Role of the media

Question 1

Opinion polls (+2015)

Answer 1

• Don’t necessarily impact voters intentions much

- 2015 opinion polls predicted a close race and the conservatives were able to warn against Miliband becoming PM

Question 2

The press : examples of influence

Answer 2

• Traditionally claimed a significant role in determining results
• 1992 Major (Its the Sun wot won it)
• 1997 Blair (‘It was the sun that swung it’)
• 2019 : Conservative had more papers supporting it and won the election (labour only had one)

Question 3

Television (leadership debates)

Answer 3

2017 - May didn’t attend leader debates leaving opportunities to ridicule her
2015 - Miliband fell of his chair and gave an excited Hell yes which led to people being unable to take him seriously

Question 4

Social media features

Answer 4

• Increasingly influential as the population
• It is an open medium and it is more difficult for one party or political group to gain any special advantage
• unregulated so there are opportunities for groups to gain political traction
• Benefits parties like Green and UKIP as they don’t have the membership or nation wide organisation like larger parties

Question 5

Broadcasting in the UK

Answer 5

• Bound by law to remain neutral and to offer balanced reporting of elections and referendum campaigns

Question 6

Televised leadership debates + why do parties use them ?

Answer 6

• BBC, Sky, ITV and channel 4 have all held leadership debates overseen by the electoral commission
• Used to get their party message across

Question 7

Leadership debate examples

Answer 7

• 2010 : Clegg’s spectacular performance still led to a decline in the parties share of the popular vote
• 2015 : Cameron didn’t participate, opinion polls showed that Miliband narrowly won but his poor standing in leadership polling didn’t change and his party lost

Question 8

Examples that the press has a limited influence

Answer 8

• it just reinforces voter intentions
• Labour only had 1 paper support it (Mirror) in 2017 yet it increased its vote share and received 40% of the national vote
• 2019 : 2 most well read newspapers supported the conservative party
• 2012 : Rupert Murdoch admitted Newspapers didn’t swing the way people voted to the Leveson Inquiry

Question 9

Benefits of social media

Answer 9

• Opportunities for Green and UKIP to succeed

Question 10

Negative impacts of social media

Answer 10

• alleged Russian interference in the EU referendum and subsequent general elections in the UK
• development of fake news have caused actual harm eg people have actively campaigned against health measures and vaccines and attacked 5G phones

Question 11

Cambridge analytica

Answer 11

• Uses people’s personal data to target an influence them in to behaving a certain way on behalf of clients
• Doesn’t always have the best intentions

Question 12

How the media may/may not have influenced the 1979 election ?

Answer 12

• The Sun issued a headline saying ‘crisis ? What Crisis ?’ as Callaghan’s reaction to the winter of discontent
• Never said this but suggested that he was out of touch so swung opinion against a formerly popular PM
• Ultimately lost to Thatcher
• BUT polls showed Callaghan remained personally popular throughout the election and was ahead of Thatcher

Question 13

How the media may or may not have influenced the outcome of the 1997 election ?

Answer 13

• The sun switched support from Conservatives to labour
• The Sun and most of the press publicly switched support to New Labour and persuaded many conservative voters to vote for them instead
• “the sun that swung it”
• Polls suggested labour was on course for a large victory anyway so was simply reacting to the existing situation

Question 14

How the media may or may not have influenced the outcome of the 2010 election ?

Answer 14

• Clegg won the 2010 televised leaders debate
• He won the first televised TV debate which raised his profile at the expense of the conservative party leader (Cameron) and potentially cost the Tories the votes needed for an outright majority
• Liberal democrats only increased their vote share by 1% and lost seats suggesting the impact was very limited

Question 15

How may or may not have the media influenced the outcome of the 2015 election ?

Answer 15

• Televised leaders’ debate
• Miliband fell off the stage and gave an excited ‘Hell yes, I’m tough enough’ response to a question which made him appear less prime ministerial than Cameron
• Opinion poll suggest the debate had very little difference in voting intentions

Question 16

How the media may or may not have influenced the 2019 election ? (Face book ads)

Answer 16

• Facebook advertising
• At the start of Dec 2019, the conservatives had 2,500 live paid for ads compared to the 250 of Labour (conservatives went on to seal a huge victory)
• HOWEVER : the liberal democrats had 3,000 paid for ads yet they lost seats

Question 17

How has the media been influential between elections ?

Answer 17

• 2008 Daily Telegraph investigation of the MPs expenses scandal which held the media to account
• 2018 media reporting of the Windrush scandal led to the resignation of the then Home secretary
• 2021 : Matt Hancock resigned due to media pressure after breaking lockdown rules
• 2022 : Party gate scandal has held MPs accountable

Question 18

What are the key changes of the media since the 1980s ?

Answer 18

• Tabloid press has become more partisan (even more so with the rise in social media platforms)
• Media has become more focused on scandal and mocking politicians (eg bacon sandwich incident of Miliband)
• prioritises negative political stories over positive one
• Social media has become an echo chamber
• Development of 24 hour news since 1990’s

Question 19

Why have changes in the media occurred ?

Answer 19

• Commercial development of the media
• Competition has become more fierce and the emergence of social media
• PMQs is now portrayed as a gladiatorial battle and political point scoring (limited scrutiny)

Question 20

Examples of the press influencing politics between elections (1990’s)

Answer 20

• 1992-7 : the press investigated and reported on a number of scandals relating Tory MPs “cash for questions” and numerous affairs which damaged the Tory party reputation and branded it as sleazy

Question 21

Examples of press influence between elections in the 2000’s

Answer 21

• 2003 : Iraq war was seen as controversial but when the BBC reported on the dodgy dossier to sex up the issues it become a full blown scandal + lead to Blair been seen as a liar and puppet of the USA
• 2009 : Expenses scandal the Daily Telegraph published details of expenses resulting in high levels of scrutiny and forced many to resign

Question 22

Examples of press influence between elections in the 2010’s :

Answer 22

• ‘Enemies of the people’ : 2016, the Daily mail published a headline claiming 3 high court judges were enemies of the people + it was widely condemned as it enflamed divisions over the issue of Brexit
• Political participation since 2016 has been largely through social media platforms

Question 23

What are public opinion polls ?

Answer 23

• Polls carried out by research organisations using a sample of typical voters
• Mainly used to establish voting intentions but also issues of importance and leader’s popularity

Question 24

When were opinion polls first used ?

Answer 24

• UK : Gallup : predicted a Labour win in 1945 and they were right and they have been used ever since to gauge political opinions

Question 25

When were opinion polls inaccurate ?

Answer 25

• 2014 : Scottish Independence referendum
• 2015/17 general elections
• 2016 EU referendum

Question 26

Should the publication of opinion polls be banned in the run-up to elections ? (For banning)

Answer 26

• Opinion polls may influence the way people vote
• Have proved to be inaccurate
• Politicians should not be captive to changing public opinion as expressed in the Polls

Question 27

Should the publication of opinion polls be banned in the run-up to elections ? (Against banning)

Answer 27

• It would infringe the principle of freedom of expression
• If Publication of opinion polls is banned, they will become available privately for organisations that can afford to pay for them
• Opinion polls give valuable info about people’s attitudes which can guide politicians
• Polls would still be published abroad and people could access them through the internet

Question 28

Evidence of that polling effects voting

Answer 28

• 2015 General election
• Most opinion polls suggested a dead heat between Labour and Conservative
• Suggested SNP would balance the power (coalition with Lab)
• The Tories then started to campaign to win an outright victory
• Possibly : Late surge to avoid a hung Parliament + the Lib Dems suffered a loss of vote so possibly some voted tactically and defected