Who controls the narrative?

A current example of "the narrative being controlled" is the albeit trivial in the grand scheme of things, but stlll cynical drip feed of information by the National Lottery about the 250 million euro win.

They've known probably since straight after the draw, exactly where the ticket was bought, but they drag it out to try and whip up more public interest in it. I wonder if they've over done it this time?

The same kind of thing happens in more serious cases when someone with information chooses the best time to release it to the media, eg damaging information about a candidate for an election.

But, is there some coherent structure to all this, driving one big narrative? Of course not. But, it's not surprising that some people might think there is. There is a strong human need to believe everything happens for a reason.

usually, the general idea is the obvious moral that everyone is equal …

That in itself is a "narrative" that doesn't correspond to any reality. As individuals, as a species, as communities, as countries, we are all very unequal which inevitably leads to competition or conquest. The pursuit of, or rebellion against, this creates the conditions for "narratives" of all kinds, some of which will be louder, stronger or more emotive than others.

Who controls the British crown?

Who keeps the metric system down?

We do, we do.

lol, no, it's not the public driving the media, we went from the EU getting offended by accusations of NGO's influncing the news to a complete 360 in a matter of weeks,

EU goes on the offencive, https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/06/07/european-commission-goes-on-the-offensive-in-ngo-accusations-case

then it folds and opens a pobe https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-parliament-creates-official-body-to-probe-ngo-funding/

We've over 34,000 NGOs in Ireland taking over 6 billion of tax payers money a year, that's what's driving the narrative along with corporate influence not mom and pop buying a paper.

Big pharma+ aided and abetted by the media who spread the narrative. Directed & dictated from the top down. Sometimes we put a spanner in the works which stalls the narrative. Take the recent March 2024 referendums for example which stopped it in it's tracks, for now …..

Unfortunately the EU isn't one monolithic body. From your links, the first one is the EU Commission which has been accused of paying NGOs to lobby for actions it wants i.e. lobby for stricter. This goes against the long precedents of civil service being apolitical and merely implementing policy. A civil service is supposed to be neutral as governments can change, but it remains to implement policy.

The EU parliament, which has the democratic mandate that the Commission lacks, has just voted to investigate the Commissions activities in this area.

"The idea for the scrutiny body started when EPP lawmakers in the budgetary control committee

accused the Commission of financing NGOs to lobby Parliament on its behalf via public contracts."

If true, this is a gross violation.

Edit it looks like it is true. From your first link even the Budget Commissioner says that:

“I have to admit that it was inappropriate for some services in the Commission to enter into agreements that oblige NGOs to lobby members of the European Parliament specifically”

So as far as the Commission and their NGO counterparts are concerned the narrative is that yes it may have been inappropriate, but nothing to see here folks. Trust us, we are on the side of the angels. And it is a right wing plot that wants to stop us doing this.

Not something the majority of the EU parliament agrees with.

There is an idea in sociology of 'Norm Entrepreneur' that I will let the link below explain. When I was working, I was part of a trade union that engaged successfully in particular campaigns (that were initiated by particular members/leaders) that were beneficial to the members.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_entrepreneur

so who’s payroll are you on, it’s quite obvious when someone supports the current thing they’ve skin in the game, not buying someone just trusts the government. A poor attempt at shutting down a conversation by branding both sides as something that could be considered toxic people. Try harder the next time.

Mod: Warning issued for Trolling

Surely everyone knows that…