Voting Behaviour
Impact of the Media
Newspapers
Television
Internet
Newspapers
Why are newspapers important?
 Circulation




The Sun – 3 million
Daily Mail – 2.1 million
Daily Record – 323,000
Daily Mail – 2.1 million
 They are not impartial! They are
privately owned and tend to reflect
the views of the owners.
How influential is The Sun?
 They supported the Tories in 1992 and they won despite
Labour being favourites – ‘It’s The Sun Wot Won It’.
 They moved back to Labour in 1997 and they won,
maintaining power for 13 years.
 However, they backed the Tories in 2009 – ‘Labour’s Lost
It’. We know what happened there.
 Is The Sun really that influential or do they simply know
when the time is right to switch allegiance? Do they
influence voters or do they take into account the views
of their readership and adapt?
 The quality broadsheets tend to be more balanced a they
will lose credibility with their readership if they are too
biased. Their readership tends to be more educated.
Rupert Murdoch
 Founder of News
Corporation
 World’s 3rd biggest
media organisation
 They own The Sun,
BSkyB and many,
many others!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation
Newspaper Readership & Social
Class
 The Telegraph – 5% of the readership is from
Social Class DE
 The Sun – 32% of the readership are from
Social Class DE
 12% of the readership are from Social Class AB
Voting by Newspaper
Readership
http://www.ipsosmori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=
2476&view=wide
Daily Mirror
 The turnout for Daily Mirror
readership was 68%.
 16% voted Tory
 59% voted Labour
Daily Telegraph
 The turnout for Daily Telegraph
readership was 81%.
 70% voted Tory
 7% voted Labour
So, what about The Sun?
 The turnout for readers of the Sun
was 57%.
 43% voted Tory
 28% voted Labour
How important is Television
in an election?
Leadership Debates
Party Political Broadcasts
 The average person in the UK
watches 22.5 hours of TV each week,
therefore it’s a platform for political
parties to reach the electorate.
 51% of adults consider television to
be their main source of political
information.
Watch the clip on the
following screen
Television, unlike newspapers, must be balanced
and impartial giving equal access and coverage to
each of the political parties
It can work against them too…
However,
 Approximately, 67% of people surveyed felt that TV
broadcasts had little impact on their decision.
 29% said it was not at all important.
 This is despite it being the most expensive form of
advertising used by political parties.
 In twenty years time, will we still be watching Party
Political Broadcasts as we currently know them?
Leadership Debates
Did the debates make a
difference?
The Internet
Facebook
Twitter
2010: The Internet Election
What impact did Social Media have?
 It was predicted that the Internet
would have a significant impact on
the outcome of the 2010 Election.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2010/05/so_
was_it_an_internet_election.html
 Did it?
So how did they use the internet?
 Official Website
 Stealth Sites (Lib Dems set one up a
false Party known as ‘Labservative’.
 Email – regular updates from key
Party members.
 Online Fundraising – Lib Dems
reportedly raised £500,000.
 Strategies to direct web traffic –
Tories at one point had a video linked
to a search for Gordon Brown on
youtube.
 www.mydavidcameron.com
 Facebook, Twitter and blogging
Tasks
1.
Read Textbook Pages 113-116.
2.
Complete the tasks on Page 114 and 116.
Newspapers
1.
Why might newspapers be able to influence voting behaviour
in the UK?
2.
In what way does political coverage by tabloids and
broadsheets differ?
3.
How could ‘The Sun’ claim to have had an impact on voting
behaviour?
4.
Make a note of newspapers that tend to maintain party
support and those who fluctuate.
5.
What evidence is there to suggest a link between social class
and newspaper?
6.
Explain the relationship between social class, newspapers and
turnout.

1.
2.
3.

1.
2.
3.
Television
What do you think political parties see television as a useful
tool in an election campaign?
Television can have a hugely positive impact on voting
behaviour for political parties. Provide arguments for and
against this view.
Summarise the influence of the Leadership Debates.
Internet
In what way did political parties utilise the internet?
Read the blog on Slide 25.
Summarise the impact of the internet on the 2010 General
Election. Was it the Internet Election that people predicted?
Why?