Look Over There

I ’m bored - bored politically I mean. Second year is a bit premature to be regretting my degree. There was a time where I stuck BBC Parliament on in the background and gleefully watched a Ten-Minute Rule bill, but Brexit, Trump, and now the pandemic years have taken their toll, and I no longer have the patience for that sort of thing.

Instead, like most other politically obsessed people, I spend far too much time scrolling through various news sites to try and get a brief overview. This never, of course tells anything close to a full picture. So how in a world of 24- hour news cycles and constant political gaffes, can we separate the wheat from the chaff? Any news must be biased, by virtue of being written by a real human being, but also by the circumstances in which it arises and by what media companies choose to report on. Last year huge “Kill the Bill” protests were held over the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which along with other measures allows police to place broad restrictions on protests and public assemblies in England and Wales.

This is an important topic with a large impact on the lives of many, especially in the light of recent police failings, so it is of course right that it is reported on to a large extent. Other important political goings-on are however lucky if they receive half of this press attention. You usually need protests for that.

This is quite an issue. Legislation can often affect a large section of people in society, but just about no one actually knows what any of it does. If you’re attentive enough to know the Environment Act 2021 exists, can you tell me what it does (other than release sewage into rivers, that bit was fairly well publicised to be honest)? How about the Health and Social Care Levy Act? Where are your taxes from that going exactly?

Unfortunately for us, media companies have profits to make too. They primarily derive income from subscriptions, advertising, and, if in print, physical sales. To increase circulation, it helps to have interesting or humorous articles and headlines to draw attention, and to keep your reader interested so they’re more likely to access your website/buy your paper/take out a subscription. Reporting on a relatively dull Bill passing through Parliament isn’t usually the way to do this. Besides, unless it’s a tax rise, the public usually doesn’t care anyway, right?

Now, media in desperate need of revenue, meet Boris Johnson and his government. They’ll provide you with a handy stream of gaffes, scandals, and humorous incidents. Some of them will undoubtedly be events the government would rather keep quiet. Others seem a little too opportune.

On Thursday 6thJuly of last year, the Health and Care Bill had its first reading in the Commons. For some context, on that same day, the government announced that it would be scrapping most of England’s COVID restrictions on the 19thof that month. On 22nd November, that same bill went to Second Reading (the first major debate on a bill). On that same day Johnson made his famous “Peppa Pig Speech” to the Confederation of British Industry. This bill may allow more private influence on the boards of NHS trusts, and hands more power to the Health Secretary. Guess which one got the headlines.

This is, to put it mildly, a bit of a problem. How is the government supposed to be held to account if no one knows what it’s actually up to? It’s a bit of a depressing conclusion. Either the public doesn’t care, or the media doesn’t think we do.

Alex Palmer