In “1984,” George Orwell showed that government control of media destroyed objective truth. The Ruling Party rewrote history, altered records, and fed citizens constant propaganda. By having absolute power and control over information, they forced the people to reject their own memory, their own senses, and made independent thought all but impossible.
That’s why, of course, the global Left is itching to get state control of media these days. They saw Orwell not as a cautionary tale, but an instruction manual — a roadmap to fulfilling their most fascist desires.
In the U.K., Green Party leader Zack Polanski is backing the Orwellian “Media Sovereignty Act,” to stop and break up the “billionaire media.” Polanski claims that billionaire ownership of media is “literally buying democracy.”
🚨NEW: Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for all media outlets to be state approved.
“It’s time we sorted out the press. Constant misinformation to protect their donors and fossil fuels is destroying lives and our planet.”
He has shared a petition that demands the… pic.twitter.com/mGXZU35Gyn
— The Mercian (@TheMercianNews) August 16, 2026
Polanski threw his weight behind the ‘Media Sovereignty Act’ campaign in a speech at Green Gathering festival in Chepstow (Wales) earlier this month.
The petition promoted by the Green Party of England & Wales leader calls on the Government to “pass [a] law to ban foreign and offshore ownership of UK media” and enact a social-media levy to “distribute media ownership across society & fund independent, local and cooperative-owned media”.
It also backs new reforms to ensure “all media” in the UK are members of a statutory regulator, a call vociferously resisted by many publishers.
And it would require think tanks to report who their funders are in real time. The campaign was founded by activist and former Independent columnist Donnachadh McCarthy.
It’s laughable if you believe that billionaires are “literally buying democracy,” but that government would be the arbiter of truth. As Americans have learned, the media lie constantly in service of the Democrat Party and the Left.
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What the government would do, with Polanski’s approval, is put forth misinformation and disinformation of which he approves. Including lies about climate change and how “saving the planet” requires a reduction in our quality of life or — as some “experts” recently suggested — a 50 percent reduction in the human race.
There would be 57 genders, and saying a woman with a penis is actually a man would be verboten.
The claim that the press is pumping out “constant misinformation” is itself misinformation — and the reason Zach is demanding state regulation of the press is, I would guess, because the Green Party’s donors are demanding it. So this is pure projection. https://t.co/MwRvg8Omf8
— Toby Young (@toadmeister) August 17, 2026
This is the irony here. Saying that the press does nothing but peddle “constant misinformation” is also misinformation. But it’s misinformation of which Polanski approves. And while Polanski couches his concerns in environmentalism, there’s a bigger picture here.
Polanski was one of countless leftists who attacked the media for exposing how Arday fabricated his biography, his professional work, and even parts of his recently published book. He also said Arday was the “subject of sustained and malicious media attacks which were no doubt more vicious because he was black. We must now reflect on the impact of trial by some of the media and online on someone under extreme pressure.”
Sending love to Jason Arday’s family and friends.
He was subject of sustained and malicious media attacks which were no doubt more vicious because he was Black.
We must now reflect on the impact of a trial by some of the media and online on someone under extreme pressure.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) August 14, 2026
Arday had sent the police after at least one reporter who was asking him questions. Jack Grove of Times Higher Education was investigated for four months after Arday claimed Grove’s questions were causing him mental distress.
Under Polanski’s plan, it would be against the law for journalists to ask questions of protected groups or report on crimes and misbehavior by those groups. How very terrifying.
The media are not perfect. Far from it. I’m one of the media’s biggest critics and detractors. But I also work in media, and this job puts food on my table and keeps a roof over my head. If Polanski had his way, I wouldn’t have this job, Townhall wouldn’t exist, and the only “news” that would be shared is stuff that his party approved before publication.
That is the antithesis of a free press, which is a concept foreign to the British these days, but it’s still one we must fight for and defend.
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