“The Sun Vote page is headlined “Sun Vote: making your voice heard!… However, it seems not to be living up to its promise…” An observer and reader of the paper submitted on the heels of what may be called a daylight robbery of votes of Clegg, Liberal Democrats candidate just a few days back. A robbery which of course can’t go down unnoticed.
Like other Tory-supporting papers, the Sun has turned its fire on Nick Clegg over his policies, pro-European statements, and expenses claims since he won last week’s first televised leaders’ debate. That this paper has a track record of throwing their support behind the Labour party is not hidden. Having supported this party in the last three elections, sometime in October they declared their support for the party ahead of the forthcoming elections.
What, however, is difficult to explain is why this paper has chosen to go as low as to do what many have described as “muffling the voice of their readership”, such a low thing designed to favor their “anointed” party. Nonetheless, this does not take away the fact that their readers have made their choice or position on the poll they conducted on their site known clearly and boldly: that Clegg’s Liberal Democrats party is feared less than the Labour party or Conservative one.
The Sun Vote post-debate poll, before it was maliciously removed from the website, was showing the following final figures: Clegg 50.90%, Cameron 29.64%, and Brown 18.56%. This is coming on the heels of the first televised leaders’ debate which saw Clegg give the rest a thorough beating. If we also recall, the Independent reported sometime in February that the Sun censored a poll that showed support for Lib Dems.
This ugly development, among others, has led to many readers questioning the relevance of the Sun vote or poll. Of what use is this paper running Sun vote when they would censor finding that does not go the way they want it? Let’s not also forget in a hurry that, unlike others, the Sun’s polls aren’t easy to vote in – you have to go through a lengthy sign-up process. Of what use then are the stress and time of the readers in voting when it won’t anyways count?
We can only hope this should not continue; it does not speak well of a newspaper of reputable standing as the Sun to be muffling the voice of their readership.
