ABSTRACT
Franklin (1994: 3) notes that representatives of the media like to present the media as constituting the fourth estate ‘which subjects all aspects of political life to close scrutiny and is consequently a key mechanism for securing the accountability of politicians to the general public’. He points out, however, that these ‘watchdogs’ are viewed by those critical of British political culture as little more than ‘lapdogs’. He notes that ‘Marxists identify the media as central agencies in the construction of a social and political consensus, encouraging the acquiescence of the public, by distributing and reinforcing the values and beliefs of the dominant social and political group within society’ (1994: 3). Whilst it could be argued that the media are not necessarily dominated by politicians in any direct or conspiratorial way, the way in which the British political sphere is constructed and maintained by both the media and the politicians somewhat undermines any suggestion that the media constitute the fourth estate.
