Thursday, 1 October 2009

What influence will The Sun have?

This week's frantic discussions between Labour leadership and The Sun seen to have resulted in a quick change of allegiance by the newspaper and Mandy referring to them as a 'bunch of chumps', or perhaps something more viscious, depending on who you believe. The infamous 'light bulb' front page of 1992 allegedly swung the vote the way of the Tories, but what sort of a difference could the Sun make this time?
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3 comments:

  1. Unknown6 October 2009 at 13:59

    I reckon the Sun has done themselves a dishonour this time. I bought the Sun that day and it was pretty damning what they listed against Labour. But at the same time who trusts the Tories? And who trusts Murdoch's political machinations behind the scenes? I'm tempted to vote for whoever Murdoch's against, not who he's for.

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  2. ivangresley6 October 2009 at 14:01

    As in 97 and 92, The Sun saw what was happening anyway and then made out they were the catalyst. Their return home to their comfort zone this time is just one further reason why it will be hard for Labour to win in 2010, but not the only reason.

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  3. Griff7 October 2009 at 11:19

    The Sun's spin on its own ability to influence is a little dodgey but it seems that the Labour Party believes it. In 92 the "turn out the lights" headline was actually on the day of the election. A couple of days later "It's the Sun wot won it" claim meant that a myth was created. If Labour had won we would have all forgotten any lightbulb reference. The 1997 switch to Labour was declared just 6 weeks before the election and by then my Nan could have worked that one out. But by doing this they made sure that they hadn't backed a loser and took all the credit for two elections. This time they have shown their hand much earlier than before - maybe Dominic Mohan believes the hype/has a point to prove as the new ed.

    I don't doubt that the paper has a certain influence/looks to back a winner however their highest circulation was mid nineties and since then the media landscape has changed massively. We are exposed to so many different media titles than ten years ago and the Sun online's focus has shifted significantly to entertainment/boobs over the last decade, especially online.

    Maybe they've guessed right but, in terms of forming opinion, surely the paper that has the strongest influence on the UK population is the Mail?

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