“The idea that the Daily Mail sets the agenda for governmentis is in the past” according to the Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne.
The minister made his remarks in response to Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West, who accused the government of letting tabloids set the agenda.
Before the Commons public administration committee, Byrne said: “Tabloid newspapers sell 22m fewer copies than in 1997, while viewers on TV news channels have collapsed. The growth is in the new media, with 100 million people on Facebook, Youtube and freesheets, it is these people the government has to reach.”
Flynn also said that people believed that crime was rising because of what they’d read in the Mail.
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