Politicians read papers for the wrong reason

According to Martin Kettle writing ion this morning's Guardian

Politicians who obsess about the contents of each day's newspapers are looking in completely the wrong direction

Playing down the significence of political writing,Martin says

Almost all politicians read newspapers - and so they should. But not for the reason they think. The big error of politicians is to believe that newspapers change the way people vote. This leads to a connected, and in some respects bigger, error - which is to imagine that if they work at it hard enough they can swing the political stance of newspapers, and thus readers - their way.

Furthermore it is a fallacy to think that newspapers will change allegience

Newspapers exist for many purposes. An important one is to sell papers. By and large they aim to satisfy their readers, not alienate them. A Daily Mail editor who promoted Labour would be cutting against the grain of the readers - likewise a Guardian editor who promoted the Conservatives. That doesn't mean such a thing is inconceivable, but it would take some explaining if it occurred. Most of the time it is a non-starter. Newspapers are self-sustaining mutual dependency cultures.