The politician, the press and the public: How politicians’ perceptions of the media shape UK aid allocations

This paper examines politicians’ attitudes and beliefs about the press, their potential role in shaping aid policy and how these views differ from the public’s. We address these questions using survey data from 107 UK MPs and 2047 members of the UK public. We find a positive association between MPs’ beliefs that the news media influence public opinion, reflect public opinion, and are central to a political career—and a belief that the news media should influence aid policy. This suggests that politicians’ attitudes and beliefs about the media can play a role in shaping aid policy. We also find that MPs are significantly more likely to think that the media influences public attitudes towards aid spending than the public. This suggests that politicians could potentially be overweighing news coverage when making decisions about aid spending. Overall, these findings help fill an important gap in our understanding of what happens ‘upstream’ of aid allocations and add further nuance to our understanding of the media’s political effects.