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The UK media failed to outline the dangers of leaving the EU due to a focus upon balance during the EU referendum, experts have stated in the wake of the nation’s vote to leave the European Union.
In a shocking turn of events, 52% of voters in the UK decided to leave the EU, sparking nationwide concern in the face of incredible uncertainly regarding the UK’s future. With so many determined to ignore the advice of analysts, instead focusing upon the rhetoric spouted by a campaign that, mere hours after the campaign had ended, are already back-tracking on their key arguments for leaving the EU in the first place, experts are now looking at how the majority of UK voters landed on such a potentially devastating decision.
Mark Wells, a lecturer in broadcast and multimedia journalism at the University of East Anglia, discussed how the UK media failed to outline both potential risks and rewards in favour of providing a balanced, if completely uncritical, view of the EU referendum. Wells said: “From a media viewpoint, the conduct of this campaign has raised a number of questions about the constraints placed upon broadcasters to deliver ‘impartial’ coverage of a binary choice. The requirement for such balance has made it very difficult for broadcasters to bore down into the claims of either side, and uphold or refute their claims, without having to immediately follow up with a comment of the “but on the other hand…” variety. The result has been a very confused electorate.”
He continued: “At the same time, old media – the press – divided up on traditional lines and spoke to their own constituencies. Social media did that in spades. Those supporting ‘leave’ were deluged with leave postings, those supporting ‘remain’ were similarly flooded by remain posts. All of that did little to advance genuine debate.”
Mr Wells’ comments have been made following intense debate surrounding the media’s position on the EU referendum, and the failure to correctly outline the dangers of voting leave. As such, tabloids such as The Sun and the Daily Mail were able to swoop in with undivided support for their selected campaign, fueling the propaganda spouted by the likes of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage while broadcast media such as BBC News were forced to keep their hands tied on the matter.
The lack of pressure that had been applied to the Leave campaign was made clear this morning, when Nigel Farage appeared on Good Morning Britain mere hours after the decision to exit the EU had been made, revealing that the campaign’s mission statement to put £350 million a week into the NHS was “a mistake.”
Regardless of the fact that this claim had made its way onto buses manned by Boris Johnson, Leave’s most high-profile advocate, and had graced leaflets pushed through the letterboxes of citizens nationwide, Farage’s comments have now seen the campaign thoroughly back pedal on this hugely important factor in the public’s decision.
Despite many experts having already confirmed that the UK wouldn’t be able to funnel £350 million a week into the NHS (largely because the amount of money handed over to the EU is actually nearly half this amount), Leave were able to continue using this rhetoric to incite disdain for the EU and further their cause. Now, less than a day following the referendum the campaign has been taken to task regarding their lofty claims. But it’s too little, too late.
The Leave campaign’s biggest argument was a “mistake”, according to Farage. (Image Credit: Matt Cardy / Getty Images)
As was always going to be the case, the future of the UK has now been thrown entirely into question by a campaign based upon widely debunked rhetoric and fear mongering. It remains to be seen whether or not we’ll bounce back from today’s results, but for a nation that was so determined to not listen to experts and analysts regarding what would happen if Vote Leave won, the media arguably failed in filling this void of logic and reasoning. It’s a dark day to be British.
