James O'Brien's vital take on the fake social media hospital story
10 December 2019, 11:16
This is James O'Brien's must-hear analysis on the series of fake social media stories about the four-year-old boy forced to sleep on a hospital floor.
The front page of the Daily Mirror yesterday showed a picture of Jack Williment, a four-year-old with suspected pneumonia, who was forced to sleep on the floor at Leeds General Infirmary due to a lack of beds.
An ITV reporter tried to show Boris Johnson the picture, but the Prime Minister grabbed the phone and put it in his pocket.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was sent to the hospital to show the Tories were taking the story seriously and when Labour sent protesters there, the BBC and ITV Political Editors reported that an aide had been punched. Video footage showed that to be untrue.
Then on social media, false accounts spread accusing the boy's mother of staging the photo.
With just days to go to the General Election, it was an unedifying day of campaigning and a bad one for Boris Johnson.
James O'Brien says the tribalism of political campaigners has made finding the truth ever more difficult.
Speaking on his LBC show, he said: "People who are paid to keep you up to date with the information you need to exercise your democrat right to vote honestly and freely are amplifying the lies.
"Politicians, pundits, commentators, journalists - they're spreading lies about an NHS story that the NHS has confirmed."
Watch his full, powerful monologue at the top of the page.
