Elections and the Media Flashcards

1
Q

Who became PM in 1979 GE?

A

Thatcher

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2
Q

What was the turnout in 1979 GE?

A

76%

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3
Q

What was the size of the government’s majority in 1979 GE?

A

43

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4
Q

Who became PM in 1997 GE?

A

Tony Blair

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5
Q

What was the turnout in 1997 GE?

A

71.4%

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6
Q

What was the majority in 1997 GE?

A

179 - landslide

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7
Q

Who became PM in 2010 GE?

A

David Cameron (coalition)

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8
Q

What was the turnout in 2010 GE?

A

65.1%

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9
Q

What was the government’s majority in 2010?

A

None, coalition formed creating majority of 77

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10
Q

Is TV important in election campaigns?

A

Considered a crucial element

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11
Q

How many people watched the first leaders’ debate in 2010 campaign?

A

around 9.6 million

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12
Q

How many people watched a leaders’ debate ahead of 2017 GE?

A

only around 3.5 million - decline

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13
Q

How many people said TV was very influential in deciding who to vote for in 2015?

A

62%

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14
Q

Advantages of TV

A

Explain manifestos/policies in an accessible way

Major channels (e.g BBC) are required to show impartial coverage of all main parties

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15
Q

Evidence that TV is reliable

A

BBC Charter insists upon political neutrality

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16
Q

Why has the internet only recently become influential?

A

Only became significant in last few elections - in 2000, only 26% of households had internet access)

17
Q

Evidence to show social media/the internet is important for elections?

A

2015 - Conservative party reportedly spent £100,000 a month on Facebook advertising

18
Q

Who is the internet most influential for?

A

Young people - in 2015, 79% of 18-24 year olds relied almost entirely on online sources to inform themselves

19
Q

Caveat of argument that social media is important?

A

Only really influential for youngest of electorate - e.g. in 2015 election social media did not play a major role overall despite its influence on younger people

20
Q

Weakness of social media as a source of info during elections?

A

Tendency of significant bias due to lack of impartiality requirements

21
Q

Evidence of newspaper readership falling?

A

The Sun -

3.8 million daily readers in 1997, 1.7 million in 2016

(online readership increasing to compensate for this though - approx. 8.1 daily readers in print and online in 2023

22
Q

How can we see that newspapers used to be very significant?

A

‘it was the Sun wot won it’ in 1992

23
Q

Evidence that there is still a strong correlation between newspapers and political views?

A

2017 - 79% of Telegraph readers voted Conservative

During Brexit campaign, newspapers supporting ‘Leave’ had 3 million more daily readers than remainers - influenced result?

24
Q

Evidence that newspapers don’t actually influence political ideas?

A

Newspapers tend to reinforce existing political views - readers are selective and tend to choose papers they are already politically aligned to

25
Q

Evidence that newspapers have little impact on election results?

A

No paper backed the LibDems in 2005, but they still gained 10 seats

26
Q

Statistic to show newspapers are not currently very influential?

A

2015 GE - only 25% of voters said newspapers were most influential in choosing who to vote for

27
Q

Biggest weaknesses of newspapers as sources of political information

A

No neutrality requirement - newspapers are infamously partisan

They tend to simplify news and policies, focusing excessively on personalities - e.g. Ed Miliband

28
Q

Evidence that opinion polls are not particularly important?

A

Failed to predict Major’s 1992 majority

Failed to predict Conservative majority in 2015, predicting Labour and Conservatives would win around 34% of the vote each

29
Q

Examples of opinion poll firms

A

Ipsos MORI
Populus
YouGov

30
Q

Is there bias in the media?

A

Newspapers = notoriously partisan (e.g. the Sun backing Thatcher’s Conservative party in 1979 due to her hard-line stance on trade unions)

Social media can be biased as platforms do not control their own content

However, TV required to be balanced

31
Q

Is the media actually influential?

A

Most people read newspapers that reflect their pre-existing political outlook

Predictive nature of social media algorithms creates echo chambers

Retrospective voting model more important?

32
Q

Role of the media in the 1979 election?

A

Advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi were employed by the Conservatives to help run election campaign (e.g. focusing on polishing Thatcher’s image for the media!!)

Callaghan’s image was damaged by the Sun newspaper’s headline ‘Crisis? What crisis?’

33
Q

Role of the media in 1997 election?

A

Blair used TV to appeal to voters (e.g. appearing on daytime TV to target his campaign to women)

Blair decided to court Rupert Murdoch because he knew the influence of the Sun newspaper (‘it was the Sun wot won it’)

34
Q

Role of the media in the 2010 election?

A

The Sun announced that it was switching support to the Conservatives

TV debates caused Nick Clegg’s popularity to soar temporarily (72% approval rating when he had been relatively unknown a few months earlier)

‘Bigotgate’

35
Q

Example of Sun headline seeking to discredit someone

A

2017 - ‘don’t chuck Britain in the Cor-bin’

36
Q

Is the Sun newspaper influential?

A

Has backed every election winner since 1992 - however, likely that Murdoch predicts who will win and shifts the Sun’s support, rather than the reverse

37
Q

Evidence of decline of the Sun’s influence (2017)

A

Extremely anti-Corbyn, but he still managed to gain a lot of seats, resulting in a hung parliament

38
Q

Recent example of the media having a key impact on politics (ITV)

A

The Post Office Horizon scandal was thrown into the mainstream media by an ITV documentary, which brought about public awareness and pressured politicians to act.