Influence of media in between elections and on democracy

War reporting — 1 example

• Fawkland’s war reporting swung public opinion towards Thatcher

Sleaze — 1 example

• 1992 s3x and corruption scandals ripped through Tories

  • ‘Nasty party'; ‘sleaze’

• Helped 1997 Labour “things can only get better”

Bliar

• BBC reporting and resulting press coverage about a ‘dodgy dossier’ and ‘sexing up’ the war in Iraq → political scandal, David Kelly’s death

  • Hutton Inquiry exonerated gov’t

  • Damaged Blair’s reputation by making him seem like a liar and Bush’s poodle

Hillsborough

• The Sun’s reporting of Hillsborough has made it a Labour stronghold area

Expenses

• 2009 — Daily Telegraph FOIed MP’s expenses and revealed wrongful claims and abuses

  • Resulted in massive distrust of politicians, some politicians going to prison and Parliamentary reform

Cost of duck house expenses claim

£1,645

Press impact on 🇪🇺

• Presented 🇪🇺 as source of immigration (low-ranking issue with high-ranking issue)

4 examples of political satire programmes (scrutinise politicians and feed cynicism)

1. That Was The Week That Was

2. HIGNFY (politicians try and go on to engage with electorate)

3. Mock the Week

4. The Thick of It

Miliband’s use of social media

• Was interviewed by Russel Brand on his YouTube channel ‘The Trews’ but caused loss of credibility and was mocked in traditional media

Role of local papers in democracy

• Keep local authorities in check

  • Act as watchdog

  • Report on local spending

• Expose local issues

  • E.g. 2017 Hackney Gazzette’s Hidden Homeless series

• Highlight local elections

2017 — Guardian Windrush scandal

• Exposed Home Office’s illegal deprivation of some members of Windrush generation of public services, as well as deportation

  • Lacked documentation as arrived on parent’s passport and never applied for one

Focus of print media that means it does not support democracy

• Private lives and scandals > policies and ideas

Leveson Inquiry findings

• Press-politican relationship unhealthy for democracy

2005-2017 — number of local newspapers that closed down

238

Role of local news in Grenfell

• Grenfell residents posted on Grenfell Action Group blog about safety of their building but were not picked up by local media outlets prior to 2017 fire

2019 — % of airtime devoted to electoral processes (Loughborough Uni)

31%

2019 — % of airtime devoted to Brexit (Loughborough Uni)

18%

2010 — number of views of TV debate (first one)

10.3m

Role of TV debates in democracy

• Educate electorate

Broadcast media and soundbites

• Increasing celeb news and soundites > in-depth discussions means news has been duumbed down

Use of hostile questioning

• Interviewers pretty hostile to politicians, suggesting they’re not to be trusted

Politician’s engagement with broadcast media

• Low if they feel it is not to be trusted

• Retreat to safety of a soundbite > engaging with a question in an informative way

5 ways social media gives oppportunties for participation in democracy

1. Political debate

2. All voices being heard, especially those excluded from mainstream politics

3. Voter registration drives

4. Following politicans and interacting with them

5. Online petitions

Dark adverts

• Micro-target specific groups with tailored messages and lack of transparency about origin/funding

Online abuse and trolling

• Take away freedom of speech, especially for women and EM