XR occupies Daily Telegraph offices

November 10, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion

Press Release

For immediate release

Contact: XR UK Press Team +44 (0)7756 136396

press@extinctionrebellion.uk

Extinction Rebellion ‘Stop Selling Lies’ campaigners occupy Daily Telegraph newspaper office

Extinction Rebellion today (10 November) peacefully occupied the offices of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers to protest about their campaign of lies and disinformation aimed at stopping urgent action to tackle the accelerating climate crisis.

Eight XR activists with a giant banner saying ‘Stop Selling Lies’ entered the lobby of Telegraph newspapers HQ in Victoria, London, at 8am, defying security guards ordering them to leave. 

For 40 minutes, they occupied the lobby, handing out 400 leaflets to arriving staff and members of the public that called out a relentless daily campaign by the billionaire-owned Telegraph to the UK’s commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.

Ed Allnutt, 32, a gardener and one of the XR team, says: ‘‘The Telegraph pretends to be a newspaper. It’s really a propaganda unit for the very rich that promotes a deadly form of Business As Usual that will kill billions of us by making the worst case climate crisis scenarios into a reality.

“Every day it spouts disinformation to convince its influential readers –  including many of our political, financial and business leaders – that the climate and ecological emergency is either not real or not serious and easily solved by fantasy technologies.

“The disinformation spread by these newspapers – alongside other billionaire-owned titles such as The Sun and The Daily Mail – are one of the main reasons why millions aren’t on the streets of the UK demanding government action.

“We’re here to say to the Telegraph’s editors and journalists that their words are literally helping to kill people all over the world right now and will help kill millions more in the near future. We want to ask them: are you ok with this?’

In recent weeks, Telegraph newspapers have campaigned daily to water down the UK’s Net Zero commitments, to drill for more oil and gas, and in opposition to renewable energy, such as domestic heat pumps and wind and solar, and alternative transport such as cycling and electric vehicles.

Today’s Extinction Rebellion leaflet pointed out that 80% of the articles published in the Telegraph’s new Net Zero section negatively portray new green technologies aimed at cutting the carbon emission heating up the planet – and none are positive about them. 

‘Could it be because the Telegraph’s new energy editor previously worked for an oil and gas trade association?’ the leaflet asked.

Calling out distorted or untrue recent Telegraph climate coverage, it revealed:

• A news story about a noisy net zero power SUB station failed to say the noise levels WERE largely caused by construction work and traffic building it.
• A news story claiming that heat pumps won’t work in British homes failed to say that 75% of people who own them are satisfied or very satisfied. (1)
• A news story claiming electric car tyres produce carcinogenic particles failed to say that SUV petrol or diesel cars produce even more, and that EVs produce far fewer particulates from brake linings than petrol or diesel cars.(2)

The Telegraph occupation was the latest action in a weekly campaign by XR to draw public attention to the climate denialism and delayism that dominates the national newspapers read by millions and owned by billionaires Rupert Murdoch (The Sun, The Times), Viscount Rothermere (Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) and Frederick Barclay (Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph).

Every Friday for the past four weeks, XR activists have leafleted the Daily Mail’s offices in Kensington, London, to point out to the untruths, distortions and inaccuracies in their newspaper’s recent climate coverage.

For more information, to arrange interviews, or for photographs of the action, please email press@extinctionrebellion.uk or call the XR UK Press Team on +44 (0)7756 136396.

Note to editors:

Telegraph stories referenced in leaflet and data sources: 

(1) Nesta heat pump survey
https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/Heat_pump_user_survey_report_May_2023.docx.pdf

(2) Braking systems on EVs
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/electric-cars/running/do-electric-vehicles-produce-more-tyre-and-brake-pollution-than-petrol-and/

Telegraph stories opposing Net Zero:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/

Why heat pumps will never work in Britain
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/why-heat-pumps-will-never-work-britain-gas-boiler-net-zero/

‘Highly carcinogenic’ tyre toxins give electric car drivers a nasty surprise
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/heavy-electric-cars-toxic-tyre-particles-petrol-vehicles/