The left is just as bad when it comes to attacking the media, which can have disastrous consequences

Indiscriminate abuse of the BBC, for instance – one of the few things in my mind blocking a full-on, US-style culture war in the UK – might make people feel good, but it helps no one

Over the course of the Brexit debate, I've read, watched and even written a lot of speeches. After all, as a representative of a youth-led anti-Brexit campaign, it's a part of my job to do so.

In terms of Brexit speeches, you might be surprised to hear that there are often running themes amongst them. These can cross both party and “Brexit” lines.

Fighting the establishment was one. You know, that amorphous group of posh people who are somehow all powerful, anti-democratic and on the exact opposite side of which part of the argument you espouse?

Representing the “will of the people” was another, as if that specific person on a stage at that exact time, was the living embodiment of everyone in the United Kingdom and how they currently feel.

But if I've heard another line a thousand times, which goes: "Brexit isn't just about our relationship with the European Union, it's about what sort of society we want to live in." This is, in my view, undoubtedly true.

Brexit currently represents the focal point in a culture war, bubbling under the surface, bursting forth in scalding fury during the summer of 2016. It’s a fork in the crossroads between two different visions of the future. For those of us on the progressive side of the argument, this usually means an outward-looking, diverse and multicultural society.

When it comes to this outward vision, one of the key examples often cited is a free press. Which is why I’ve struggled to watch the increasingly violent attacks on our media.

Much has been written of US president Trump’s dictatorial tendencies and the far left’s intolerance towards dissent. But while this should always be remarked upon and confronted, it’s hardly a surprise. It fits within their worldview: that challenge from the fourth estate should be rebuffed or crushed. After all, militant ideologies rarely like being criticised, do they?

So instead, I would like to challenge my own side – liberal campaigners, on the left, who are likely to support a People’s Vote.

As the Leave Means Leave Rally showed, the violent anti-press sentiment is far worse on both the right and Brexit side of the argument. I'm not doing a round of false equivalency here, but I still think Remainers have to hold ourselves to higher standards. We have to be better than those on the opposite side of the aisle.

The British media isn’t perfect. It’s certainly true that parts of the media are not representative of the UK. The industry remains male-centric, overwhelmingly white and public school dominated. So legitimate criticism should be welcomed.

But we should avoid falling into the hole that the extremes of politics have dug for us.

Indiscriminate abuse of the BBC, for instance – one of the few things in my mind blocking a full on, US-style culture war in the UK – might make people feel good or generate retweets, but it helps no one. Creating a mass electorate which does not believe in news coverage will only lead to one thing – totalitarian leaders, who are cheered on for not accepting democratic norms. We have already seen this in the US, Brazil and Italy.

More pertinently, unjustified attacks on the press hinder a core part of a society that we’d like to build. That’s why those who do so tend to reside on the far-right or far-left. Those attacks are being led by figures who either take for granted the privileges of a free and empowered press, or seek to deliberately destroy it for their own gain.

So I would call on senior Remain figures to leave the Trumpian politics to those who want to create a Trump-like society. There is nothing to be gained by indulging in similar behaviour to those on the far-right.

As a figure from the past, legendary journalist Walter Cronkite, once wisely said: “Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy”.

If we believe we are the champions of democracy and champion the democratic argument for a People’s Vote, we should uphold those values ourselves in our attitudes towards our free media.