Assange should be thanked – not smeared – for Wikileaks’ service to journalism

by Mark Curtis Published in Middle East Eye, 21 October 2018 Twelve years ago this month, WikiLeaks began publishing government secrets that the world public might otherwise never have known. What it has revealed about state duplicity, human rights abuses and corruption goes beyond anything published in the world’s “mainstream” media. On 14 October Ecuador partly restored […]