Does the media really influence the election?

'Only 24 hours and counting to save the country!'  Now that is the sort of headline you might see on the front of a national newspaper to get you to vote in line with their thoughts. Or, more likely, in line with the interests of their owners. London's paper The Evening Standard told its readers to vote Conservative because that is better for the capital, even though its proprietor Evgeny Lebedev also owns the Independent - historically a Liberal paper. The Daily Express has thrown its support behind UKIP and the paper's owner, Richard Desmond, has donated considerable sums to s...