15 May 2026
Political journalists face a growing deluge of spin and misinformation which is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate to find the truth, leading political editors have said.
Speaking at a Fleet Street Quarter Festival of Words panel event sponsored by the News Media Association yesterday, four political editors reflected on the turmoil currently engulfing government and the challenges of political reporting today.
Talking about misinformation on social media, political editor of the i Caroline Wheeler said media outlets would investigate leads on social media but would often discover that they were not true.
“Journalists spend an increasing amount of time debunking or looking into the things that are written on social media that are not true,” Caroline said.
“Our job has become even harder because of that as well as the fact that we also have to navigate the world of spin which has got much louder because there are more avenues for people to spin those stories.”
“It’s our job to try and chart a way through that – to try and work out what the most accurate information is and what the actual picture is.”
The panel ‘Political Journalism In An Unstable World’ in St Bride’s Church yesterday was chaired by Festival of Words director Damian Collins and attended by around 100 people.
Government is facing “massive public anger” over its failure to deliver on key policy promises, the scandal surrounding Peter Mandelson, and challenges around its communications, the audience heard.
Jessica Elgot, The Guardian deputy political editor, said the government communications “grid” was a “totally busted concept.” “Actually you need to be spending a lot more time building up wider knowledge of each thing that you are doing, each success that you are having, preferably without having massive scandals that overshadow them,” she added.
Jason Groves, Daily Mail political editor, said his title had less access than under previous governments but this had not inhibited the Mail’s ability to report.
“We are further on the outside now but, if you are doing your job properly, you can do it anyway.” Jason added. “You’ve still got other people you can talk to who know what’s going on.”
Jack Elsom, The Sun political editor, said a key challenge facing political journalists was reaching people on Instagram and TikTok where Reform UK and the Green Party had successfully engaged supporters.
“At the moment Reform, Greens – to a lesser extent other parties who don’t occupy those spaces as much – can sell their message to a massive audience unchallenged in a 10 second clip so for journalists to use that platform and try to sell our stories on these platforms is going to be a real issue in the coming years,” Jack said.