Not literally obviously. We don’t expect to be seeing Dominic Mohan and his staff stepping into 10 Downing Street as the elected government next summer, but can his paper really change the outcome of an election? Or is the nation’s favourite red-top going blue to reflect an already changing national mood?
Online and social media is changing the way we interact with the news and the influence newspapers have on us. Gone are the days when we read the printed word and either liked it or lumped it. These days almost every newspaper article appears in an online version where readers are invited to comment, and if there is no comment facility the wealth of blogs and online forums means that the common man gets to have his say anyway. The electorate is educated and opinionated and, more importantly, has a stronger voice than ever through the medium of social media.
It’s arguable that whilst they inevitably maintain some influence, the ability of newspapers to completely change voter behaviour is weaker than it has ever been. Newspapers are increasingly a barometer for public feeling, reacting to the mood of the 24/7 online community rather than creating it.
In which case the question has to be, how accurate is The Sun’s barometer?
Magdalen Bush
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