Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Conservative media coverage is far more concentrated around Boris Johnson than Labour coverage is around Jeremy Corbyn. Photo credit: Nicolas Economou/Getty Images

What about the environment?

  • The environment has barely featured in election media coverage, securing just two percent of all coded news themes in week three of the campaign
  • The two main political parties continue to dominate election news reporting across press and TV
  • Female candidates/campaigners have accounted for less than 1 in 5 of all politician appearances in the 2019 campaign so far

Despite worldwide protests about climate change, the environment has barely featured in election media coverage, securing just two percent of all coded news themes in week three of the campaign.

Coverage around health/healthcare provision also dropped this week, with the electoral process, brexit – although coverage of this has continued to dwindle, reducing from 12.7 percent in week two to 11 percent this week – and standards/corruption/scandals/sleaze securing the most attention.

The latter can be attributed to accusations concerning anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.

These findings feature in the third of four reports by Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC) analysing media coverage of the General Election.

This week’s audit also shows that the two main political parties continue to dominate election news reporting across press and TV. In press coverage, the Conservatives and Labour account for 82 percent of all politician appearances. This falls to 65 percent in TV news.

Conservative party coverage is more ‘presidential’ than Labour’s in both TV and newspapers. Boris Johnson accounts for 56 percent of all Conservative appearances in TV news and 39 percent in the press. In comparison, Jeremy Corbyn accounts for 43 percent of all Labour appearances in TV and 33 percent in the press.

Women continue to be marginalised in election coverage. Female candidates/campaigners have accounted for less than 1 in 5 of all politician appearances in the 2019 campaign so far. This presence is half of the levels achieved in the 2017 General Election.

The sharp reduction between 2017 and 2019 is explained entirely by the replacement of Theresa May as Prime Minister by Boris Johnson in the interim period. In 2017, Theresa May accounted for 18.6 percent of all politician appearances across the campaign.

Speaking about this aspect, co-author Professor David Deacon said: “This demonstrates an important effect of the dominance of party leaders and their senior colleagues and the marginalisation of the smaller parties in election news reporting.

“Improved gender equality in the composition of cabinets and shadow cabinets and increases in the number of female candidates standing for election have little impact when coverage is so strongly ‘presidentialised’.”

Results in the report are derived from detailed content analysis of news coverage of the General Election, compiled by experts in the CRCC. The research team has conducted news audits for every General Election since 1992.

To view the full report visit the University’s dedicated General Election website and for updates follow @lboroCRCC on Twitter.

In a hurry? Listen to the Election Headlines podcast. Released every Friday, the podcast gives a summary of the team’s weekly reports.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: PR 19/209

About the podcast

The Election Headlines podcast is released every Friday along with the weekly reports from the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, Loughborough University, which focuses on UK wide television and print media reporting of the 2019 UK General Election.

Direct link: http://electionheadlines.buzzsprout.com/

Embed podcast: <script src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/720012.js?player=large" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Clips can be extracted for your own use. Please credit 'Loughborough University', where possible. 

For further video/audio support, please contact d.t.vincent@lboro.ac.uk

About Loughborough University

Loughborough University is equipped with a live in-house broadcast unit via the Globelynx network. To arrange an interview with one of our experts please contact the press office on 01509 223491. Bookings can be made online via www.globelynx.com

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2019 QS World University Rankings, University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2019 and top in the country for its student experience in the 2018 THE Student Experience Survey.

Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 4th in the Guardian University League Table 2020, 5th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019 and 8th in The UK Complete University Guide 2020.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

 

Loughborough staff, students and alumni make a real difference. They challenge convention, think creatively and find solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing society today and in the future.

Meet the #LboroGameChangers at lboro.ac.uk/lborogamechangers

Categories