DOES the political stance of the daily newspaper we choose to read still influence how we vote?
Or, for that matter, if we bother voting at all? Most of the members of the House of Lords Select Committee who gave the Sun's editor Rebekah Wade a grilling on Wednesday, clearly believe it does.
A combative Wade, who defended her red-top tabloid concisely - and wittily - insisted several times that the paper's proprietor, Rupert Murdoch does not decide which party the Sun backs.

She also stated that she had not yet taken a decision on whether the Sun would support the Conservatives or Labour in the next general election. "I don't know when the next election is but we are looking at every initiative that David Cameron or the prime minister release and looking at it in terms of benefit to our readers.
"For example, on inheritance tax policies, we, on balance, found that George Osborne's was better than Alistair Darling's.
"The process will be with me, my political team and also my health and crime team. We will look at it and decide who is going to be the better candidate for the Sun readers."

This of course, is the current editor of the paper, which famously declared after John Major won the 1992 election "It's The Sun Wot Won It." Since then the support of the Sun has been seen as crucial in swinging elections and the newspaper's backing of Tony Blair in 1997 was similarly seen as a critical factor in ushering New Labour's ascent to power. Asked again about the influence of Murdoch - who had earlier told the same Lords committee that he was a "traditional proprietor" and decided what line to take on Europe and which party to back at general elections - the editor replied:
"In the run up to the last election I was very careful to give the Conservative Party and the Labour Party the chance to show their wares in the Sun so the Sun readers could make up their own mind on their policies.
" In the end however, I did talk to Mr Murdoch. He has lived through political change here, in America and Australia and his advice is always exemplary and good. But I also seek advice from my political team and our chief executive. The way I edit a paper I do seek advice and I am very lucky to have a traditional proprietor such as Mr Murdoch."

It was a diplomatic performance that neither undermined her boss or underlined his influence in determining the political stance of the country's most widely read newspaper.
When the committee's chairman Lord Fowler asked if Murdoch ever told her off for 'taking the wrong line,' Wade decided to move away from politics.
"In 18 years we have had some disagreements. Mr Murdoch is often dismayed on the amount of celebrity coverage in the Sun.
"We disagree about that because I'm a big Big Brother fan and he was surprised that I devoted four pages to it every day. I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here can also cause problems but we are absolutely in agreement on Pop Idol," she quipped.
When asked if the disagreements had been over any more serious issues, Wade joked: "Do you mean Strictly Come Dancing?"

Nobody at Channel 4 will be celebrating the fact that Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, is clocking up less than half the viewers that last year's ill-fated Celebrity Big Brother managed to register. But bosses at the broadcaster will take this hit on the chin, because twelve months after Jade Goody and her pals ignited a race row, generated record complaints, lost the show millions of pounds in sponsorship and ruined Gordon Brown's trip to India we are beginning to see a silver lining for Channel 4.

The fact that Celebrity Hijack is only being shown on E4, has left a void in the peak 9pm slot on Channel 4 through January, thus giving the broadcaster's key decision makers the chance to go back to the very essence of what it was meant to be about in the first place - bold, innovative, campaigning television.

When looking at how to fill the gap, Channel 4, led by their head of programming Julian Bellamy, decided this would be an opportunity to recapture the public's affection. And what was the big success story at the channel in recent years? Jamie's School Dinners which not only got loads of viewers, but an abundance of positive press after the series triggered a significant shift in government policy on school meals.

So Channel 4 are hoping to repeat the trick this time with The Big Food Fight season, with Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall joining Jamie Oliver in campaigning for better eating in Britain. It's all very noble and there's not a race slur in sight.

The success of The Big Food Fight largely depends on whether it can effect real changes in the industry much like Jamie's School Dinners did and If Channel 4 manage to help Britain's chicken farmers or tackle obesity then memories of last year's Celebrity Big Brother row will fade quickly.

You can also bet that Celebrity Big Brother will be back on Channel 4 next year with the usual bunch of quirky c-listers, showbiz has-beens and glamour models. The public will be hungry for its return and I can see it once again being the money-spinning franchise that lured big sponsorship deals and was the jewel in Channel 4's Winter schedule.

Channel 4 and Endemol will be better equipped to handle any controversies, and will not seek to engineer conflict as they did when they stuck Jade Goody and her family in the house to ruffle feathers.

So while Channel 4 looks to have finally recovered from the fiasco, the Goody and Shetty publicity machines rumble on.

Jade Goody may not be the money-making force she once was but nevertheless she still gets more publicity then anyone who's ever actually won Big Brother.

In fact, on most days you can find Goody in the papers including the Indian tabloids which have developed a strange fascination with the 'Big Brother villain'.

Goody's branded exercise videos, TV programmes and perfumes may have come off the shelves -but they have instead been replaced by Shilpa Shetty's own conveyor belt of cash-ins, the latest being a Yoga DVD which followed after the perfume, the musical, CD compilations and much more.

Shetty is now perceived as attaching her name to anything that will fill her coffers and can no longer rely on the gushing publicity she received when she emerged from the house.

So as Shetty and Goody work anxiously to keep their name and faces in the papers for the right reasons - it is Channel 4 - and its celebrity chef crusade - that is getting all the positive headlines one year on.