MagBlog

There are so many competing ideas about what is happening in the political sphere and how the media are, or aren't, dealing with it that it's all too easy to become confused.

Here, for your convenience, is a selection of 14 themes. The examples have not been picked on any rational basis and I do not claim they are the only or best of their type. Nor is this list comprehensive – it's just a starting point. They all refer to the American election but can be taken to represent Brexit too.

Which of these ideas matter? Which will endure? What can we do about any of them?

1) Framing
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/13/make-america-great-again-why-are-liberals-losing-the-war-of-soundbites?CMP=fb_gu

2) Emotion
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2016/11/13/what-does-the-trump-triumph-mean-for-journalism-politics-and-social-media/

3) Journalists didn't listen
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/15/13286498/donald-trump-voters-race-economic-anxiety

4) Social media is a bubble/echo chamber
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-president-social-media-echo-chamber-hypernormalisation-adam-curtis-protests-blame-a7409481.html

5) No-one listens ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/02/20/these-charts-show-why-political-debate-on-twitter-is-pointless/#3f512d653743

6) It was rural vs urban
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/

7) It was a search for respect
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/donald-trump-voter-respect/507350/?utm_source=atlfb

8) It was about class
https://hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class

9) It was Fake News ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/14/fake-news-donald-trump-election-alt-right-social-media-tech-companies

10) ... or myths
http://europe.newsweek.com/myths-cost-democrats-presidential-election-521044?rm=eu

10) It was the FBI
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/us/politics/hillary-clinton-james-comey.html

11) It was neoliberalism
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/14/neoliberalsim-donald-trump-george-monbiot

12) It was the Russians
https://www.wired.com/2016/07/heres-know-russia-dnc-hack/

13) It was the pollsters (... or the shy voters)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/15/pollsters-fail-predict-trump-victory-fbi-clinton

14) It's all OUR fault
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-could-replace-president-trump-with-little_us_5829f25fe4b02b1f5257a6b7