The Political Agendas of Three Newspapers and City Governments

<jats:p> The political power of writers has been suspect for a long time. The record goes back at least as far as Plato. In The Republic, he tells us the authorities will always have to control poets and dramatists carefully. Otherwise, they will soon lead the common people out of the paths of goodness and mercy laid down by their betters. The Lord Chamberlain of England was specially charged with keeping a close eye on the likes of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Some years after their time, Andrew Fletcher was also proclaiming the political power of popular communcation when he declared: "Let me write the songs of a country and I care not who writes its laws." </jats:p>