Media Impartiality

Some people are saying that the next General Election will be the dirtiest ever. I think it will be the first election where the media becomes part of the battleground. The media simply cannot sit back and pretend that it's a neutral observer anymore.

Media impartiality is a myth. News in particular always has an agenda, even if it's an unconscious one. People even write academic papers about it.

Controlling the media message is a classic warning sign of totalitarianism. People have to be "reprogrammed" to accept socialism and the media is a major tool. The most worrying aspect recently is the politicisation of the National Union of Journalists. Broadcaster Jon Snow resigned last year in protest saying:

I did not like being told what to think by my union...I am completely outraged that the union that I joined, and remain a member of to protect and work for the interest of journalists, should take such a high-horse position on a private issue for countries and individuals themselves.

Jeremy Hunt's comments on the BBC have seen a robust response from the NUJ's general secretary in an unashamedly partisan piece at Tribune. A group called NUJLeft, which was formed by three socialist factions, makes no secret of its political agenda and is trying to get its members into key positions in the union. On top of that falling revenue is threatening the existence of newspapers in particular and the Conservatives seem to be getting all the blame for this despite not being in power for 12 years.

I don't personally want to see the BBC stripped down and I'm not even a big fan of Rupert Murdoch. Media concentration and monopoly are an issue which would have to be controlled by regulation. The problem is that the once high minded and noble concept of "impartiality" is being abused by individuals and groups with covert and overt agendas. It is insulting to the public at large to keep up the pretence that the media is impartial. The only sensible option is to scrap impartiality rules.

The problem in the short run is how can the Conservatives and people who advocate conservative values - often deliberately referred to derogatively as "right wing" - get a fair hearing in the run up to the election?