Last night I had to watch the leaders' debate at the house of a friend, as I do not have Murdoch's Sky system. At the end of the debate both of us agreed that Nick Clegg had again done well, but not, this time outstandingly so, that Gordon Brown had greatly improved his performance and David Cameron remained unconvincing.
At the end of the debate the result of an instant YouGov/Sun pole was flashed on the screen and, to our surprise, declared Cameron the clear winner. This "news" remained on the screen. We waited for the results of other polls, but none came
Clearly the Murdoch media provide you with the "news" the Murdoch organisation want you to hear. Once again thank goodness for the BBC and more balanced news.
If there were no other issue is the election, the fact that the Tories are in hock to the Murdoch organisation and are committed to cutting back the BBC at his behest is the reason for keeping them out.
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For some reason my system has dated this post as Thursday the 22nd April but it is in fact Friday the 23rd. I don't know whether the fault lies with my computer or "blogspot."
ReplyDeleteThat's because YouGov were out with the results first - four minutes after the debate. I watched the coverage and news of the ComRes poll (which had Clegg ahead) flashed up within no more than 15 minutes of the debate's conclusion; and this morning they showed all five polls which had a mixture of results.
ReplyDeleteI realise that Murdoch makes a convenient bogeyman to bash - but in this particular case I think you're stating a conspiracy that simply wasn't there.
The 2nd debate confirmed that this is a 3-way contest. Clegg has shown that he can more than hold his own in these debates (even on unfavourable ground: immigration, Europe etc, as last night). There is no reason why he should not perform well in the 3rd debate and I doubt if Cameron is capable of halting him. He just isn't that good.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting question is whether Lab will enter the final week clearly in third place and the LD's can squeeze their vote in the final days. This looks a serious possibility. Labour are in a precarious position and have few shots if any left in their armoury.
What's happening on the ground in W Yorks?
I take your point, Chris, that perhaps I didn't watch the programme for long enough, but I do feel Murdoch is far more dangerous to our democracy than just a "convenient bogeyman to bash." For example, after the first debate, although the YouGov/Sun poll showed Clegg the clear "winner", the Sun's reportage hardly mentioned him. His organisation filters the news and tells us what he wants us to hear.
ReplyDeleteWith all its faults the BBC does attempt to keep a balance.
I'm naturally delighted, Jaime, that Clegg held his own in the second debate. The momentum continues, but, as Adrian Slade points out in the week's Liberal Democrat News, it has all happed before, and not just in 1974. So we're not complacent. It is, however, nice to be the centre of attention rather than trying to elbow in from the sidelines.
I'm not as much in touch with the rest of West Yorkshire as I used to be, but those I meet are optimistic and there are, for example, great hopes that we shall now hold Leeds North East and possibly win Bradford East.
Fair comment on The Sun - but then I thought most intelligent people didn't take it seriously anyway ;)
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