Media

• The press is significant in politics

  • around 7 million people read the newspaper daily in the uk, key source of political information, especially for old voters who are more likely to vote. People read articles online and newspaper journalists are highly important in political coverage on the TV, radio and social media
  • as newspapers have no obligation to be unbiased they have an impact on changing peoples views, persuasively.
• the press isn't significant

  • newspaper circulation has declined significantly in recent years as people have moved on to other forms of media, in 202 the Daily Mail had a circulation of 909000 compared to 2.4 million in 1997
  • its unlikely that the press changes peoples views as most people read papers that reflect their political views anyway
• examples of the press having influence

  • the general public claimed newspapers had more influence than socal media over their vote in 2017, 32% vs 26%
  • the sun has always backed the winning arty 'its the sun wot won it'
  • in 2019 the Tories partly launched their manifesto in the Telegraph newspaper
• examples of the press not having influence

  • YouGov polling revealed that 30% of Sun readers and 39% of financial times readers voted labour despite both backing the Tories
  • Corbyn had a very negative press image in the run up to the 2017 election with the Daily Mail front page 'Corbin' but still managed to d better than expectations
• how is TV and radio important

  • many people receive their news from TV, most of which is supposed to be unbiased but recently there has been a rise in biased shows such as GB news or LBC (e.g. James Obrien who is strongly remain)
  • TV is important in the media coverage of elections, with TV debates and interviews an important fixture in campaigns
• TV and radio are significant in politics

  • images of party leaders can impact voters e.g. a lot of negative coverage of Corbyn focused on his 'scruffy' appearance rather than his policies
  • Between elections, TV and radio interviews with key politicians can be highly important in holding them to account and shaping the views of voters e.g. Newsnight often exposes political failures such as how covid was transmitted to care homes or the rise of antisemitism within the labour party.
  • a survey in 2015 found 62% cited tv as the strongest influence in helping them form an opinion
• TV and radio are not significant in politics

  • important not to exaggerate the influence of tv e.g. Nick Clegg boasted about his boost in polls in the run up to the 2010 election though in the election voters swung back to the 2 main parties
  • can be seen as less important with the rise of social media, especially among young people are more likely to get their information from there
  • the 2019 TV debates didn't result in a major win for either side, there wasn't a good enough leader to 'manipulate' the media
• the conservatives spent 100,000 a month on Facebook advertising in 2015. They're not subject to the same neutrality laws as TV and can be highly bias. Online advertising can be a problem because it can be difficult to verify the accuracy of claims made and where money is being spent and whether it is within the legal limit
• arguments that the internet and social media are significant

  • parties and MP's focus a great deal on influencing peoples views on social media. a survey in 2015 found that 79% of 18-2 year olds relied almost totally on social media for their information
  • scandals can go viral such as in 2019 when Jacob Reese mogg's comments about the Grenfell fire which were condemned by many
  • targeted advertising is important to how parties try to reach voters. According to WhoTargetsMe, Labour spent 1.4 million on Facebook advertising in the 2019 election
• arguments that the internet and social media aren't significant

  • a lot of the political coverage on social media and the internet is dominated by traditional forms of media, journalists use twitter in particular to report news and newspapers online
  • these considerations don't apply for the older generation who are much more likely to ovote and derive news from the press and TV
• examples of opinion polls and their accuracy

  • In 1992 the polls failed to predict Majors narrow victory, instead the majority of polls predicted a narrow labour or hung parliament. some suggested that because the polls predicted a con loss that there was a late swing to them
  • wrong again in 2015, they predicted that both labour and conservatives would have Labour 34% of the vote but the conservatives got 36% and labour 30% . They didn't interview a representative sample of the population.
  • in 2017, few polls predicted labour would stop a tory majority
  • polling in 2019 was very accurate
• turnout is likely to be higher if the polling predicts the result will be close e.g. 2015 and Brexit with very high turnouts. polling can be seen to influence policy e.g. Polls in 2022 showed a large amount of people against trans rights which likely played a role in the tory leadership being opposed to further trans rights
• The media has a big impact on elections

  • parties try and control their media appearance e.g. Johnson refusing to be interviewed by Andrew Neil, fearing the impact on his campaign
  • during elections, Newspapers come out strongly in favour of a political party and effectively campaign for one party e.g. Daily mail day before election came out with a front page saying 'Corbin'
  • Key moments in campaigns can go viral and shape the voters perception of parties and leaders e.g. May's infamous worst thing she's done was run through a field of wheat
• the media has little impact on elections

  • shouldn't be overstated voters don't simply follow what the media says, many have strong allegiances to parties and are highly unlikely to e swayed
  • most individuals consume the media that they already agree with, reinforcing their own views, this is especially true of late with the rise of social media and echo-chambers
  • other factors such as social and valence factors can be seen as more important
• the media holds governments to account

  • exposes government failures in between elections e.g. partygate which was found through leaks and was essential in bringing down the Johnson government
  • ministers are interviewed and questioned daily, journalists can question them and expose failings, especially during the Johnson government
  • As parliament was shut down during COVID the media took on a more important role, becoming the main source of opposition to the government
• the media does not hold the government to account

  • have been many allegations of bias against the BBC from both sides of the spectrum e.g. Laura Kuessberg accused of spreading fake news about labour activists ushing a conservative politician
  • much of the population pays little attention to politics and political media, especially outside of elections
  • parliament can be seen to hold the government to account in a much more effective way
• the media has a positive impact on politics

  • a free media is a vital feature of democracy and it holds governments to account and highlights key political issues to the public
  • with the growth of social media, media is more democratised with more individuals rather than corporations just having a voice
  • TV and radio coverage is less biased than newspapers, the BBC charter insists on political neutrality
• the media has a negative impact on politics

  • sections of the media present an oversimplified interpretation of political issues and focus too much on leaders/personality rather than policy e.g. the Sun switching between Labour and Conservatives when it suits them
  • newspaper owners are primarily interested in boosting their circulation and reflecting their own interests e.g. Rupert Murdoch. they also cant be held accountable in the same way the government can
  • Governments have been increasingly making important policy announcements on TV rather than in the Commons