Politicians 'should' have a responsibility to present facts, information and opinions to the best of their knowledge otherwise it's misrepresentation. Not all voters are savvy and many are impressionable and easily influenced. In the case of General Elections, political parties have to publish manifestos so that they can be held to account on their promises. In the case of the 2016 referendum there was no such requirement - it was like the wild west.
I understand why you place responsibility on the politicians, but i fail to see why you don't place any responsibility at all with the voters.
Take brexit for example: it wasn't that they presented a believable plan to execute the departure and that turned out to be a lie or a misconception. They presented nothing and people still voted for them.
I can't feel sorry for them.
I've lived in a few countries and the difference most of the times comes not through their politicians, but from the people who elect those politicians.
I couldnt help noticing the swedish flag in your profile. I take it you are familiar with the toblerone affair.
That very same incident, with the exact level of exposure, would have been a non-issue in quite a lot of countries. But the people in Sweden were smart enough to make a point, and a strong one about it, and that translates to more and better oversight, which translates to institutional strength which translates to foreign direct investment (among other things).
It was not the media, it was not the politicians, it was the people who made a difference. I could grab a newspaper from pretty much 90% of the countries in the world and find something just as bad that has little or no consequence to the perpetrator because most of the people do not care or care too little to act on it.
People in Sweden saw something that, although rather small looked bad, and voted accordingly.
In the case of General Elections, political parties have to publish manifestos so that they can be held to account on their promises. In the case of the 2016 referendum there was no such requirement - it was like the wild west.
if you are talking about the UK, i have no idea. In every single democracy in the American continent that is just not true. There is no accountability in the strict sense. The loss of credibility and how that translates (or not) to votes in the next election is the only downside to lying. Obama promised to close guantanamo, Lula promised to fight corruption, Macri promised not to increase public services fees.... the list is endless.
Same goes for pretty much every continental European country i am aware of.
