“The media has too much influence over the outcomes of elections and referendums.” (2019 GCSE)

In the United Kingdom the media has consistently played a large role in influencing elections and referenda, from the Zinoviev Letter of the 1920s to the 'It's the Sun Wot Won It' headline of 1992. The impact of large newspapers and media organisations, often consolidated under the same owners such as Rupert Murdoch or the Lebedev family, has been of increasing concern in recent years. Equally, the last decade has seen the inexorable rise of 'fake news' as an electoral phenomenon, as the internet and social media has made the dissemination of untruths easier than ever. The impact of Rupert Murdoch, for example, has been particularly controversial since the Thatcher governments. That he has been regularly consulted by Prime Ministers such as Blair and Brown without ever holding an elected position, simply because of his large profile, is a perfect example of the media having too much political influence. The political stance that Murdoch's media group takes can be significant in swaying elections and the Fox News Channel in the United States has been recognised as one of the primary mouthpieces and sources of support for Donald Trump, often peddling fake or distorted news. Equally, the impact of Twitter, Reddit and Facebook in the spread of fake or misleading news has had a largely negative impact on democratic elections. Users can find themselves in 'echo chambers' of their own political point of view without exposure to a range of informed opinion. Social media corporations have routinely failed to implement a proper system of moderation and untruths are allowed to be published without the notional oversight extended to print media. Social media lies largely outside the remit of libel prosecutions or regulatory bodies like OFCOM. We can thus see that the media in general has had a largely negative impact on elections and referenda in the past decade.