Closed petition Tighten regulation on news media to prevent the manipulation of public opinion.

Closed on 29 January 2017

The recent referendum showed that some newspapers were heavily pushing their readership to vote a specific way, readers who only used those newspapers to make their decision may have voted without balanced arguments and hence may have been subject to manipulation of opinion by the newspaper itself.

All news media organisations that publish in the public domain should hold a responsibility to provide a balanced view, rather than only printing facts or opinion that support the organisations own stance. The impartiality rules that govern the BBC’s political stance, should be considered for the rest of the news media organisations. The public needs to be provided with balanced facts and opinions to allow them to make their own decisions, rather than be steered by an organisations own view.