Writing in the Yorkshire Post, David Cameron loosely sets out his vision of the next government. He appears confident that the Conservatives will be able to turn things around. Writing on the recent revelations of MPs expenses and the McPoison affair, Cameron states:
This can't go on. Politicians have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust in them, in politics, and in our capacity to change things for the better.
One way or another the media has a huge influence on political outcomes. In much the same way that a reality-TV nonentity is built up only to be crushed under the weight of the revelations of every tawdry detail of their lives, the British people were caught in a bubble of New Labour spin, with a complicit media willing to act as distributors of propaganda. That bubble has now been rightly popped.
We deserve journalists that are prepared to dig around in the dirt of politics, criticise the establishment and argue against the current trend of popular opinion. We can only hope that the lost faith in the Labour Party is not transferred to Cameron’s Conservative Party if they come to power. We should be cynical about the political process as it stands: after all, these people put themselves forward to determine how free we are to lead the lives we want.
Politics by its very nature a slimy and dirty business. Until the powers of politicians to control and compel are severely curtailed we require a watchful fourth estate; whether this is paper or internet based is irrelevant. The more questioning the press and people of this country are about politics and the politicians that rule them, the less likely we will be to trust them with the important decisions of our lives. Perhaps one day we will wake up to the fact that we are better off contracting with others freely, instead of letting the governement do the bidding on our their behalf.
