Is the media complicit in supporting the rise of Reform UK?

In Brief:

• The Liberal Democrats won a record number of seats. 72 in total, surpassing predictions of 61.
• Reform eventually won five seats, but they had far more media attention than, for example, the Green Party, who won four seats.
• Media coverage is often drawn to more straightforward narratives, such as the rise of hard-right parties like Reform, rather than the more complex stories of left or liberal successes.

In The News Agents Q & A podcast, another great question was raised - has the media been complicit in focusing too much time on Reform during the General Election?

Emily says: “That goes back to something fundamental, do you shut out [Reform] or do you allow it in?

“The point about the Reform party is that they got five seats. In the end they got four million votes. You can go back a decade and say that these are very similar results to UKIP in the 2015 election when they also got four million - so you could say that there hasn’t been a massive shift.”

But she adds: “But I guess the question is - we [the media] are trying to reflect not just the overall seat numbers but also the sense of feelings and passions that’s rippling beneath the waves. I agree with you that 72 seats for the Lib Dems is arguably the story of the night.”

That story being that the Liberal Democrats have now broken, here in the UK, the dominance of the two-party system or, as Emily calls it “a third party recession.”

Lewis says: “I think that Reform get attention and should get attention because, rightly or wrongly, Nigel Farage does command a solid basis of support in the country. And it really is largely about Farage. The question, of course, is whether he can build on that to appeal to a broader audience and whether he's actually got the political chops to do it.”

Both Lewis and Emily agree that it will be interesting to see if Farage is going to be speaking at the US Republican party this week, rather than the House of Commons.

Lewis adds that these are just the sort of stories that should be covered because it has a direct effect on Conservative Party “alchemy” and what they do next.

“It is true to say that I think that it's often about narratives - not just in Britain, but also Europe as well, when the far right are on the march – literally and figuratively. It's something that gets covered a lot because it conjures certain images. It's kind of an easy story to tell, and one that is resonant. When the left do well, or Lib Dems or the Greens, it often isn't covered to the same extent - I think completely wrongly - but often because the story is more complicated.”

Going back to the original question, Emily suggests it would be odd if the media didn’t dedicate time to Reform because the party is now such a large presence in the UK.

She adds: “For us not to be talking about that in some shape or form, risks us then looking like we are part of a bubble that cannot stand discussing things that we should be getting to grips with and asking questions,

“And I do think that our job is to not just put people on pedestals - but to get in and ask the questions of those who will be in power in any shape or form.”

Listen to the discussion in full on The News Agents.