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Politics Paper 1 > 4.2 The Influence of the Media > Flashcards

4.2 The Influence of the Media Flashcards

1
Q

What is a limitation to ‘The Sun Wot Won it’ (1992)

A

60% of readers still voted Lab

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2
Q

3

Describe rational choice theory

A
  • Voters consider strengths and weaknesses of each party
  • Expressive rational voting - voting for party that will benefit society
  • Instrumental rational voting - vote for party likely to benefit themselves
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3
Q

3

What is the impact of TV and TV debates in UK Politics

A
  • Affect leader image
  • Governing competency
  • esp with head-to-head debating
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4
Q

2

Give examples of the importance of TV and TV debates in UK Politics

A
  • Neil Kinnock Sheffield Rally 1992 - ‘we’re all right’ mocked - arguably led to defeat
  • 2010 debate - Cleggmania - snap poll showed 24% inc in support
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5
Q

2

Give examples of the limited importance of TV and TV debates in UK Politics

A
  • 1992 - Sheffield Rally occurred only week before elec - does not alone account for diff in polls and result
  • 2010 - LD only inc vote share by 1%
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6
Q

4

Describe social media’s impact on UK Politics

A
  • Increasingly effective avenue for political campaigning
  • Speeds up process of issues taking political centre stage
  • Targeted ads towards demographics (age, gender, region, etc)
  • 2015 - UKIP spent large proportion of campaign budget on Facebook targeted ads - won 12.5% of vote
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7
Q

2

Describe the negative effects of social media on politics

A
  • Misleading claims - fact check - hinders democracy (e.g. 72m Turkish immigrants in EU Ref)
  • Soundbites can reduce trust in politics, thus damaging democracy
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8
Q

3

Describe the limits to social media’s influence on UK Politics

A
  • Online news sources accessed more - 44% accessed BBC news during 2019 elec according to survey
  • social media acts as echo chamber - content consumed by users largely affirms views
  • 2019 - Con halved spending on social media ads (in spite of winter election)
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9
Q

5

Describe Tik Tok’s impact on UK Politics

A
  • Growing political influence, esp on Gen Z
  • George Galloway, Akhmed Yakoob
  • Some MPs, like Grant Shapps, have Tik Tok accounts
  • Banned on govt phones and on Westminster estate
  • Influence in events: Ukraine, BLM
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10
Q

4

Describe broadcast media’s impact on UK Politics

A
  • TV and radio
  • OFCOM - regulate/monitor coverage
  • Idea of ‘spin’, or a spin doctor
  • New TV channels e.g. GB News with Farage as host
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11
Q

4 - total viewership, age, class

Give stats on the broadcast media

A
  • 70% access TV for news
  • 94% over 65s use TV for news
  • 50% 16-24 yr old
  • Constant across class
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12
Q

4

Describe a well-known spin doctor

A
  • Lord Mandelson
  • Central figure in New Lab
  • former TV executive - media savvy
  • named ‘Prince of Darkness’
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13
Q

5

Describe the BBC

A
  • Chairman - political appointee, Director-General - non-political appointee
  • ‘Impartial news’ - free from political interference
  • Most pop broadcaster
  • Most used news website/app - 28% total usage of news sites in 2019 election campaign
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14
Q

2

Describe recent news concerning the BBC

A
  • Gary Lineker - suspension and subsequent presenter walkout
  • Sharp - £800k loan for Boris Johnson
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15
Q

3

Describe satire

A
  • TV - HIGNFY, The Thick of It
  • Print - Private Eye
  • Limitation - spitting Image revival cancelled after 2 seasons, implying low ratings and impact
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16
Q

4

Describe the Iraq War and the media

A
  • Led by New Lab and Blair
  • Backed by Con and most papers
  • Public trust crisis - involvement had no basis with no ‘weapons of mass destruction’
  • BBC news leak - David Kelly (Weapons Expert) claimed that Downing St had over exaggerated Iraq’s arms capabilities
17
Q

5

Describe the electoral impact of the Iraq War

A
  • 2005 elec
    • Lab majority reduced from 167 to 66
    • LD inc vote seats to 62 (+11) - did not back Iraq War
    • Lab won with 22% electorate support - legitimacy questioned
  • SNP defeated Lab in 2007 Scottish elecs
18
Q

What is dominant ideology theory?

A

emphasises that ideas, beliefs and culture of ruling elite will prevail to safeguard status quo

19
Q

7

Describe the circulation of newspapers

A
  • Decline in circulation
  • Fall of 52% by 2018
  • Bestsellers: The Sun and The Daily Mail
  • Free: Metro and Evening Standard
  • Online only: The Independent (excluding the i)
  • Move online - compete with news websites e.g. BBC News
  • Decline of trust e.g. hacking
20
Q

5

Describe the readership of newspapers

A
  • 58% of over 65s
  • 20% of 16-24s
  • Upper classes: The Guardian, The Times
  • Working classes: The Sun, Daily Mirror
  • All classes: Daily Mail, Daily Express
21
Q

7

Describe The Sun

A
  • ‘The Sun Wot Won it’ 1992
  • Backed New Lab in 1997, 2001, 2005 - disagreements with John Major over European policy
  • Murdoch got Blair to commit to pound - would not take Britain into eurozone without ref
  • 2010 election - switches to Cameron - ‘Our Only Hope’
  • Built conservative euroscepticism over many years
  • EU Ref - ran controversial headline ‘Queen backs Brexit’
  • Defamed Jeremy Corbyn and his policies in 2017/2019
22
Q

3

Describe the Guardian

A
  • Notable online prescence - 18.4m monthly online visits
  • Higher AB readership
  • Back LD or Lab
23
Q

9

Describe the Daily Mail

A
  • Avg age - 58
  • Middle market tabloid
  • 52-55% female readership
  • twice as many ABC1 readers as C2DE
  • Stephen Lawrence ‘murderers’ headline
  • Supported Con every election
  • Focus on small boats crisis
  • Corbyn team - ‘apologists for terror’
  • Owned by DMGT - Rothermere
24
Q

5

Describe the Times

A
  • Murdoch press empire
  • Supported Remain
  • Backed New Lab in 2001 and 2005 (not 1997)
  • High ABC1 readership, esp among age 25-44
  • Backed Rishi Sunak in 2022 leadership elec
25
Q

6

Describe the Telegraph

A
  • Consistently backed Con since 1945
  • Supported Liz Truss in 2022 leadership election
  • Supported Leave
  • Boris Johnson former editor
  • Broke Expenses Scandal 2009
  • Owners - Barclay brothers
26
Q

4

Describe the Daily Mirror

A
  • Backed Lab at every election
  • Banned from Con 2019 elec campaign
  • Owned by Reach plc (own 240 regional publications)
  • Higher C2DE readership
27
Q

4

Describe the ownership of UK newspapers

A
  • 90% of UK-wide print media owned by 3 companies
  • Reach plc (Daily Mirror)
  • News UK (Murdoch)
  • DMG Media (Daily Mail)
28
Q

6

Describe the effects of the Millie Dowler phone hacking scandal

A
  • News of the World closed 6 days after Guardian report
  • Andy Coulson, No10 Director of Comms, resigned (editor of World of the News from 2003-2007)
  • Rebekah Brooks now CEO of News UK
  • Idea of press having ‘power without responsibility’
  • Led to Leveson Inquiry - replaced PCC (self-regualtion) with IPSO (independent regulation)
  • Meghan+Harry sued Daily Mail for invasion of privacy
29
Q

Newspapers essay

A

finish

30
Q

4

Describe the PM and the media

A
  • Media focus - rise in presidentialism
  • ‘Spin Doctor’
  • Truss - social media use
  • Sunak - ‘Ready for Rishi’, gaffes
31
Q

3

Describe opinion polls

A
  • Surveys on a selected sample on political issues
  • conducted by a research organisation (e.g. YouGov)
  • commissioned by an organisation (e.g. The Times)
32
Q

4

Describe the purpose of opinion polls

A
  • establish voter intention
  • investigate govt/leader approval
  • investigate policy opinion
  • examine salient/valence issue
33
Q

5

Describe the influences of opinion polls

A
  • Voting behaviour, esp turnout - shy tories 1992
  • Position of leader - Liz Truss ousted after polls showed 80% held unfavourable view
  • Campaigns - Lab-SNP coalition 2015
  • Policy - 2010 polls showcasing imm as important issue led to Con pledge to limit net migration to ‘tens of thousands’
  • Date of election - ‘botched’ election 2007, 2024 election
34
Q

2

How did close polling affect the 2015 election

A
  • 2015 final poll showed Con and Lab tied on 34% (Populus)
  • 2015 turnout of 66.4% (+1.3%)
35
Q

3

Evaluate the view that opinion polls strengthen democracy

A
  • Provide key channel for political communication - inform political parties about public opinion -> policy changes in response (e.g. Con 2010 imm) + Rwanda vs lead to parties making rash decisions - role of incumbent party to make and win arguments rather than slavishly follow polls (e.g. u-turn on pasty tax in ‘omnishambles budget’ 2012)
  • inform public debate and drive turnout - facilitate voter engagement (e.g. EU ref 2016) vs deplete turnout - reduce participation and pluralism (e..g 2001 - 59%)
  • Make govt accountable for unpop decisions and policies - used by pressure groups, backbenchers, etc (e.g. COVID Recovery Group) vs responses equate to misinformation (e.g. Lab-SNP coalition 2015)
36
Q

3

Describe the People Polling May 2024 poll

A
  • Forecast 6% Westminster voting intention for SNP in Scotland subsample
  • Diverges significantly from other polls - likely farcical
  • May be due to diff methods used, Matt Goodwin owned

Matt Goodwin owned

37
Q

Who did the Economist/FT endorse in the 2015 election?

A

A conservative-led coaliton

Politics Paper 1 (27 decks)

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