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Media and the British General Elections of 2015-2019

Edited by Susan Banducci, Laszlo Horvath, Ekaterina Kolpinskaya and Daniel Stevens

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Published 31 January 2027

About this book

Examines media effects in the British General Elections of 2015-2019
  • First book-length study of media effects in contemporary British politics in 25 years
  • Shows how to link media data and other data sources such as the British Election Study, and how to analyse such data in a rigorous manner
  • Uses the British Election Longitudinal News Study data on media coverage of the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections, often linked to British Election Study data, to assess a wide range of media effects, showing the versatility of such data
  • Chapters focus on media effects ranging from media’s effects on each other—intermedia agenda-setting—to media’s effects on perceptions of problems and perceptions of leaders, to how the media covered women and ethnic minority candidates in these elections and the impact of such coverage
This book brings together cutting-edge research on media in British elections. Chapters from a range of authors link extensive content analysis data from traditional and online media with survey data on political attitudes and behaviour in the three general elections between 2015 and 2019. The book examines a wide variety of topics that go well beyond the typical subjects of media effects research, including priming, intermedia agenda-setting, and media coverage of women and ethnic minority candidates and its impact. It provides the first comprehensive survey of media effects in contemporary British politics in 25 years. Many of the findings suggest more robust media effects in British elections than the conventional wisdom has allowed, and urge deeper engagement from scholars and practitioners with this strand of election analysis.

Reviews

‘What is the impact of both the legacy and digital media on citizens in election campaigns? Political communications are often widely assumed to play a decisive role on voters’ knowledge, choice,’ and participation, especially in close contests. Yet, previous research has often documented fairly modest media effects. This book takes a fresh look at this debate by analysing new evidence from recent British elections to address these classic questions. It is essential reading for scholars of political communications, elections and voting behaviour.’
Table of contents

Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Tables and Figures
List of Contributors

Introduction: Media Effects in British Electoral Politics
Daniel Stevens, Susan Banducci, Laszlo Horvath and Ekaterina Kolpinskaya

1. The 2015-19 British General Elections in Broadcast and Print News: Topics, Actors and Sentiment
Laszlo Horvath and Ekaterina Kolpinskaya

2. Intermedia Agenda-setting in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 General Elections
Daniel Stevens, Susan Banducci, Laszlo Horvath and Ekaterina Kolpinskaya

3. Flows of Information in Election Campaigns: Who Influences Whom?
Charlotte James, Susan Banducci and Iulia Cioroianu

4. Ageing and Agenda-setting in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 General Elections
Daniel Stevens, Shukru Esmene, Catherine Leyshon and Michael Leyshon

5. Media Partisanship, Issue Coverage and Individuals’ Perceptions of Issue Stance Importance
Daniel Ziebarth

6. Chucking Britain into the Cor-bin?: Newspapers and Perceptions of Party Leaders in the 2017 and 2019 General Elections
Daniel Stevens

7. Candidate Experience and the ‘Gender Penalty’ in the 2019 General Election
Kiran Arabaghatta Basavaraj, Patrick English and Susan Banducci

8. How does Media Exposure to Candidates with Shared Gender and Ethnicity Impact Individuals’ Political Engagement?
Amanda Haraldsson

9. Constituency Competitiveness and Candidate Coverage: Exploring the Gendered Sentiment of News Media during Recent British General Elections
Hannah Bunting and Laszlo Horvath

Concluding Thoughts: Emerging Trends in Political Communication and Electoral Politics in Britain
Daniel Stevens, Susan Banducci, Laszlo Horvath and Ekaterina Kolpinskaya

About the contributors

Susan Banducci

Susan Banducci is Professor of Political Science at the University of Birmingham

Laszlo Horvath

Laszlo Horvath is Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London and Deputy Director of the Birkbeck Centre for British Political Life

Ekaterina Kolpinskaya

Ekaterina Kolpinskaya is Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, Cornwall

Daniel Stevens

Daniel Stevens is Professor of Politics at the University of Exeter, Cornwall