In October 2019, Oborne wrote an article about how journalists and the media are being used by Downing Street to get their false news out, saying: "It's chilling. From the Mail, The Times to the BBC and ITN, everyone is peddling Downing Street's lies and smears. They're turning their readers into dupes." The article was rejected by The Daily Mail, The Spectator, and Channel 4's Dispatches, and Oborne published it on openDemocracy.

Oborne said: "This article marked the end of my thirty-year-long career as a writer and broadcaster in the mainstream British press and media. I had been a regular presenter on Radio 4's The Week in Westminster for more than two decades. It ceased to use me, without explanation. I parted company on reasonably friendly terms with the Daily Mail after our disagreement."

In an interview with Channel 4 News, he said that the journalists being used by the UK government include BBC News's Laura Kuenssberg and ITV News's Robert Peston.