'How the Media is Cashing in on the Rise of Nigel Farage'
Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.
For digital and print editions, packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, features, and columns….
SUBSCRIBE
Let's talk about how the media is fuelling the rise of Reform. This is not a new topic. We have seen and heard mainstream journalists, editors and broadcasters asking each other: Are we responsible for the rise of Reform? But after a cursory moment of introspection, they generally reaffirm their journalistic decision-making, and deflect culpability onto other pied pipers.
When The News Agents were asked this question by a listener, they decided it was a "lefty cop-out" to blame the media. Yet I have seen nothing but media cop-outs, and most offensively, a media continuing unchanged. The truth is our media did not just fuel the rise of Reform, they cashed in on it.
Of course, there is no straightforward channel of blame (and I say 'blame' to condemn not the rise of a new party, but the fact that the party rising was one founded on hatred).
How the Media and Musk Are Boosting Nigel Farage's Reform UK Well Beyond Its Size
Analysis of media mentions on Elon Musk's X reveals that established news organisations are helping to boost Nigel Farage's party well out of proportion to its number of MPs
Don McGowan
On the one hand, yes, UK outlets are guilty of giving Reform disproportionate coverage with a disproportionately singular focus on frontman Nigel Farage. And yes, politics pages have long been locked in a two-party matrix that fails to cater to those pouring out of its rusty crevices.
On the other hand, no, this is no longer the newspaper era when Rupert Murdoch made the man in charge - there's a myriad of social and alternative media (some fronted by Farage) with whom the mainstream must compete.
And no, the mainstreaming of far-right ideas is not an exclusively British phenomenon. Also, no, there are not many inspiring alternative parties willing to break from the broken status quo.
But to set the parameters of this debate around Reform is to entirely miss the point. The key way in which our media has failed us is by making the most clickable politics the most successful.
How a 'Populist' Media Has Mainstreamed the Far Right
Right-wing daily papers in the UK do not represent 'public opinion' - they simply reflect the radical right views of those 'who own and run them', argues Julian Petley
Julian Petley
With one hand, our media has shunned Reform as unserious (thereby playing into their anti-establishment narrative), while fanning with the other the flames of culture warfare and Us versus Them identity-making (on the right and the left alike), that give Reform such an easy route forward without requiring them to offer root-cause solutions.
"In many ways, our media repeatedly falls into the trap that extremists lay out for us," radicalisation researcher Dr Rajan Basra told Media Storm.
This was in 2022, when we were investigating a far-right attack on an asylum centre in Dover, which occurred amid headlines of an "invasion" on our border - headlines that quoted then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman in her carefully clickable wording. This trap, Basra calls "destroying the grayzone".
Whether it's ISIS or someone from the far-right, extremists want to destroy the nuance, the moderate view, the understanding that could bridge divides. They want us to think in Us vs. Them
Dr Rajan Basra, radicalisation researcher
"I don't know if it's just how the media's structured," Basra lamented.
The sad truth is, it largely is.
Ad-funded media quite literally live off clicks, and even editors at other outlets pour over 'most-read' leaderboards and pressure reporters to compete accordingly.
It's therefore easy for politicians, especially former media personalities like Farage and Donald Trump, to say things they know the media will repeat - even if ...
For digital and print editions, packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, features, and columns….
SUBSCRIBE
Let's talk about how the media is fuelling the rise of Reform. This is not a new topic. We have seen and heard mainstream journalists, editors and broadcasters asking each other: Are we responsible for the rise of Reform? But after a cursory moment of introspection, they generally reaffirm their journalistic decision-making, and deflect culpability onto other pied pipers.
When The News Agents were asked this question by a listener, they decided it was a "lefty cop-out" to blame the media. Yet I have seen nothing but media cop-outs, and most offensively, a media continuing unchanged. The truth is our media did not just fuel the rise of Reform, they cashed in on it.
Of course, there is no straightforward channel of blame (and I say 'blame' to condemn not the rise of a new party, but the fact that the party rising was one founded on hatred).
How the Media and Musk Are Boosting Nigel Farage's Reform UK Well Beyond Its Size
Analysis of media mentions on Elon Musk's X reveals that established news organisations are helping to boost Nigel Farage's party well out of proportion to its number of MPs
Don McGowan
On the one hand, yes, UK outlets are guilty of giving Reform disproportionate coverage with a disproportionately singular focus on frontman Nigel Farage. And yes, politics pages have long been locked in a two-party matrix that fails to cater to those pouring out of its rusty crevices.
On the other hand, no, this is no longer the newspaper era when Rupert Murdoch made the man in charge - there's a myriad of social and alternative media (some fronted by Farage) with whom the mainstream must compete.
And no, the mainstreaming of far-right ideas is not an exclusively British phenomenon. Also, no, there are not many inspiring alternative parties willing to break from the broken status quo.
But to set the parameters of this debate around Reform is to entirely miss the point. The key way in which our media has failed us is by making the most clickable politics the most successful.
How a 'Populist' Media Has Mainstreamed the Far Right
Right-wing daily papers in the UK do not represent 'public opinion' - they simply reflect the radical right views of those 'who own and run them', argues Julian Petley
Julian Petley
With one hand, our media has shunned Reform as unserious (thereby playing into their anti-establishment narrative), while fanning with the other the flames of culture warfare and Us versus Them identity-making (on the right and the left alike), that give Reform such an easy route forward without requiring them to offer root-cause solutions.
"In many ways, our media repeatedly falls into the trap that extremists lay out for us," radicalisation researcher Dr Rajan Basra told Media Storm.
This was in 2022, when we were investigating a far-right attack on an asylum centre in Dover, which occurred amid headlines of an "invasion" on our border - headlines that quoted then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman in her carefully clickable wording. This trap, Basra calls "destroying the grayzone".
Whether it's ISIS or someone from the far-right, extremists want to destroy the nuance, the moderate view, the understanding that could bridge divides. They want us to think in Us vs. Them
Dr Rajan Basra, radicalisation researcher
"I don't know if it's just how the media's structured," Basra lamented.
The sad truth is, it largely is.
Ad-funded media quite literally live off clicks, and even editors at other outlets pour over 'most-read' leaderboards and pressure reporters to compete accordingly.
It's therefore easy for politicians, especially former media personalities like Farage and Donald Trump, to say things they know the media will repeat - even if ...
Activity