Influence of the media

• -Broadcast media’ covers all TV stations and radio networks. All broadcasters in the UK are bound by law to remain neutral and to offer balanced reporting of election and referendum campaigns. This means they have no intention of influencing voting behaviour.

  -Since 2010 televised debates have become a key feature of elections.

  -All we can really assert about broadcasting is that parties use television and radio as an important way of getting their messages across, but do not expect to gain any special advantage
• Since 2010 televised debates have become a key feature of elections. However, Nick Clegg’s spectacularly good performance in 2010 still led to a decline in the popular vote.
• in 2015 in an election challengers debate on BBC, where David Cameron did not show up, Ed Miliband was judged to have won over an enormously respected Nicola Sturgeon, but Miliband’s standing did not change and Labour lost the 2015 election.
• The Press refers to Newspapers, both physical and online. There are no press regulations in terms of political bias, with newspapers' views being formed by the ownership and the belief of their readership. Today, most papers support the Conservatives, the most widely circulated papers, The Sun and Daily Mail both do, leading us to the conclusion that Newspapers do influence the way people vote. However, the newspapers also tend to reflect the typical views of their readers, rather than leading them.
• Following the 1992 election, when the Conservatives won a surprise victory after most predicted a Labour win, The Sun newspaper famously proclaimed ‘It’s the Sun wot won it’. The Sun had ran a relentless campaign against Labour and it’s leader, Neil Kinnock, and the opinion polls prediction of a comfortable Labour victory turned around near the election date.
• newspapers tend to reflect the typical views of their readers, rather than leading them. In 2017 Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party only had The Mirror supporting it but won 40% of the vote.
• Social Media is more difficult for any party or political group to gain any special advantage, although there does seem to be a case that those with access to large resources can use online ads and tools like Twitter bots to influence the outcome.
• Social Media is especially useful to small parties, which do not have the resources to be able to compete with the large parties in conventional campaigning, though none has been able to use it to make a major breakthrough in terms of electoral success
• Social media’s real impact is in the way that arguments on various platforms then drive the debates in the other two types of media. This is a relatively new phenomenon, issues have become more apparent as time has developed, with companies like Cambridge Analytica using people’s personal data to target and influence them into voting a particular way on behalf of clients.
• The development of fake news, both actually false news and conspiracy theories, as well as the assumption that any news that a person does not agree with or support just be fake, have come much more clearly into the political discussion. People have attacked 5G phone masks and actively encouraged others to avoid health measures and vaccines. 
• The 1979 General Election - The Sun issued a headline saying: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’ as Jim Callaghan’s reaction to Winter of Discontent - Jim Callaghan never actually said this, but it caught the public imagination, suggesting that he was out of touch with public opinion, thereby swinging opinion against a formerly popular PM - Polls showed Callaghan remained personally popular throughout the election and far ahead of Thatcher. He was Labour’s biggest asset
• The 1997 General Election - The Sun switched support from Conservatives to Labour -

  The Sun (and most of the press) publicly switched support to Blair and New Labour, persuading many former Conservative voters to vote Labour instead. - Polls suggest Labour was on course for a large victory anyway. The Press were simply reacting to the situation.
• The 2010 General Election - The first televised debate was won by Nick Clegg -

  Leader of the Lib Dems Nick Clegg, was reported as having won the first leaders debate, raising his profile at the expense of Cameron, perhaps denying Cameron the votes he needed for an outright majority. - The Lib Dems increased its vote share by 1% but actually lost seats, suggesting nay impact was limited.
• The 2015 General Election - The televised leaders debate.

  • Ed Miliband fell off the stage and gave an over-excited “Hell yes, I’m tough enough” response to a question, making him seem less prime ministerial than David Cameron.
  • Opinion polls suggest that debate made no real difference to voting intentions, merely confirming existing intentions. 
• The 2019 General Election - Facebook advertising

  • At the start of December 2019, the Facebook Ad Library showed the Conservatives had 2500 live paid for adverts, whilst Labour only had 250, with the Conservatives getting their large majority. 
  • At the same time, the Lib Dems had 3000 paid ads on Facebook, but it lost seats.
• Since 2016, reports have indicated that many of those in the UK who participate in politics do so primarily through social media platforms rather than traditional methods, like canvassing and delivering leaflets.
• ‘Bigotgate’ was an ‘open mic’ event during the 2010 General Election campaign. It was damaging to Gordon Brown, most notably because it reinforced an image of him that voters already possessed. It was made possible due to the prevalence of 24/7 media – that is why he was miked up in the first place. 24/7 media has changed the nature of the news cycle and made events like this more likely.
• In 2009, the Daily Telegraph began publishing MPs’ expenses claims and revealed to the public a widespread abuse of the system. This allowed the public to make up their own minds and vote against MPs who had abused the system. It also ensured that extreme cases would be prosecuted and perpetrators held to account with jail terms
• In 2021, the media reported on then health secretary Matt Hancock having an affair with an advisor he employed, which was a breach of the ministerial code of conduct and also revealed that he had not followed his own instructions about social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, he was held to account and forced to resign
• In 2019, press coverage of the Windrush deportation scandal and the printing of evidence that then home secretary Amber Rudd was aware of targets being set for deportation revealed that she had misled a select committee investigation, resulting in her resignation from office
• The focus on sleaze and corruption during the 1990s, which has continued into the twentyfirst century, has contributed to a decline in trust and respect for politicians and politics as a whole, causing many of the public to become disillusioned and distrustful of politicians. This has further encouraged refusals to adhere to Covid-19 measures and some physical attacks on MPs.
• • Following a high court ruling on parliament, rather than the prime minister, being the correct body to trigger Article 50, the Daily Mail ran a headline accusing the judges of being traitors. This undermined the principle of judicial neutrality and independence and was an attempt to turn public opinion against the judiciary, which further undermined the democratic process and rule of law.
• The advent of social media has allowed unregulated and outside groups to impact election campaigns in their own interests rather than that of the public good. Accusations of Russian interference via social media in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, as well as the EU referendum, suggest that hostile interests may be using social media to undermine democratic choices, debate and discussion by providing false information and attempting to manipulate voters.