Publicity as Power: Is there a Double Standard in How We Cover Reform vs The Greens?

Image via Wikimedia Commons

All publicity is good publicity - or is it?

When it comes to politics and political parties, this can vary. Political movements can use the media as a means to connect with the electorate, but also to craft narratives, project themselves and their opponents in a certain light, garnering support from particular demographics. Recently, political pundits, conscious of the importance publicity holds, have picked up on an apparent bias within the UK media regarding how coverage is split between different political parties, most notably between Reform UK and the Greens.

Double standards.

A number of critics and political figures such as Alastair Campbell and Ed Davey (Leader of the Liberal Democrats) have called out the double standards in how UK media covers Reform compared to other parties, with Davey labelling the BBC’s coverage of Reform “outrageous”. The difference is particularly stark in comparison to the Green Party. Whilst they did win a similar number of seats in the 2024 election as Reform, the disparity in media exposure is extreme.

Such a chasm in coverage can be narrowed down to a few factors. For one, far-right or extremist opinions tend to possess a shock factor, generating more discussion, making Reform the more likely choice of topic for media outlets and social media discourse. This phenomenon was seen recently when multiple media outlets, including the BBC, The Times, and LBC, picked up on Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s racist remarks made during an interview, in which she said “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”. 

Frenzied media coverage of far-right figures extends beyond reporting of Reform UK, with further examples including the furore over Elon Musk’s supposed “Nazi salute” and the death of the conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, both of which dominated global media as the centre of political discussion for weeks on end.

Whilst the Green Party is seen as Reform UK’s polar opposite in UK politics (with Reform on the far-right and the Green Party on the left), considerably less attention was paid to the Greens before Zack Polanski’s recent election as leader. Polanski’s rise to power and his subsequent rebranding of the Green Party has generated more media publicity and hence more support, with the party recording more than 140,000 members in October 2025, with membership more than doubling after Polanski assumed leadership. Polanski’s success was due in no small part to his cultivation of media attention. The use of social media platforms such as TikTok to conduct street interviews in Reform-majority constituencies was two-pronged in its approach: informing voters on the drawbacks of Reform UK’s policies. Such content aimed to dissuade them from supporting Reform, whilst simultaneously bolstering the Greens’ image. Prolific North supports the fact that the Green Party has ramped up their self-promotion recently, stating that whilst every other party’s coverage fell by between 55%-85%, the Greens increased their broadcast footprint by 44%.

Why is publicity so important?

Whilst other factors play a role in how successful a political party is, media is accessible to all, functioning as a source of political insight for the electorate. Notoriously, most voters don’t tend to sit down and read every party’s manifesto before they vote, meaning that the manner in which the media portrays a party, or the amount of media coverage a party draws, is extremely significant. When parties utilise the media effectively, it can energise young voters and encourage new members to join their movement. Reform offers a clear example of this, with Nigel Farage recently welcoming in their youngest council leader, the 19-year-old George Finch.

Ultimately, publicity is power, but not all power is wielded fairly. Reform’s controversies keep them in the spotlight, whilst the Greens’ quieter rise to popularity highlights the value of positive, purposeful exposure. The imbalance in coverage reveals how easily public outrage can overshadow substance within politics. Since the media is so easily and widely accessible, it serves to connect politicians to the people, cultivating a closer relationship between the government and the governed.