The media and the election

Perhaps conscious of Marshall McLuhan’s famous phrase ‘the medium is the message’, many commentators view modern elections as media dominated events. During the 1997 election this view was publicly aired by Tony Blair and Michael Portillo, both of whom expressed their unhappiness with the coverage. Adverse comments of this sort are nothing new, especially when made by defeated politicians. But concern about the role of journalism in electoral matters is a legitimate issue and people of various persuasions are voicing concern about the influence of those who control the mass media in Britain.