influence of the media

• the media influence of policy started with Newspapers, despite the decline in circulation of newspapers people still read and pay attention to newspaper publishings online along with TV and radio also taking its news from the papers
• Television still dominates the media coverage of elections an estimated 9.6 Million people watched the first-ever televised debate in 2010 and 7 million watching the leaders debate in 2015
• Opinion Polls - what are they?

  Polls run by firms such as YouGov and Ipsos are there to try and gauge the popularity of parties by asking members of the electorate how they intend to vote, they can also ask more specific questions about party policies and leaders. Parties can also use the information from polls and conduct their own meaning they have become an integral part of elections
• Opinion Polls - Inaccuracies 


  They are not always accurate (in 1992 most failed to predict john majors 21 seat majority) some suggest this was because od the 'boomerang effect' as the polls had shown labour in the lead early and therefore Tory voters turned out to vote causing a late swing. The other suggestion was there was a large proportion of people who erre 'shy tories': People who voted/wanted to vote for the Tories but didnt want to admit to doing so. The polls after this tened to use more phone voting in order to correct this and it was considered more accurate
• Opinion Polls - Inaccuracies

  They were wrong again in 2015. They did correctly predict the SNP overwhelming Labour at the Scottish Parliament but at a UK level, they failed to predict the conservative's small majority and believed the vote would be split and each party would receive about 34% of the vote. This was found to be because they had not polled a large percentage of the population such as retired people, they interviewed too many young people who were more likely to vote labour
• Impact of Media Influence - Internet influence

  82% of the population had access to the Internet by the time the 2010 election was happening which led political parties to use the Internet to reach more people, Most MPs had set up their own websites and established media such as the BBC and newspapers had created websites as well as being in print
• Impact of media influence - Social media

  with the rise of Facebook and other social media in 2010 by 2015 there was an expectation that social media would play a large role in the 2015 election and parties leaned into this with the Tories spending £100,000 on Facebook advertisements
• Impact of the media influence - Young people

  The rise of the internet and social media became a way to reach the young electorate (In 2015 79% of 18-24 year-olds said they relied almost entirely on the internet to be informed and 59% used social media to discover people's opinions on politics) as they deemed traditional press as too expensive and out of date with the 24 hour news coverage online
• Influence of the media - Older generations

  the Internet reach of parties however does not impact the older generations who are far more likely to turn out to vote and continue to use traditional print press and TV to be informed. There is also little evidence that social media played a large part in the 2015 election
• Impact of the media - Cameron

  Cameron still relied on the impact of traditional media as in 2105 conservative-supporting newspapers kept up Cameron's claim that if they did not vote for Tory they would face a weak Labour gov. 'propped up by the SNP'. The Daily Telegraph printed an appeal from 5000 small business owners to vote Tory and not place the economy in jeopardy
• Impact of the media - Importance of Image

  over the last 3 decades, leaders have become increasingly aware of reflecting a favourable image to the media and seeking control of the news as much as possible. New Labour took media management very seriously with the era of the 'Spin Doctor' - Alasdair Cambell for Blair. Later governments (Camerons) have been no less strict on media output (The No. 10 Press office sending a representative for Cameron to PMQs as he could be trusted to toe the government line)
• Impact of the media - Announcements

  governments have been increasingly making announcements to the Press and TV studios rather than in the usual place of the House of Commons (Blair's announcement of the Millenium Dome to the TV after hours of debate in cabinet). Ministerial speeches are also usually covered and summarised in the press before they are even delivered
• Debates around bias and persuasion of the media - The media in a democratic society

  free media is vital to democracy and can be vital in holding the governments to account especially when opposition is weak (Like in the New Labour Gov). however, there are concerns about the Media as they present a simplified version of political issues focusing on the personalities. Newspaper owners are only interested in boosting their circulation and can not be held accountable in the same way politicians are
• 2011 phone hacking scandal 


  revealed that employees of Rupert Murdoch's News International had been involved in illegal information-gathering which further reduced the public's trust in the press. The scandal led to the closer of the paper involved - News Of The Week and a senior judge (Justice Levison). The ruling led to a creation of a new body to regulate the press (The Independant press standards organisation) headed by a retired judge. Powers of the body remain a controversy however supporters see it as a resonable response and critics have regarded it as a threat to freedom of peace.
• Media Bias and Political Parties - Newspapers

  Newspapers are notoriously partisan and will alter who they support based on changing circumstances (The Sun began as a labour-supporting paper but switched to conservative in the mid-70s and in the run-up to the 1997 election swung back to labour and returned to conservative and stayed that way in 2010)
• Media Bias and Political Parties - TV

  TV tends to be less biased in its coverage, terrestrial TV must be balanced in contrast to the press which is pretty much free of regulation. The BBC charter insists on political neutrality and is largely followed by the other TV channels. Parties are allocated agreed amounts of air time for their election broadcasts based on their voter strength in the last contest and the number of constituencies they are contesting
• How much influence do the media have on the public? 


  It seems unlikely that the press's influence causes people to change their voting behaviour. It is best to be sceptical of the claims that newspapers. (In 1992, the sun released a headline on the day of the election that said 'If Kinnock wins today, the last person to leave Britain, turn off the lights'. After the labour lost, the headline was "It was The Sun wot won it")
• How much influence do the media have on the public? - newspapers

  Most people read newspapers that reflect their own outlook, therefore just confirming their views. The importance of the press should not be discounted however as the winning party of each election was supported by the majority of the press, (In 2010 and 2015 The Daily Mirror was the only major press outlet to still back Labour). The press can also shape the political agenda through the way it covers political decisions, more important now than ever with increasing class and party dealignment
• How much influence do the media have on the public - TV

  TV is also hard to judge. 62% of people cited TV as the strongest impact on their decision in the run-up to the 2015 election while only 25% of people put Newspapers first. In the 2010 election Clegg saw a boost in polls after the TV debate however this was temporary as voters ended up splitting the vote between the 2 major parties again, however the minority tory gov may have been impacted by Cleggs TV success
• How much influence does the media have on the public - TV

  the importance of TV mostly lies in the projection of images as this helps voters form opinions (The relentless negative portrayal of Corbyn with a focus on his personality and policies since his election in 2015) whilst this did not damage his perception within his party who chose him as a leader but it could have prevented his success within the wider public
• How much influence does the media have on the public - overall

  overall we can say that media often just reinforces political attitudes rather than changing public opinion. as there are so many differing views online and in the press people will often seek out those that conflict with their views. Social media also usually just acts as a place for trivial news stories rather than serious debate.