James Harding

Town Hall | Media and Partisanship in the Brexit Hour

Frank Luntz, James Harding, Nick Robinson, Matthew, Zach, Seema, Ingrid

James Harding and Nick Robinson discuss the fractured trust in UK media and democracy against the backdrop of the 2016 Brexit referendum, arguing that both the press and political parties have lost their connection to the public through a shift toward emotional, identity-based politics. Contrasting the regulated British model with the fragmented, partisan landscape of the US, the speakers contend that media failure stems not from overt bias but from an inability to validate voters' lived anxieties or effectively challenge false claims like the "£350 million to the EU" poster. They conclude that preserving the concept of impartiality as a shared factual foundation requires actively educating the public on its necessity to prevent a descent into polarized echo chambers.