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If beergate tells us anything, it's that the press will go after him anyway and no amount of careful consideration of what works and what does not is going to change that.
If you genuinely believe that,, then it follows that the press is a hostile rump with whom there is no winning, and that therefore the only good strategy is a defensive one to minimise your interaction with them. And that was imo one of the key problems with the Corbyn administration. If you treat ALL the press as hostile you remove one of your key weapons in reaching people who might otherwise hear you. Moreover, it provides the opposition with the room they need to create an alternative narrative about you. It cedes the ground. It is a sure-fire way to lose an election.
Of course Labour will always have a harder time in the press than the Tories in the UK. That's an argument for us to be better with our engagement strategy, not one in favour of disconnecting altogether.
ReekBlefs-
I think Starmer's had an easy ride of it until Beergate, frankly. Principally because he's presenting himself as no danger to the status quo and offering little if any meaningful alternative to the current government beyond perhaps being more professional and 'competent' in carrying out policy. How far that is a winning electoral strategy is anyone's guess; I'm not convinced and by the looks of it, not many of those the current leadership says he needs to win over are either.
That we'll see certain sections of the media engage in the kind of furious, all-guns-blazing front-page horseshit we saw in the previous two elections is, I'm cynical enough to believe, a question of when rather than if. Beergate proved that without a shadow of a doubt. No amount of mealy mouthed non-positions and columns in The Sun are going to change that, sadly. It doesn't follow the press is a hostile rump and the only good strategy is a defensive one. He can engage all he likes, but at some point he's going to have to tell those people who need to hear him what he's about. And so far, he's only succeeded in telling people what he's not.
Of course, his real issue in the coming months is surviving the rumblings and briefings being initiated by 'The Worst People In PoliticsTM'. They've undermined the last three Labour leaders and they're sharpening the knives again.
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If you genuinely believe that,, then it follows that the press is a hostile rump with whom there is no winning, and that therefore the only good strategy is a defensive one to minimise your interaction with them.
Well, yes? We've got a right wing press they will give you a column, but when push comes to shove they'll start printing stuff like Beergate. Sure Starmer will get an easier ride than Corbyn in sensible rags like the Graun, but even they seem to be happy with whoever in Labour is briefing them at that time (see the Stamer is boring articles).
I suppose it comes back to who you're chasing for a vote. If you're chasing older Tory voters, then by all means knock yourself out with the futility of chasing Daily Mail or Telegraph readers. Or alternatively, seek a different voter base and use different routes than the decaying husk of our right wing press.
ketsbaia
Ste_S
I do wonder how carefully he's considered the fact those who think the policy is great are not going to vote for him anyway and those who believe he's being weak on it or not taking a strong enough stand against it might find they can't be arsed voting for something they believe is nary a Rizla paper away from what the Tories are offering anyway. Remains to be seen how well the powers that be in Labour have done their sums on this, but I fancy he's not going to be able to rely on everyone who voted Labour in 2o19 and 2017. They may be right in calculating the only people they need to appeal to are so-called Red Wall switchers and that everyone will be so royally pissed off with the Tories by then they'll vote for any alternative, but I'm not so sure.
If beergate tells us anything, it's that the press will go after him anyway and no amount of careful consideration of what works and what does not is going to change that.