
Theresa May has called a snap election.
The vote
comes at a time when the people of this country trust our key
institutions less than ever. Only one in nine of us thinks that 'the
system' works. Only 25% of us trust the government. And only 24% of us
trust the media.
Britain is on the cusp of leaving the
EU and Scotland and Northern Ireland are debating leaving the UK. Wages
continue to fall and the City continues to froth and bubble.
Not
since 1974 has Britain gone to the polls at such a turbulent time. Back
then, months after entering the European Communities and amidst the
three day week, the Conservatives ran on the slogan "who governs
Britain?".
As Theresa May triggers a snap election,
we must ask that question again. Is Britain to be run in the interests of
the City of London? Will it be ruled by the media barons: with a Daily
Mail government turning our communities against each other?
Or
is it the people of this country who are really in charge? Can we
challenge the powerful, ask the big questions, and build a genuinely
open democracy?
If you think this election needs a
media that's focussed on the big questions, not the appearance of
leaders; on challenging power not bullying migrants; and on
understanding what's really going on across all of our increasingly
disunited kingdom, then there's only one way to get it:
Help us to build it.
The media of the future will not look like the media of the past. The struggle is not between the old newspapers and the new online journalism: the funding model for the journalism of the 20th century has already died. The question is what form the new media will take. Will it be oligarch owned? Will it be run by the governments of other states? Or will it be funded by its readers and free to question those who govern us?
If you want this election to see a media which interrogates power, challenges the powerful and is free to ask the big questions, then help us to build it. Contribute to openDemocracyUK today.
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