Much more important is what papers say, report and headline in the years between elections. They create a climate in which voters gradually make up their minds about their views of this leader or that policy. The press had helped to set the public mood well before the defeats of Labourin 1992 and the Tories in 1997. But that does not negate all interest in leading articles giving pre-election advice. They can tell us a great deal about the views of editors and their owners while providing a genuine guide to society's underlying political trend.
Editors hate to stray too far from their readers.
That is why, given the poll predictions, so many papers are cheerfully endorsing Labour. Of the daily tabloids, we know the Mirror, Sun, Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Record are telling readers to vote Labour. All, bar the Express, with a declining and changing audience, have readerships which are overwhelmingly pro-Labour. Of the broadsheets, the Guardian has the largest ratio of Labour voters, and will, despite reservations, back Tony Blair. The editor of the Independent, which also has a preponderance of Labour supporters, said on radio yesterday that his paper will remain agnostic.