Conspiracy theories spread by academics with university help
Leading universities have provided academic status to a group led by proponents of conspiracy theories, an investigation by
The Times shows.
The Organisation for Propaganda Studies (OPS) has promoted theories about the September 11 terrorist attacks, the shooting down of an airliner over Ukraine in 2014, the White Helmets humanitarian rescue group in Syria, the antivax movement and the origins of the coronavirus.
David Miller, a controversial professor, was suspended from the Labour Party last month and has been threatened with disciplinary action for bringing his university into disrepute.
Bristol and Sheffield universities, both in the elite Russell Group, have owned the OPS domain since it was formed as a private, not-for-profit company in 2018, it has emerged. They provided the organisation with an academic website address ending in .ac.uk, an honour formally restricted to distinguished bodies.
Lord Mann, a former Labour MP, said: “The growth of conspiracy theories is a huge risk to public health. Any support for such pernicious nonsense has no place whatsoever in a British university.”
The founders of the OPS include Piers Robinson, a former journalism professor at Sheffield, and Mark Crispin Miller, a media professor at New York University. Both are 9/11 “Truthers” who challenge the official explanation of the World Trade Center attacks. Professor Crispin Miller has shown his students the film
Vaxxed, made by Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced British doctor struck off for falsely linking the MMR jab to autism.
The OPS website leads to an article by Dr Robinson in which he claims that critics of the White Helmets “argue that the group is largely a propaganda construct” to overthrow President Assad of Syria. Footnotes show his sources are two fringe bloggers.
The bloggers are also cited by a Russian spokeswoman when querying the humanitarian nature of the White Helmets. Dr Robinson points readers to research by the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, which he founded with Professor Miller. The group’s briefing notes claim that the White Helmets massacred civilians for use in propaganda videos in complicity with James Le Mesurier, a former former British Army officer who died in November. Another briefing note points the blame for the 2018 Salisbury poisonings away from Russia.
The OPS also lists an essay which suggests that the Russians were being framed for the shooting down of Flight MH17 over Ukraine.
Acceptance of .ac.uk domain names by Jisc, the academic digital support organisation, is supposed to indicate “a high quality of provision”. Jisc originally rejected an application by “Institute for Propaganda Analysis”, a group that could not be validated. But it granted approval when the applicants registered at Companies House as the OPS.
Professor Miller, who has accused Sir Keir Starmer of taking money from the “Zionist movement”, was suspended by Labour last month. It is understood that the party has made no mention of any complaints about antisemitism in its correspondence with him.
Bristol University said: “For legal reasons, we are unable to comment on HR matters which relate to individual members of staff. We will be looking into thrwebsite domain for the OPS . . . given OPS is a private company. Its views and opinions are not supported by the university.” Sheffield University said that the OPS proposal “was to foster academic engagement”.
Dr Robinson said that the OPS was an independent organisation led by academics with substantial research records . . . that “reflect a range of opinions”. Dr Miller did not respond to requests for comment.
Claims made by the OPS:
9/11 was a false flag
Dr Robinson said on a video promoted by the OPS Twitter feed that the official story of the World Trade Center attacks was incorrect. “The question is who was involved in influencing, arranging, and which states, including from within the US political system.”
Coronavirus
Piers Robinson said on the same video: “Some people have talked about bioweapons and so on. All of that is possible. The US has been building facilities.”
Russia was being framed over MH17
Oliver Boyd-Barrett, of the OPS, wrote a paper claiming that the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane killing 298 passengers in 2014 was exploited by the US and its allies “as part of a broader campaign to demonise Russia”. He called his paper: “MH17 as free-floating atrocity propaganda.”
White Helmets are terrorists
A paper by Dr Robinson cites a blog which claims that the civilian rescue group had committed acts of terrorism across Syria.
Russia framed over the Salisbury poisonings
Dr Robinson’s paper refers readers to a website he produced with others which claims that Russia had no motive to attack Sergei Skripal, its former spy.
dkennedy@thetimes.co.uk
