For decades, Labour has been hampered by having to operate in a right wing media environment. 2019 was certainly no exception, and the question, as ever, is what to do about it.
This is the fifth in a series of articles about Labour’s 2019 election defeat. In the previous essay, I suggested that one of the things that made Brexit so irresolvable for Labour was the fact that the British left had never successfully challenged the authority of the right-wing media in many communities. The widespread belief in the claims circulated by the tabloid press – blaming immigrants and immigration for almost all social ills – created a context in which it was almost impossible for Labour to pursue a progressive policy successfully, whichever side of the Brexit debate it came down on. I think it is clear that this is a situation that Labour was never going to be able to address without a strong movement of members and supporters – active on the doorsteps and in the public sphere – making counter-arguments on its behalf. In this article I will consider how a ‘movement-based’ politics might overcome the right wing media.
