UK Election Analysis 2017: Media, Voters and the Campaign Early Reflections from Leading Academics
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UK Election Analysis 2017: Media, Voters and the Campaign Early reflections from leading academics Edited by: Einar Thorsen, Daniel Jackson, Darren Lilleker Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community (Bournemouth University) https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/journalism-culture-and-community/ Centre for Politics and Media Research (Bournemouth University) https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/politics-and-media-group/ Political Studies Association https://psa.ac.uk For an electronic version with hyperlinked references please go to: http://ElectionAnalysis.UK For a printed copy of this report, please contact: Dr Einar Thorsen T: 01202 968838 E: [email protected] June 2017 978-1-910042-14-4 UK Election Analysis 2017: Media, Voters and the Campaign [eBook-PDF] 978-1-910042-15-1 UK Election Analysis 2017: Media, Voters and the Campaign [Print / softcover] Design & Layout: Mirva Villa BIC Classification: GTC/JFD/KNT/JPHF/JPL/JPVK/JPVL Published by: The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community Bournemouth University Poole, England BH12 5BB Printed in Great Britain by: Dorset Digital Print Ltd, 16 Glenmore Business Park, Blackhill Road Holton Heath, Poole Acknowledgements “Well that’s a relief, we won’t have to another one of those for a while”, we thought, having just published the US Election Analysis 2016 shortly after the EU Referendum Analysis 2016, only a year after the UK Election Analysis 2015. Barring any second EU or Scottish inde- pendence referendum, the Fixed Term Parliament Act meant we had a four-year breather. Theresa May obviously had other plans, and called a snap election for June 2017! The surprise announcement came in late April, giving us the shortest lead-in to any of these reports we have produced. This presented a resource and logistical challenge for producing a report of this nature, but more importantly also pushed our contributors at one of the busiest times of the academic year. The ambition and concept of these reports rests on our ability to deliver a rapid publication, which is only possible thanks to all our authors who share in this vision and worked round the clock to deliver their early analysis of the UK General Election 2017. On behalf of the editorial team we would like to recognise the financial and moral support of the Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community, and the Centre for Politics and Media Research at Bournemouth University, and our great colleagues and student community. We are also very grateful to the Political Studies Association for their ongoing support of these reports, and of the fantastic network of PSA scholars who contribute. We owe a special debt of gratitude to our outstanding Research Assistant Mirva Villa who also helped produce the US Election Analysis 2016, and still agreed to join another project – despite the incredible demands we place upon her in a very short period of time. Knowing we could rely on you yet again was crucial! Finally, a special thanks to our friends and family, in particular: Liz, Bec and Teresa. Contents Introduction 8 Einar Thorsen, Dan Jackson, Darren Lilleker Context 1. Looking on the bright side for a change 11 Jay Blumler 2. The performance of the electoral system 12 Alan Renwick 3. Fixed-term parliaments and the electoral cycle 14 Richard Parry 1 4. Institutions and nation building: there is such a thing as society 15 Matthew Johnson 5. Global questions, parochial answers 16 Roman Gerodimos 6. The future of illusions 17 Barry Richards Voters, Polls and Results 7. A glorious defeat: anti-politics and the funnelling of frustration 19 Matthew Flinders 8. Younger voters politically energised, but the generational divide deepens 20 James Sloam 9. Why the younger generation of Corbynistas? 22 Pippa Norris 2 10. Young people and propaganda in the wake of the 2017 election 24 Shakuntala Banaji 11. The generation election: youth electoral mobilisation at the 2017 General Election 25 Matt Henn and James Hart 12. The 2017 General Election: How Votes were split between “open and closed” 26 Jonathan Wheatley 13. Cartographic perspectives of the general election 28 Benjamin D. Hennig 14. UKIP’s former supporters were crucial to the outcome – but not as generally expected 30 Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie 15. Why did the Lib Dems fail to benefit from the anti-Brexit vote? 31 Panos Koliastasis 16. Meeting the public: the perils and pitfalls of ‘walkabout’ questions to Theresa May in GE2017 32 Sylvia Shaw 17. Political participation in the UK: why might voters have voted? 34 Bruce Bimber, Shelley Boulianne, Karolina Koc-Michalska and Darren Lilleker 18. Moments of accidental connection with the ‘Great British Public’: because Brenda et al know best! 36 Richard Scullion 19. When democracy kicked back 37 Natalie Fenton News and Journalism 20. Conventional wisdom distorted TV news coverage of campaign 39 Stephen Cushion 21. A tale of two leaders: news media coverage of the 2017 General Election 40 David Deacon, John Downey, David Smith, James Stanyer and Dominic Wring 22. Did broadcast stage-management create a vacuum for social media? 42 Charlie Beckett 3 23. Ducking the debate 43 Stephen Coleman 24. Caught in the middle: the BBC’s impossible impartiality dilemma 44 Martin Moore and Gordon Ramsay 25. Media policy: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time 46 Jonathan Hardy 26. The use and abuse of the vox pop in the 2017 UK General Election television news coverage 47 Mark Wheeler 27. Media bias hits a wall 48 Des Freedman 28. Declining newspaper sales and the role of broadcast journalism in the 2017 general election 49 Guy Starkey 29. Newspapers’ editorial opinions: stuck between a rock and a hard place 50 Julie Firmstone 30. It’s the Sun wot lost it 52 Mick Temple 31. From Brexit to Corbyn: agenda setting, framing and the UK media - a research agenda 54 Steve Schifferes 32. Is our national press a fading dinosaur? Don’t bank on it 55 Steven Barnett 33. A mixed mailbag: letters to the editor during the electoral campaign 56 Iñaki Garcia-Blanco 34. Long live the wisdom of the phone-in crowd 57 Ivor Gaber 35. Fact-checking the election 58 Jennifer Birks 36. Should we worry about fake news? 60 Susan Banducci, Dan Stevens and Travis Coan 37. Tweets, campaign speeches and dogs at polling stations: the election on live blogs 61 Marina Dekavalla 38. Process, personalities and polls: online news coverage of the UK General Election 2017 62 Emily Harmer and Rosalynd Southern 39. Online election news can be bloody di cult (for a) woman 64 Emily Harmer 40. Not just swearing and loathing on the internet: analysing BuzzFeed and VICE during #GE2017 66 James Dennis and Susana Sampaio-Dias Parties and the Campaign 41. The battle for authenticity 69 Karin Wahl-Jorgensen 42. Was it the Labour doorstep or the Labour smartphone that swung it for Jeremy? 70 Tim Bale 43. The lectione at constituency level 71 4 Ralph Negrine 44. Over-managing the media: how it all went wrong 72 Suzanne Franks 45. Aristotle and persuasive copywriting in the 2017 General Election 73 Nigel Jackson 46. Rhetoric of the 2017 General Election campaign 74 Andrew Crines 47. When is an electoral ‘bribe’ not a bribe? 75 Chris Roberts 48. PEBs in 2017: not gone, but largely forgotten? 76 Vincent Campbell 49. ‘Strong and stable’ to ‘weak and wobbly’: Tory campaign, media reaction and GE2017 78 Dr Anthony Ridge- Newman 50. The reensG and the “progressive alliance” 79 Jenny Alexander 51. It’s the way I tell ‘em: car crash politics and the gendered turn 80 Karen Ross 52. Dogwhistle sexism 81 Heather Savigny 53. The Women’s Equality Party and the 2017 General Election 82 Elizabeth Evans and Meryl Kenny 54. The resurrection of ethical foreign policy 84 Victoria Honeyman 55. Why immigration faded from view in election 2017 85 Thomas Brooks 56. Invisible enemies, wars without winners: when ‘khaki elections’ fail 86 James Morrison 57. The sobering reality of backdoors: cybersecurity and surveillance circumvention during GE2017 87 Einar Thorsen The Digital Campaign 58. Corbyn, Labour, digital media, and the 2017 UK election 89 Andrew Chadwick 59. Was it ‘AI wot won it’? Hyper-targeting and pro ling emotions online 90 Vian Bakir and Andrew McStay 60. Sharing is caring: Labour supporters use of social media #GE2017 91 Anamaria Dutceac Segesten and Michael Bossetta 5 61. Labour’s social media campaign: more posts, more video, and more interaction 92 Richard Fletcher 62. Like me, share me: the people’s social media campaign 94 Darren Lilleker 63. The alternate and influential world of the political parties’ Facebook feeds 96 Matt Walsh 64. Social media and the Corbyn breakthrough 98 Mark Shephard 65. The UK digisphere and the 2017 election 99 Aljosha Karim Schapals 66. From voices to votes: how young people used social media to in uence the General Election 100 Vyacheslav Polonski 67. All LOLs and trolls 102 Alec Charles The Nations 68. Nasty, British and Short: an emotional election 105 Russell Foster 69. Scotland in the 2017 UK General Election 106 Michael Higgins 70. The General Election did little to solve Wales’ ‘democratic deficit’ 107 6 Morgan Jones 71. GE2017 in Northern Ireland: total eclipse of the moderates 108 Neil Matthews 72. Twitter, dual screening and the BBC Northern Ireland Leaders’ debate 110 Paul Reilly Brexit and European Perspectives 73. Brexit without Brexitland 113 Chris Gifford 74. Why the General Election will make little difference to the Article 50 negotiations 114 Simon Usherwood 75. Totem, taboo and trigger word: the dominance and obscurity of Brexit in the campaigns 115 7 Charlotte O'Brien 76.