When Politics Turns Its Back on the Media

Banning media outlets is the failed strategy of aggrieved football managers, not the hallmark of a serious political organisation. While Nigel Farage appears to benefit from a slick communications team, the same cannot be said of the wider Reform Party.

The decision by Reform’s ruling group at Nottinghamshire County Council to cut ties with local media outlet Nottinghamshire Live is a move that reveals more about political naivety than strategy.

Nothing new, of course. I well remember football managers in my early reporting days refusing to talk to the press after a bad run of results. It rarely worked. In fact, it often magnified the criticism, casting the club as petty and defensive.

The same dynamic is now playing out here. National outlets such as The Guardian and ITV have seized on the story, amplifying Reform’s misstep far beyond the original local dispute.

When you’re in power, the scrutiny is greater, not less. The wiser approach is almost always to engage, so you’re in the room to defend your record. Choosing silence may feel satisfying in the short term, but it usually ends up strengthening your critics’ hand.

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