media have a decisive impact on the outcome of elections

• 1979 Agree

  • margaret thatcher won over newspapers like the sun
  • Margaret thactcher received extensive television coverage - 90% of the public
  • Media focused around attacking callaghans failures which led to enhanced credibility for thatchers leadership
  • this further legitimised her leadership skills and won over swing seats
• 1979 disagreement - social factors - paritsan dealignment

  • decline in tradition voting
  • thatcher actively appealed to the working class in her esses man strategy
  • policies such as right tob uy became popular leading to tradiational party allegiance to weaken
  • this resulted in the altered structure of political allegiance
  • However social factors enhance the importance of short term factors rather than long term factors which the media uses to its advantage
• 1997 agree

  • its the sun wot won it - spent 10 million on advertising
  • 96% of the population had access to tv - bbc and ITV were regulare but labour used media- friendly sound bites and photo opportunities to gain popularity
  • soundbites are short memorable phrases used to dominate news cycles - punchy lines like "education, education and education"
  • leading to high engagement and turnout of 71.4% even though it decreased from previous years
• 1997 disagree - rather perceived competence of tony blairs leadership is what won the election

  • failures of the conservative party led to 30.7% of votes alongside there lack of a media image due to majors government failure
  • economy was recovering from a recession but voters didnt give conservatives credit for black wedendesay
  • monthly opinion polls showed labour was consistently ahead of polls - conservatives lost there reputation of percevied competence
• 2024 - Keir starmer

  • labour outspent the tories on social media ads £1.2 million compared to conservatives 900k
  • the sun swtich from tory to labour influencing working class swing voters
  • headline " give labour a chance"
  • reinforcing hegemony theory
  • murdochs sun backs winners - normalising hegemonic alignment and changing public sentiment
  • Reform gaining traction with 4.1 million votes can be considered a success £550k
• 2024 counter argument

  • minor parties have had success in the form of gaining seats in a unproportional electoral system like Reform who gain 4.1 million votes , 17.1% of grey votes from tories
  • Based on policy-based voting such as immigration freeze which 52% of voters agreed on by yougov polls
  • Rational choice theory: Voters backed Reform despite FPTP risks, showing policy > tactical voting.