Democracy in the hands of self-serving newspaper proprietors

The political philosopher Martin O'Neill comments on a press campaign damanding a referendum on the EU lisbon treaty in the name of democracy. "If The Sun [Tabloid Paper owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch] took the democratic rights of the Brits seriously it would campaign for Murdoch's influence to be extirpated from British political life. ... Murdoch and the other proprietors are rational enough. They fear the EU because it has the potential to develop the political confidence and regulatory heft to break up their cosy little empires. Concerned at the terrible prospect of the balance of political power slipping away from him, Murdoch will do whatever he can to maintain the status quo. To accommodate his aims, his journalists whip themselves up into a self-righteous lather about democratic values. But taking democracy seriously is not something that can be done whilst the mechanisms for the transmission of political debate are in the hands of a self-serving plutocracy."

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