Pale Rider
Legendary Member
And there's no hint of, say, the Sun's proprietor just possibly sounding out the parties to see which of them might provide the most lucrative business environment should that party win (where the result is in the balance) ?
Party leaders court the proprietors/editors, because the leaders also believe the influence of the paper is greater than it is.
There has been a bit of a change recently.
Everyone is a publisher now, so it is easier for political parties - or anyone else - to get their message across directly.
For example, when I wanted to have a brief look at the policies of a couple of parties at the last election, I looked at their manifestos on their websites, rather than rely on a summary from a media outlet.