Media

Question 1

Identify 3 occasions when the print media have affected politics in the UK

Answer 1

Ed Miliband and his bacon sandwich 2015
Telegraph investigation into MP’s expenses
Sun’s support for conservatives in 1992 ‘it’s the sun wot won it”
Sun’s support for labour in 1997
Time’s investigation into partygate 2022
Media reporting on windrush scandal 2018

Question 2

Identify 3 occasions when TV has affected politics in the UK

Answer 2

May dancing onto the stage at party conference 2018
Britain’s first televised party leaders election debates in 2010 “i agree with Nick”
2015 leader debate ed milliband fell off the stage.
Milliband gave over excited “hell yes, I’m tough enough” in answer to a question when interviewed on paxman
Effect on politicians of their portrayal in satires eg grey john major with his shirt tucked into his pants or David steel in David owens pocket on spitting image

Question 3

3 occasions when the internet media have affected politics in the UK

Answer 3

Ed Miliband on Russel Brand’s YT channel (positive)
Millifandom social media campaign celebrating Ed Milliband (positive)
Viral campaign associated with Miller court case (she was pro remain and challenged the result of the referendum) (mostly positive)
Jeremy Corbyn 2017 eg hashtag for the many

Question 4

Explain the role of the media in 1997

Answer 4

Rupert Murdoch media empire usually centre right leaning. Sun more right wing but read by lower income groups. Sun switched support to Blair. Partly because members of Blairs team had discussed their relaxed attitude both businesses and people becoming wealthy (so not going to go full tax crazy socialist) but also a reaction to conservative sleaze and the weakness of john major (as seen in political satire Spitting Image)
Tony Blair in particular v televisual

Question 5

What role did the media play in the 1992 election

Answer 5

Sun’s front page on Election Day showed Neil Kinnock’s face in a lightbulb with headline “will the last person to leave Britain if kinnock becomes PM please turn out the lights
Key contributor in Kinnocks loss “it was the sun wot won it”
Also kinnock’s entrance to a rally at Sheffield that was over the top and made people dislike him
Opposite was John Major standing alone on a soapbox trying to convince electorate
Also kinnock fell over in the sea which was caught on video

Question 6

What role did the media play in the 2017 election

Answer 6

Print media losing influence over voters
Most newspapers did not support Labour Party and were particularly anti corbyn
Sun’s front page on Election Day was of Corbyn in a bin (Cor-Bin)
Drew parallels with 1992 election front page which had Kinnocks head in a lightbulb
But 1992 v limited effect as labour polled 40% of vote an increase of 10% since 2015
Social media - including memes and gifs v important in getting out the vote and attracting young voters - “ooooh Jeremy corbyn” chant at rallys and Glastonbury (which was front page news)
On polling day labour spent a lot of money promoting #forthemany on twitter to rally the vote

Question 7

Explain how the role of the media has changed in the last 30 years

Answer 7

Decline in importance of print media
TV debates of greater interest
Rise of the leadership role
Development of social media to keep people engaged
Use of social media to get out the vote #forthemany in 2017
Labour seen as much better at social media than tories who mostly use it to run attack ads

Question 8

How do the public get most of their information about party policies

Answer 8

From the media

V few read leaflets let alone manifestos

Question 9

How many people watched the first election leaders debate and when was it

Answer 9

2010

10 million

Question 10

What % of young people cite social media as their main news source
What % cite TV

Answer 10

28% for social media

TV is 24%

Question 11

What are the main rules of political broadcasting on TV & radio during elections and who monitors them

Answer 11

Ofcom
Coverage of parties must be fair and appropriate
Call discussion and analysis of issues must end when poll opens
Broadcasters must wait til polls close before they publish results of opinion polls
A list of all candidates must be included in any constituency discussions

Question 12

Do ofcom rules re election broadcasting apply to all media

Answer 12

Do not apply to newspapers or social media

Question 13

Identify media influence in 1979 election

Answer 13

The sun issued the headline “Crisis what crisis” as a quote from labour pm about the winter of discontent
It was untrue but caught the imagination of public

Question 14

Give some examples of when media is thought to have influenced election but possibly did not

Answer 14

1997 - sun switching - labour were on course to win so press simply reacted to existing situation to be on the winning side
2010 - debates - Lib Dems only increased vote by 1% nationally so impact of debate limited
2015 - leader debate - debate didn’t change minds merely confirmed what people though ie Cameron more prime ministerial than Milliband
2019 - conservatives had 2500 facebook ads to labours 300 but Lib Dems had 3000 and they lost seats!

Question 15

What was the traditional role of the media re politics between elections

Answer 15

Report events as they happened and leave public to make up their own minds
Act as forum for public debate and discussion acting as a bridge between electorate and their representatives

Question 16

What are key changes to how media behaves between elections now

Answer 16

Tabloid press increasingly partisan
More focused on scandal and mocking politicians it opposes (john major, ed milliband, Jacob Rees Mogg)
Prioritises negative political stories leading to increase cynicism
focused on personalities and leaders has turned politicians into celebrities rather than seeing if they can do a good job
24 hour news since 1990’s led to media outlets creating stories to fill time
Rise of online platforms led to increasingly partisan and uninformed debate with opinions often stated as fact
More traditional media outlets have lost control of the agenda following online trends
Rapid growth of social media has helped spread political education but often at a more superficial and less engaged level than traditional forms of media - can also lead to echo chamber

Question 17

What is an echo chamber

Answer 17

People only seeking out media sources whose views correspond with their own

Question 18

What are the reasons for the changes we have seen to how the media reports between elections

Answer 18

Mostly down to commercial development of the media
Less loyalty to papers and massive increase in TV competition
Advent of social media
Media is now more commercially minded focusing on “catastrophes” and “scandals” and “enemies” as these drive increases in readership etc

Question 19

Why might the changes in media reporting not just be media’s fault

Answer 19

Media tends to respond to public opinions and moods
Tends to reflect public attitudes rather than shape them
Would the press focus on politicians as celebrities if we didn’t want to read about them

Question 20

Give some examples of how media have influenced politics between elections

Answer 20

1992 Tory sleaze.
2003 War in Iraq.
2009 expenses scandal
2016 Enemies of the people

Question 21

What was Tory sleaze 1992-1997

Answer 21

Press investigated and reported on a number of scandals.
Cash for questions
Numerous affairs despite govt campaign “back to basics” about family values

Question 22

Why did press use war in iraq to challenge govt between elections

Answer 22

2003 and reasons for war were controversial
BBC discovered case had been “sexed” up into the “dodgy dossier”
Issues became a full blown scandal leading to death of David Kelly (Weapons inspector)
Led to Blair being seen as a puppet of US govt

Question 23

What was the expenses scandal

Answer 23

2009
Telegraph published details of expenses claimed by mp’s many being wrong or inappropriate
Eg Duck house, incorrect rent payments
Many forced to resign and all mps subject to more scrutiny as a result

Question 24

What was meant by Daily Mail headline “enemies of the people”

Answer 24

Nov 2016
claim that 3 high court judges were enemies of the people for ruling that parliament not the PM should trigger article 50

Question 25

By how much did youth turnout increase in 2017

Answer 25

From 43 to 58% in labour’s favour

Question 26

How many live ads did conservatives have in 2019 v labour

Answer 26

10 times as many

2500 to labour’s 250

Question 27

In 2015 opinion polls overestimated labour vote what did this lead to

Answer 27

Polls suggested a hung parliament
Conservatives campaigned on this basis - saying that if labour got in and governed with support of SNP then the UK would effectively be run from Scotland

Question 28

Give examples of when the media did not influence elections

Answer 28

Despite Nick Clegg’s performance

Question 29

What front page appeared day after 1992 election

Answer 29

It’s the sun wot won it

Question 30

How can media use of opinion polls damage parties

Answer 30

Might over/under estimate popularity
Eg in 2015 papers were saying there would be a hung parliament which meant that labour supporters were more relaxed about voting as assumed SNP would help them govern . These polls also mobilised Tory voters who did not want to be “governed by SNP”

Question 31

Give 2 examples of when media thought they had influence by didn’t

Answer 31

Nick Clegg won leaders debate in 2010 (i agree with nick) but Lib Dems still lost 5 seats from 2005 election
Opinion polls suggested Milliband had won debates in 2015 with Cameron not even attending but he lost
2012 Murdoch admitted that the press simply reflects the public mood rather than impacting their decision
2017 Corbyn had only one paper supporting him yet polled 40% of vote
2019 Lib Dems had over 3000 live facebook ads but still lost a seat!