HAVE THE MEDIA TAKEN CHARGE?
Are efforts to find objectivity in the media perhaps becoming more and more futile? The election coverage early on was obsessed with gaffs, not substance. And that is continuing. Is Rishi Sunak’s D – Day mistake the defining moment in this election as is currently being touted? But should it be? It has been a main item in every news programme since it occurred and so the media create importance disproportionate to the major matters of national interest.
Broadcasters control news content. They are, for example, choosing interviewees, handling interviews, making as many commentaries on events and expressing opinions as much as their interviewees. And yet certain interviewees are allowed it seems, such as pollsters, endless time to deliver their personal diatribes.
In particular the BBC is holding itself out as the arbiter of verification of claims when the bias of its news presenters is obvious. It is of course a politician’s lot to be villainised by media, but the journalists’ messages so often send a signal that they consider themselves able to be judge and jury of those in public service while they themselves notably perform in many cases no valuable function whatsoever. Maybe the approach to the serious business of fair presentation of news is epitomised by the fact that broadcasters seem now to refer to their news programmes as “Shows”. There was a time when to see a show we went to the theatre for the drama or comedy of the show, but now dramatization and so fictionalisation are the hallmark of so much broadcast media. They are perhaps the king makers, and will wield their power as suits them, whether in the interests of the UK or not. And meanwhile swathes of the population, particularly the young, rely on social media, for example TikTok, the Chinese owned platform subject to the Chinese Government’s objectives as a committed disruptor of western democracies.
SPIN OR LIES – A FINE LINE
According to Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak’s behaviour in the first TV head-to-head debate between them said everything about Rishi Sunak’s character, that in Keir Starmer’s words he is a liar. The gravest of offensive insult which illustrates the degraded nature of political debate today. Thus began a narrative, with commentators and Tory opponents spreading a story that Rishi Sunak told a lie and so is a serial liar. This sort of character destruction should have no place in sensible debate when the person concerned is fundamentally accepted as a decent person. And this campaign of constant repetition by those who wish to bring down Rishi Sunak is the same tactical technique of opinion repetition which has been used recently over and again to establish opinion as fact and so manipulating the minds of the electorate. This is all made possible by irresponsible use of media power.
What was the so-called lie? And was it a lie or closer to spin, although perhaps spin itself is all about bending the truth and concealing information. Rishi Sunak asserted, perhaps unwisely and too many times, that Labour’s plans would cost taxpayers some £2000 each in tax, and the Treasury had approved the numbers. In fact, the Treasury had only approved some of the numbers, and of course behind the figures lay numerous assumptions the reasonableness of which is hard to assess at best. But the calculations are all public and Labour and supporters of them can easily point out flaws: that is how argument in an election and throughout politics plays out. All sides spin their viewpoint, omitting to emphasise any weaknesses. Political argument is invariably about exaggeration and statements made which are so often not backed up. Consider how many arguments include statements about what people generally want or think, without any hard evidence: spin or actually lies at best misleading. Exaggeration, selectivity, generalisations and fiction are meat and drink in political debate.
In BBC Question Time, with politicians from the Green, Liberal, Conservative and Labour parties responding to some questions from the audience, many of which seemed politically prepped, responses included numerous generalisations, so exaggerated as to be untrue or completely fiction. One said that the UK rips up its international agreements, which is untrue because it is one of the most compliant nations. One blamed the parlous state of the Welsh NHS, far worse than England, on lack of money from Westminster, when in fact Wales receives per head roughly 15% more than England for public services. And so, it went on.
While Rishi Sunak overstated and was misleading, perhaps Keir Starmer showed excessive self-righteousness the following day, when he declared Rishi Sunak to have shown his true character as a liar. Does he really mean that?
When manifestos emerge, they will be full of promises for the future, and of course their fulfilment depends on factual circumstances at the time, for example a war or pandemic may derail them. They will depend on underlying assumptions. In both Labour and Conservative cases, full funding or costing for example includes funding resulting from HMRC reeling in billions from “cracking down” on tax evasion and avoidance: one suspects that assumption itself has no real substance and so supports a lie! Or is it really a lie or something in which the other side can point out the flaws to the public? Also, that every TV debate is supported by a “Spin Room” of twisters whose aim is to spin the arguments maybe tells us the state of decay which truth and accuracy and fair representation finds itself? Step forward the media circus.
REFORM, THE DISRUPTER
Nigel Farage returned to the front of the stage, taking on leadership of the Reform party and standing for election in Clacton. His mission as always arises from opportunism for himself. Reform will disrupt this election somehow, having an appeal to more right-wing conservatives and some extreme right-wing voters. Where they stand against the Tories, they may render success more likely for Liberals or Labour. His mission also includes replacing the Conservative party or maybe leading it in a reformed state. His plain-speaking approach has its attractions. But does Reform have substance? Who else in Reform is publicly recognisable, let alone outstanding? It is hard to have respect for Nigel Farage who portrays himself as perhaps Donald Trump’s greatest admirer and supporter, if consideration is given to the ego mania, rabble rousing and disdain for democracy and truth that is the defining nature of the Republican nominee for President of the USA. That Nigel Farag’s self-portrayal perhaps unveils the real Nigel Farage. Is it possible though that Reform and the Tories will form an alliance of necessity?
Before Nigel Farage took charge it looked like the UK was a standout European country for not having gone too far to the right, while European elections are giving greater power to the more extreme right than ever, frightening perhaps. But now the UK is looking more like it is going the same sorry way.
D-DAY WAS DOOMSDAY FOR THE PRIME MINISTER
Rishi Sunak is almost certainly a patriot, but now fewer people will believe that.
What possessed him to leave the D-Day commemorations before the international celebrations and dedications is a mystery, but it is proving to be an error of judgement which, despite his immediate mea culpa apology, will haunt and perhaps doom the Conservative campaign. And the media will not let it be forgotten. His opponents , all the other parties and his own Tory detractors have been provided a stick to beat him with over and over again, another distraction from any major policy declarations. His own advisers’ competence is brought into question. But where his opponents’ main easy message is 14 years of Tory incompetence, this own goal merely adds fuel to a raging forest fire.
THE MEDIA HAVE TAKEN CHARGE
Manifestos will emerge. But do they now really matter? They should. But their content will be spun endlessly. How they are selectively presented in the media may influence the nation. But the background music and the stage, and finally the enactment of the play, will be run by media and their controllers whether respectable or otherwise. The audience, the electorate, will have to be at their discerning best to decide a good outcome.
See also: – Election about Vision, Graft and Grit not Gaffs
