The referendum came, it was this right-wing press that ensured enough votes Was a right wing press that sold a huge lie about the UK economy, a lie theīroadcast media bought, to ensure the Conservatives won the next election. It then forced the Prime Minister to offer the referendum the press wanted. The threat of that party and defections to That press first fostered a party, UKIP, thatĮmbodied the views the press pushed. In my most widely read post, Brexit was first and foremost a triumphįor the UK right wing press. It does not tell you why they fell for the remedies of snake-oil salesmen. Identifying the left behind is only half the story, because Many manufacturing jobs back to the rust belt, and his antics with NAFTA may Although he may try, Trump will not bring There is nothing in leaving the EU that will help theįorgotten towns of England and Wales. Legitimate grievances Brexit and Trump supporters may have had, they were usedĪnd will be betrayed. ‘demand’ for populism is in danger of missing at least half the story. Machine in the capital city with all its experts. It represents the normally ignored, striking back against the government InĪddition both Trump and Brexit maintain, because their proponents want it to be maintained, the idea that Which are very difficult to break down when sustained by the group’s media. Brexit and TrumpĪre expressions of identity, and often of what has been lost, Sustained by the media make support for both hard to diminish. Reducing access to public services, whereas in reality the opposite is true.Ĭreated a winning majority for both Brexit and Trump, the identity issues To convince many to vote for Brexit: that EU immigrants and payments were It was crucial, for example, to the trick that the media played Race or immigration), but it is the economics that causes the swings that help put populists Stressing economic causes of populism does not devalue identity issues (like It does not get side-tracked into debates over identity versus economics. This analysis of today's populism is important, as long as Very real grievances that led to the Brexit vote, or the racism that led to theĮlection of Trump.
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Readers existing views, but rather played on their doubts and fears and hopes Of course this grooming played on age old insecurities, but it magnified them These stories were not (always) false, but like all good propaganda they elevated a half-truth into a firm belief. Taking jobs, lowering wages and taking benefits (and sometimes much worse). Recognised a large section of their readership were disaffected fromĬonventional politics, and began grooming them with stories of EU immigrants Brexit happened because this right-wing press Had remained the wish of a minority of Conservative MPs. More and more it is the media that calls the shots, Underestimates the independence of the media organisations. In my view that idea is ten or twenty years out of date, and even then it There is theĬonservative and Labour supporting press in the UK, and similarly for the US. Generally think of this media as supportive of political parties. Idea that this unregulated media just reflects the attitude of its readers, I think you could say exactly the sameĪbout the Sun and the Mail in the UK. As the study I spoke about here clearly demonstrates, the output ofįox news is not designed to maximise its readership, but to maximise the impact In the US this isįox, and in the UK the right-wing tabloids and the Telegraph. Both groups get their information about the world fromĪ section of the media that has turned news into propaganda. It misses what sustains these groups in theirīeliefs, allows them to maintain their world view which is so oftenĬontradicted by reality. Intensely nationalistic: both want to make America or England great again.įamiliar concepts: class, race or whatever. As a result, you will find their base of supportersĪmong the less well educated, and that universities are seen as an enemy. Both groups are Movements, by which I mean that they cast aside expertise where that conflicts This authority expresses the movement’s identity. Lies with a single individual or a single vote: the vote that binds them all. They are both authoritarian movements, where authority either
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PA Images/Sonia Moskovitz/Zuma Press.īrexit and Trump. The two billionaires have been friends for many years. Image: A younger Donald Trump with Rupert Murdoch and Murdoch's second wife Anna.