DCU analysis into coverage of the 2011 General Election reveals how media treated the campaign

Media scrum during the 2011 General Election

DCU academics have conducted research into how newspapers and broadcast media covered the 2011 General Election. Their research reveals how the those media treated policy issues in the campaign, verus treating the election itself as a "game". They've been very kind to provide a presentation to Politics.ie, which you can read below the fold.

The presentation was made by DCU academics Kevin Rafter, Iain Mcmenamin, Roddy Flynn and Eoin O'Malley last night at a briefing in Dublin following on from an article by Rafter in yesterday's Irish Times.

The research covers 1,400 articles and just 46 hours of broadcasting during the campaign, it might be interesting to note that among the broadcasts not included is Vincent Brown's programme on TV3. The academics explained last night that they have been somewhat constrained into how much they could cover given the resources that they have available.

What the research does reveal is however is still striking, it analyses the proportion of coverage that newspapers (in particular) gave to the general election last year, and analysis that coverage based on the subject. The biggest coverage was actually given to the game/horserace itself, which would include coverage of opinion polls and the tooing and frooing of the campaing. The economy was an very close second.

The research also looks into how the newspapers framed the campaign in terms of it being more a game or being more about policy. The Irish Sun ranks highest here for covering the campaign from a policy perspective, The Irish Times and Sunday Times appear to be a close joint-second. The Sunday World, News of the World and Sunday Independent covered the election as more of a game.

In terms of broadcast coverage, the most interesting aspect was how the different radio and television programmes treated the campaign. TodayFM's Last Word ranks highest for covering it from a policy perspective, whilst Newstalk, also owned by Communicorp, treated it most like a game. Evening radio in general appears to have been the best place to get coverage of the policy elements of the campaign, and the Sunday tabloids was the place to go for coverage of the game.

The DCU academics have been very kind to allow Politics.ie reproduce their presentation, and Rafter's piece in yesterday's Irish Times is well worth a read to accompany the below presentation slides.

Mediating the 2011 general election: Preliminary results from an analysis of newspaper and broadcast campai...

Categories:
Elections,
Media

13 Comments

Hooch - 28th June 2012, 02:00 PM
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Their findings about Newstalk aren't really a surprise, the station has always been dominated by self-absorbed blowhards who treat their timeslots like their own political broadcast rather than providing objective analysis of current affairs.

Regarding the policy coverage I found it to be pretty poor as regards everything but the economy, there was very little analysis of education, social welfare, environment etc. in the papers I read.

Big Brother - 28th June 2012, 02:08 PM
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This is a good post Dave.

You might consider changing title though to something like "Is "process beats policy" mindset wrecking politics?

Or some such.

David Cochrane - 28th June 2012, 02:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Big Brother

This is a good post Dave.

You might consider changing title though to something like "Is "process beats policy" mindset wrecking politics?

Or some such.

I suppose the argument there is that policy should trump the game itself. Dr. Rafter pointed out during the briefing last night that people do actually learn about the political process by reading coverage that would be classified more as game.

It's not for me to decide which wins over which. That (as always!) is up to you folks!

brughahaha - 28th June 2012, 02:26 PM
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Further breakdown on the policy side would be very interesting , in terms of media repeating/reporting policy Versus analysing policy.

rant_and_rave - 28th June 2012, 03:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Hooch

Their findings about Newstalk aren't really a surprise, the station has always been dominated by self-absorbed blowhards who treat their timeslots like their own political broadcast rather than providing objective analysis of current affairs.

Regarding the policy coverage I found it to be pretty poor as regards everything but the economy, there was very little analysis of education, social welfare, environment etc. in the papers I read.

Is this a misprint?

"The Irish Sun ranks highest here for covering the campaign from a policy perspective, The Irish Times and Sunday Times appear to be a close joint-second. The Sunday World, News of the World and Sunday Independent covered the election as more of a game."

Did the Sun really provide more incisive coverage than the Times?

ibis - 28th June 2012, 03:06 PM
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Originally Posted by rant_and_rave

Is this a misprint?

"The Irish Sun ranks highest here for covering the campaign from a policy perspective, The Irish Times and Sunday Times appear to be a close joint-second. The Sunday World, News of the World and Sunday Independent covered the election as more of a game."

Did the Sun really provide more incisive coverage than the Times?

It's not claiming more incisive coverage, and the amount of coverage the Sun gave the election was lower than that of the Irish Times (second lowest overall, in fact) - but what coverage the Sun did have focused on policy rather than the political 'race to the Dáil'.

Hooch - 28th June 2012, 03:08 PM
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Originally Posted by rant_and_rave

Is this a misprint?

"The Irish Sun ranks highest here for covering the campaign from a policy perspective, The Irish Times and Sunday Times appear to be a close joint-second. The Sunday World, News of the World and Sunday Independent covered the election as more of a game."

Did the Sun really provide more incisive coverage than the Times?

The IT's policy analysis was pathetic, it basically amounted to stating each party's position on a particular issue and laying it out in tabulated form. On the other hand they devoted a huge amount of coverage to the canvassing being done by the various notable members of each party.

cyberianpan - 28th June 2012, 06:55 PM
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The Irish Times should have been better, but under the political leadership of Stephen "Comical Ali" Collins : little could be expected. All that will come from him is approval of cynical tactics and a frenzied attempt to brown nose himself with whomever he perceives to be "Establishment". The IT needs a more neutral politics editor, one interested in ideas and the prospect of change.

RBinge - 28th June 2012, 09:53 PM
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Originally Posted by cyberianpan

The Irish Times should have been better, but under the political leadership of Stephen "Comical Ali" Collins : little could be expected. All that will come from him is approval of cynical tactics and a frenzied attempt to brown nose himself with whomever he perceives to be "Establishment". The IT needs a more neutral politics editor, one interested in ideas and the prospect of change.

Perhaps Vincenzo's article on Rousseau put him in the running in your view?

TheBear - 28th June 2012, 09:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Hooch

Their findings about Newstalk aren't really a surprise, the station has always been dominated by self-absorbed blowhards who treat their timeslots like their own political broadcast rather than providing objective analysis of current affairs.

Regarding the policy coverage I found it to be pretty poor as regards everything but the economy, there was very little analysis of education, social welfare, environment etc. in the papers I read.

It's not all Newstalk coverage which was seen as being like that, just the actual news programme. Presumably that amounted to "Kenny was in town X today, Martin was in town Y." The Last Word, one of Newstalk's flagship programmes, had the highest ranking in terms of policy discussion.

neiphin - 28th June 2012, 09:59 PM
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Originally Posted by TheBear

It's not all Newstalk coverage which was seen as being like that, just the actual news programme. Presumably that amounted to "Kenny was in town X today, Martin was in town Y." The Last Word, one of Newstalk's flagship programmes, had the highest ranking in terms of policy discussion.

last word is todayfm
newstalk with hook is awfull terrible crap

David Cochrane - 29th June 2012, 01:04 AM
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Originally Posted by TheBear

It's not all Newstalk coverage which was seen as being like that, just the actual news programme. Presumably that amounted to "Kenny was in town X today, Martin was in town Y." The Last Word, one of Newstalk's flagship programmes, had the highest ranking in terms of policy discussion.

You mean TodayFM, which is also a Communicorp station.

TheBear - 30th June 2012, 11:53 AM
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Originally Posted by David Cochrane

You mean TodayFM, which is also a Communicorp station.

My mistake; I thought Matt Cooper was on Newstalk.