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Europe-bashing sells at the polls – and in the press. Hans-Peter Martin, a very affluent Austrian MP and Euro-sceptic, has proved the point. The German business daily Handelsblatt reports how this erstwhile Spiegel journalist found a way to tap voters directly without having to come up with a political platform. “During the run-up to the elections, he got to air his opinions in the columns of the Krone Zeitung, the leading, and highly influential, Austrian daily.” The chief editor of the paper appreciated his populist attacks on the major parties. “A collaboration crowned with success,” the Handelsblatt tersely terms it. “No election campaign could be more effective and less expensive. They don’t ask for content: the main thing is headlines.” The ticket spearheaded by Hans-Peter Martin won 18% of the vote.
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