Voting behaviour and the media

Question 1

name three ways of which the media can be presented?

Answer 1

social media, the print and broadcasting

Question 2

List one way in which the media has influenced voting

Answer 2

the print / newspaper

• links to the rational choice model
• the sun, one of Britain’s most influential newspaper, claimed that ‘the labour party had lost it’
• supporting evidence suggested the strong influence of the media through this claim as 13.5% of voters steered to the conservative party after this statement
• however, research also found that before this article was published, 12.5% of labour voters joined the conservative party which suggests that personal opinion is a large determining factor of voting behaviour

Question 3

List another way in which the media has influenced voting behaviour

Answer 3

Television
television is the main source of political news for most voters.
it is required by law from section five : due impartiality and due accuracy of the ofcom broadcasting code states that by law all broadcasting news channels must remain neutral when reporting on political news.
For example, the first 2015 debate attracted an audience of 7 million voters. The leaders of the 7 biggest parties in England, Scotland and Wales.
The youGav poll found that 28% of voters found Nicola sturgeon to be the winner of their vote followed by NIgel Farage with 20% , Cameron 18% and Miliband 15%
Sturgeon’s success was notable with the most searched question of the night ‘can I vote for the SNP?’

Question 4

List another way in which the media has influenced voting behaviour

Answer 4

Social media
most people access the internet through their phones
traditional television and newspaper media organisations such as the BBC, the Times and the daily mail now provide news apps and websites
political parties and leaders such as Boris Johnson, are now engaged in other social media platforms such as twitter and etc

Question 5

Lasly, elaborate on voting behaviour in relation to newspapers

Answer 5

newspapers and internet websites are under no such obligation
most newspapers apart from the guardian, the mirror and others support the conservatives
this means that most newspaper readers even if they have bought a newspaper for non-political purposes may have their views shaped unknowingly
for example, Ed Milliband’s father was attacked and portrayed as the ‘enemy of Britain’ with the former labour leader himself referred to as ‘red ed’ negatively portraying him to be apart of the right-wing press. His personal presentation was also criticised