Does Political Journalism Affect The Uk Adequately Serve...

Does political journalism in the UK adequately serve the needs of a democratic political system? The newspapers in the United Kingdom tend to take a partisan line in their reporting. According to Michael Schudson (2001,165) the concept that a journalist should be objective is relatively new and cannot be applied identically to all countries and contexts. 24, mass media politics ) He argues that the need to be objective as a journalist is felt more strongly in the UK than in countries such as Germany or China. There is an obvious distinction between what each citizen would choose to read about. The middle class and business sector have a preference for the ‘free market’ policies such as privitisation, disposal of the welfare state, trade†¦show more content†¦An article written in The Sun, with the headline ‘If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?’ has been thought of as contribution to the Conservative win in 1992 general election. The Sun, itself ran a headline announcing John Major’s vict ory, stating ‘it was the Sun wot won it.† This was repeated by The Sun in 2015 general election, using a photograph of Ed Milliband struggling to eat a bacon sandwich, with the headline â€Å"don’t swallow his porkies and keep him out.† (mmpd) News Corporation accounted for six popular national newspapers in the UK. This level of ownership impacts the variety of ideas and values that can circulate. Concentration of media ownership threatens democracy in political journalism(Baker, 2007), leading to over-representation of political viewpoints, values that are favoured by media owners. There is a negative correlation between media domination and levels of pluralism which is needed in society, to sustain representation. The concentration of media ownership leads to less competing suppliers, thus leaving a gap in a democratic political system. Due to Rupert Murdoch’s large media empire, it has been said that he has wielded political power through his influence over headlines. It could be interpreted this way when considering the support given by News Corporation owned newspapers, to Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and Tony Blair in 1997. The impact of Rupert Murdoch can also be shown