Online book launch: Charting the evolution of political communication over the last four decades

The eleventh instalment of the long-running Political Communications book series, co-authored by Loughborough’s Professor Dominic Wring, will be launched online on December 13.

Published by Palgrave, Political Communication in Britain: Campaigning, media and polling in the 2019 General Election provides a unique collection of eyewitness accounts from the people who were there at the time, including politicians, pollsters, journalists and commentators.

The launch event, which coincides with the second anniversary of the 2019 British General Election, will feature Sir John Curtice, one of the country’s foremost election experts, journalist Sonia Deleselle-Stolper, veteran of six British elections, and Isla Glaister, Assistant Editor at Sky News, who spent much of the 2019 election on a tour of the ‘red wall’ marginal constituencies.

Speaking about his latest book Professor Wring said: "When Boris Johnson took a calculated risk by pressing for the General Election having only become Prime Minister a few months before, he would make ‘Getting Brexit Done’ his mission and core campaign slogan. Regardless of the merits of the policy, it was one that was readily understandable to a public now conversant with this issue. This book explores this critical aspect of the election and how rival parties tried to counter the Conservatives’ strategic narrative, how the media reported on another dramatic campaign, and how the pollsters tracked and sought to understand the reasons behind Johnson’s emphatic victory."

Academics from the University’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture have conducted news audits for every General Election since 1992.

Their reports provide real-time commentary about election coverage and systematic measurements of which politicians and parties receive the most coverage, the proportion of negative and positive coverage of candidates and parties, which issues receive greatest prominence and the amount of coverage given to the election. The 2019 General Election reports can be viewed here.

The online event takes place on Monday December 13 from 1 – 2pm. Click here to register your place.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: PR 21/253

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