RIGHT-WING papers were notably more subdued in their criticism of the Tory government during the most recent financial crisis than they were during Black Wednesday, showing the mainstream press has become “extremist” in its politics, it has been claimed.
In 1992, the Daily Mail boldly declared Norman Lamont, who was forced to remove the pound from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), the “devalued Chancellor” on its front page the day after the humiliating blow to the Tories.
But in the present day, the paper was notably more subdued in its coverage of the week of financial turmoil sparked by the Conservatives’ mini-Budget.
On the day after the Bank of England took the monumental step of buying £65 billion of government bonds to protect against a run on pensions, the Mail relegated the story to a banner at the top of its front page, reserving its main splash for a crime exclusive in England and a health scandal story in its Scottish edition.
Media studies lecturer Dominic Hinde, of Glasgow University, told the Sunday National the difference in coverage was indicative of the right-wing press’s lurch into “radical” positions fuelled by the effects of dwindling paper sales.
“You can’t underestimate how much more atomised and radicalised UK politics has become in the last 30 years and that’s obviously reflected in the press,” he said.
“Liz Truss and Boris Johnson were products of the press in many ways which created a radicalised environment in which they could succeed, going far to the right of what was seen as the political centre of British politics for a long time.
“Media companies have worked out that they can whip up and mine certain demographics.”
He added: “Newspapers in Britain today still have a disproportionate influence in terms of discussion even if their readership is not that high because of the way in which power brokers are obsessed with front pages.
“You find the same in Scotland, politicians are obsessed with newspaper front pages even though though there’s not much evidence to show that opinion [poll] figures are based hugely on what front pages are saying.
“The Scottish Daily Express puts out another hatchet job on Sturgeon every week and it doesn’t affect the polling figures at all.”
He said that people now more than in the past sought out news outlets which confirmed their own beliefs rather than be challenged, even if “it defies reality”.
“Right-wing papers’ real power comes from their ability to work as an incubator for certain quite radical ideas which can then be mainstream.”
Political historian Richard Toye (above), from Exeter University, said the crises were different but added that the discrepancies in the tone of coverage raised questions about whether journalism was less fearless in the past.
He said: “Were the people in 1992 in some way?
“Thinking about the situation in 1992, there’s this famous quotation from Kelvin MacKenzie, who was the editor of The Sun. John Major rings him after everything’s gone totally pear-shaped and says: ‘I hope you’re not going to be too tough on me tomorrow morning.’ “And Kelvin MacKenzie says, ‘I’ve got a big bucket of shit on my desk and tomorrow morning I’m going to pour it over your head.’”
The right-wing papers in the 1990s could have been “less friendly” towards Major, said Toye, because of the downfall of Margaret Thatcher who was betrayed by members of her top team.
“Now the papers are writing in the knowledge of what Black Wednesday did to the Conservative Government – they didn’t know in 1992 that the government might bounce back in three weeks.
“The Conservatives had just won a just won a surprise fourth parliamentary term, the Tory papers might have thought it doesn’t matter terribly much if we dump over them now because something will change and we’ll get back to normal.
“Now the Daily Mail think they don’t want to do that all over again, particularly not when it’s much closer to an election.”
Hinde added: “Because these newspapers have thrown their oar in so heavily with Brexit and Trussenomics, they can’t just turn around and admit that they’re wrong.
“But in some way, their readers don’t care either, they’ve cultivated their readership so much that they could publish anything and their readers would buy it.”
The Daily Mail was approached for comment.
