The recent decision by The Sun to change allegiance from the Labour Party to that of the Conservative raises some interesting questions. Firstly, to what extent to national papers hold the keys to Downing Street and secondly, is it right for a newspaper to report news in an opinionated and non-objective manner?
The dramatic headline earlier this week of ‘Labour’s Lost It,’ was about as surprising and unexpected as yet another year of talentless hopefuls performing like monkeys on the X Factor. The move was quickly followed by the insistence that the paper was standing up for the people and the following day’s headline of ‘Labour’s Lost Us,’ in the midst of a selection of photos of people who are miffed at Brown’s administration.
Plain and simply The Sun will not decide who the next Prime Minister is alone, and they can not force people to vote, however as the most widely read daily in the country it holds huge importance as a propaganda tool. Today’s paper dedicates several pages to David Cameron including ‘David Cameron’s Vow to Sun Readers,’ followed by 10 pledges that are as mainstream as his army of spin doctors and advisors could bring themselves to write. Surrounded by headlines such as ‘Now The People Speak,’ and ‘Jail Taunt Yobs,’ The Sun is clearly aligning itself with the man they expect to be the next PM. The fact of the matter is that they have chosen a not altogether surprising time to make this announcement with latest polls showing Brown’s administration less popular than ever and supporters of Labour turning to the Dark Prince Mandelson for any sign of hope or optimism.
With the BBC and other TV broadcasters in this country unable to take a political stance the undeniable character assassination that the British tabloids seem to pride themselves on seems to be more important now than perhaps ever before. The celebrity obsessed public crave more and more gossip to the extent that when this week Katie Price, aka Jordan, was kicked off a breast cancer awareness campaign for comments she made relating to her own peculiar bust there was not a mention of the actual campaign but a Z list glamour model making herself look even more foolish, now that’s what the people want to hear about. This leaves editors little choice but follow the public opinion and taste, if they went a breakdown of what Sarah Brown is wearing that’s what they get, if they want to know which cheeky girl Lembit Opik is currently shacking up with a centre spread is afforded. The personal attacks or at least as important as the news itself and in many cases more so.
Cross the pond and it’s a very different story for the TV broadcasters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJixL–ms
The TV networks openly support whoever they like and this simply leads to a wider and more accessible version of what we see in the tabloid press of today. This isn’t against the law in America whereas here it would breach the regulation set out by OFCOM that TV news channels have to report in an impartial manner.
With the newspaper industry slowly falling and the rise of the internet and new modern media the chances of this situation remaining solely in the realms of the British tabloids are slim. Many people now access their news online where the restrictions and regulations are a lot harder to enforce therefore the betrayal of news and the rise of celebrity politicians is regrettably in its infancy.
