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The ‘comedian’ proclaimed as the “driving force” behind a new newspaper in Wales called The National (TN), who made sick ‘jokes’ about a murdering gunman, used bad language on social media to abuse prominent politicians, was placed under police investigation and been reprimanded by a social media company, has now been blocked on Twitter by one of the biggest broadcasters in the UK, The Eye can reveal.
In banning Mr Marshall ITV Football warned him: “You are blocked from following @itvfootball and viewing @itvfootball’s Tweets”.
This is, however, not the first time he has fallen foul of regulations on social media. Mr Marshall has been severely reprimanded by Twitter in the past because one of his accounts “violated the Twitter Rules”, and it found that another, “Welsh Bollocks”, had also broken their rules.
Indeed he has often hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. He has said on Twitter about The Eye’s revelations: “…the time will shortly come when lawyers get involved”.
Evidently our Editor, Phil Parry, has become something of a thorn in Mr Marshall’s side, because he says he has a number of different Twitter accounts, but claims he reserves one for ‘stories’ which may bother him, saying “@marshallmedia is where I post Everton related stuff and things that upsets Phil Parry”.
Mr Marshall also says he has contacted the police but that there is little they can do as “it is a waste of their precious time”, and “I really pity those who try to undermine my work and reputation”. But it seems the police HAVE had time to investigate Mr Marshall for alleged harassment. On Twitter he told South Wales Police (SWP), that he intended to make a complaint, however officers responded by informing him that they have a “responsibility to investigate any reports”.
Mr Marshall attempted to have The Eye closed down, alleging “violent threats and harassment” when there have been no threats of violence from our journalists, and the only harassment has come from him after he used social media to dub senior Welsh politicians “twats”, and Mr Parry a “liar”.
In response to the demand that we should be closed down, the reply was made that: “Huw Marshall has: 1. Been investigated by the police for harassment. 2. Made sick ‘jokes’ on Facebook about the murdering gunman Raoul Moat. 3. Called senior politicians Ken Skates and Peter Black ‘twats’ online. 4. Been reprimanded by Twitter. 5. Sent unwanted takeaways to people’s houses”.
One possible donor has declared that he wants Mr Marshall’s new media operation to be “unbiased” and not “nationalist” – possibly ignorant of the ‘co-ordinator’s’ background, after he stood as a candidate for Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru (PC) in Cardiff Central in 1992 when he came fourth. The worried critic said on Twitter: “I really hope it will be unbiased and not rammed with the anti-government nationalist diatribe from another Welsh news outlet…” and Mr Marshall answered: “Our main aim isn’t to tell people what to think…”.
It seems that Mr Marshall is also sensitive to criticism, and has used social media to attack our revelations, despite his controversial past.
In 2013, it was disclosed that he had made extremely offensive remarks to senior politicians, on Twitter, and complaints after further comments led to the official reprimand. One insult eight years ago, was directed at the Labour MS and minister Ken Skates with another hurled at the former Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black.
After Mr Skates tweeted in celebration of a one-vote council by-election victory over Plaid Cymru (PC) in Ruabon, Mr Marshall referred to him in his own tweet as a “gloating t**t”, and he described Mr Black as a “humourless t..t” (sic) as well as a “dull, tedious t..t”.
But this kind of ‘humour’ of the man behind TN follows a familiar pattern. Two people had died and a police officer lost the sight in both eyes when rampaging gunman Raoul Moat shot them, yet despite this on July 8, 2010 – with him trying to escape from armed police – Mr Marshall published a message on his Facebook (FB) site, reading: “Hi I’m a sexy 19 year old blond (sic) from the North East of England looking for some fun.
“My Mr Right should be a big strong ginger man with a fiery temper and a jealous nature, who also enjoys camping and writing long letters”.
Another post read: “Moat reward… if he isn’t caught by next Wednesday, the rewards (sic) being doubled. It’s going to be a Raul (sic) over”.
The newspaper Mr Marshall supports (TN) is no less controversial.
Through the Newsquest Media Group (NMG), it is ultimately owned by the giant American corporation Gannett Incorporated, a mass media firm headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, which is the largest newspaper publisher in America. This link, though, has made many potential supporters uneasy, and its behaviour has been highlighted by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
It was reported that the NUJ was celebrating union recognition of local democracy reporters, and this came hard on the heels of other alarming headlines. In July it was published that the NMG furlough scheme was a “waiting room for redundancy” with at least 38 journalism jobs at risk, and in March of the previous year the NUJ criticised plans to cut staff in Brighton, South London and North Wales, which was to lead to an overall headcount reduction of six.
The worrying nature of this ‘partnership’ has also been highlighted by David Nicholson on Twitter, who is the NUJ’s National Executive Council (NEC) member for Wales.
As NMG, Gannett owns a host of Welsh titles including The South Wales Argus in Newport, but it has often made troubling news. In May 2019 under the headline “NUJ speaks up for Newsquest journalists at Gannett AGM” details were released that “…the union remains seriously concerned by Gannett’s stewardship of Newsquest, its relentless job cutting programme, a looming hostile takeover bid and the dire conditions facing journalists who work for the UK company”.
Plainly the connection with Gannett Co., Inc, is also making those people uncomforable who might otherwise have supported the venture. One said on Twitter “for me it’s important to be owned and run in Wales”.
Another declared: “He’s (the ‘driving force’ for the ‘project’, Mr Marshall) been saying for a while that there is a “Partner” on board……I assumed that it was a local, welsh business……but it does indeed look like it is News quest! !”.
A detractor said on Twitter: “Why are we having to use a London based company?”.
A different critic declared: “Gotta be honest, a London-headquarterd media outlet is not at all what I thought I was supporting, purported editorial freedom or nay. I have some reasonably major reservations”.
Unusual characters (including prominent politicians) have backed Mr Marshall, as well as his newspaper (TN).
The headline-grabbing Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC) member for Blaenau Gwent, Alun Davies, MS, declared on Twitter about TN: “Well. I wish you best of luck with this initiative. Anything to strengthen our news environment should receive a warm welcome”.
A ‘warm welcome’ was given, as well, to the ‘pilot’ for the venture which was wished “Best of luck” by Welsh Government (WG) minister Lee Waters,
But TN was launched with just TWO ‘digital reporters’, and critics question whether a ‘national’ service can be provided by such a small number.
The headlines about the “driving force” for it (Mr Marshall) include him making sick ‘jokes’ about a murdering gunman, using bad language to abuse prominent politicians on social media, being placed under police investigation and reprimanded by a social media company, but now being blocked on Twitter by one of the biggest broadcasters in the UK…
The memories of Mr Parry’s astonishing decades long award-winning career in journalism (before the advent of TN) as he was gripped by the rare disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!
