No, DWP PIP is not being axed – despite the corporate media headlines

The corporate media has published a flurry of stories around the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) potentially axing the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Of course, all the stories are bullshit – but there’s a reason the media is doing it. And it’s because it needs the clicks for ad revenue.

DWP PIP: no, it’s not being axed

The Mirror headed up the charge of corporate media scaremongering about DWP PIP. Its headline said:

DWP update on whether PIP, Pension Credit and Carer’s Allowance are being axed

Then, local outlets followed suit. Teeside Live said:

DWP confirms if PIP is being axed in major benefits shake-up affecting millions

Birmingham Live did similar:

DWP makes PIP axe decision in major benefits shake-up

As did Yorkshire Live:

DWP major benefits shake-up as they make PIP axe decision

Other “Live” outlets did the same – and even the Daily Express followed their lead:

DWP confirms if PIP is being axed or moving over to Universal Credit

So, is the new Labour Party government going to axe DWP PIP?

No, of course it isn’t. As the Mirror had to admit in its subheading:

The DWP has published a full list of the welfare payments being switched off – and there are six benefits in total that are being replaced by Universal Credit

This is the story that Universal Credit will be replacing six old-style benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). We’ve known for years what benefits Universal Credit will replace. So, why are the Mirror and other outlets running with this story now?

Reach on the edge

The Mirror, the Daily Express, and local sites with “Live” in their names are all owned by a company called Reach. And Reach is in the shit.

As Hold The Front Page reported, a leaked internal email revealed that Live journalists were going to be expected to write up to eight articles a day. This is because Reach needs more visitors to its sites to get more money in advertising revenue.

Hold The Front Page noted that the leaked email said:

We need to make more of shifts where people are not going out as drivers of volume. In practice, if you’re on a general shift and you’re not on a job, it should be at least eight stories a shift.

And:

Ultimately, this is all about building sustainable newsrooms, and in the here and now that means making sure we’re driving enough page views to fund our journalism

But how does the DWP PIP axed story come into that? Well, the phrase “DWP PIP” does.

Profiting off disabled people’s misery

Google is a major driver of traffic to websites. Media outlets, when they write articles, have to put in what’s called a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) focus keyphrase. That is a word, or words, which sum up the topic of the article and what you want Google to put it under in its inventory. That is, if people search “DWP PIP” and you’ve used that as your keyphrase, then your article will come up on a search.

This is what it looks like behind the scenes. If the colour is green that means the SEO is perfect:

DWP PIP seems to be Google’s favourite benefits-related keyphrase at the minute. So, Reach outlets have all concocted this bullshit article or variations thereof because they know people will click on it if they use the DWP PIP keyphrase. They’re also easy for churnalists to write, as much of these articles have been copied and pasted from pervious ones.

It is, in short, a huge corporate media company exploiting the circumstances and often misery of vulnerable chronically ill and disabled people to increase its advertising revenue.

As Canary journalist Rachel Charlton-Dailey (who used to be a Mirror columnist) wrote:

This right here is why important nuance around things like disability benefits are being lost in the mainstream media. BC outlets are far more focused on the volume of stories and getting them out than the actual stories. https://t.co/tNFszIPs91

— Rachel Charlton-Dailey (@RachelCDailey) October 9, 2024

Yes, we’ve used DWP PIP – but at least it’s been worth you reading

In the interests of transparency – yes of course the Canary has used DWP PIP as a keyphrase for this article. However, we only ever bring you news around benefits that is a) true, b) not clickbait, and c) worth you reading.

So, when you search anything about the DWP – be careful what you click into. Because more often than not, the money-hungry corporate media is probably feeding you clickbait.

Featured image via the Canary