1. Political Parties and Elections
Modern Media Strategies

2. Success Criteria – I can…
What you will learn…
Success Criteria – I can…
Describe different methods used by political parties during election campaigns.
Explain why modern media strategies are both effective and ineffective
About modern media strategies employed by political parties
How effective such methods are at helping a political party succeed in an election

3. Traditional Methods V Modern Methods of election Campaigning
While a party’s campaign will not, on its own, win an election, a badly organised campaign can certainly lose one. Parties require a good ‘air’ attack via modern methods but also require a good “ground war” making use of more traditional strategies

4. Traditional Methods V Modern Methods of election Campaigning
Traditional Strategies Include:
Canvassing
Posters
Leafleting
Newspaper campaigns
Party Political Broadcasts
Modern Strategies Include:
Use of Social Media
Phone Banks
Blogging
Websites – YouTube etc
Use of mobile technology i.e. Apps
Voter Targeting Software

5. Modern Media Strategies
As old party loyalties and affiliations based on social class have started to disappear more 'floating' voters have emerged
As more people have become 'floating' voters political parties have given more attention to influencing these voters.
It could be claimed that people's opinions on the 'short term' factors are shaped by the information they receive from a range of sources = TV, Newspapers, Radio and the Internet/Social Media.

6. When dealing with the Media and politics, it is important to remember 3 key points:
1 - INTERPRETATION
news and events are not just reported, they are interpreted.
Media organisations may view the same event in different ways from another.
People receiving the information may interpret it differently.
2 – OWNERSHIP
Media organisations are owned.
Many of the most popular UK newspapers in circulation are owned by a just a few companies. i.e. Rupert Murdoch, owns News International - which has 35% of the newspaper market in the UK! –
As well as these newspapers, Murdoch also has a controlling stake in SKY TV (and therefore Sky News)

7. 3 - POLITCAL MANIPULATION
Political parties are aware of the reach and influence of the media. Therefore media is used by politicians and political parties i.e. leaks to the press, spin, social media presence etc.
On the one hand it could be argued that the mass media simply reflect as well as reinforce political preferences that are already established.
However, it could be argued that the mass media are able to distort the flow of political information by setting the agenda for debate and transmitting information when and how they see fit, easily manipulating the voting intentions of the undecided. 

8. TV and Influence?
Television remains the most widely used form of media in the UK today.
96% of the population watch TV.
For some it is their only or main source of information.
It is estimated that the average person watches 25hrs of television a week
51% of the UK population considers TV to be their main source of political information.
By law, TV, unlike newspapers, MUST be unbiased and fairness has to be maintained.
Around 20% of all TV is dedicated to current affairs.
BBC Newsnight

9. TV and Influence? 1 - Media Advisers (Spin doctors) Sound-bites
Political parties are aware of the reach and perceived influence of the media.
The effects of advertising, shopping channels etc tell politicians that TV is a powerful vehicle to influence the mind.
Companies spend millions of pounds advertising products on TV to get people to BUY products.
Political parties adopt similar ‘strategies' to try and influence voters to choose their party:
1 - Media Advisers (Spin doctors)
Sound-bites
Appearances
Media Training
2 – Leaders’ Debates
3 – Digital Media Strategy

10. Media Advisors
Special advisers and media consultants are hired by the main political parties to try and 'manage' the image of the party and their message in the media.
They try to manipulate what is being reported by putting either a positive or negative 'spin' on information.
Hence why they will often be referred to as “Spin Doctors”.
For example, in 2010 David Cameron hired the former Editor of the Sun Newspaper Andy Coulson and made him the ‘Director of Communications’ for the Conservative Party, during the 2010 election campaign.
The Sun newspaper (the newspaper with the highest readership in the UK at the time) switched its support from Labour to Conservative for the 2010 election.

11. Continued Influence?
However - There has been a decline in the share of people voting in line with their newspapers preference, only around 51% vote the same way as their newspaper supports.
It is also true that newspapers may decide which party to support once they see how people will vote, essentially just backing the favourite, i.e. the Sun switched to supporting Con from Lab in 2010 but the Cons already had a 7-15% lead over Labour at the time!

12. Media consultants try many strategies to manage/manipulate a party’s message or leader’s image, such as:
Sound-bites - Words that stick in the mind, short, sharp, impact TV - less democratic debate and more reliance on key phrases or 'buzzwords' i.e "change" was used and repeated in EACH of the party leaders’ appearances in the leadership debates.
Party Election Broadcasts - mini-infomercials on what party stands for, strong use of imagery. Often attacking other political parties
Slogans - try to 'get message' down to a catchy phrase and the image holds the vote. “Education, Education, Education” for example was a key Slogan of the Labour 1997 campaign.
Appearances - Politicians from the main parties often make 'appearances' on various TV programmes, to give over a certain image e.g. in 2005 Tony Blair even appeared on MTV, to appeal to young voters!
Media Training – Nicola Sturgeon has had her appearance altered to make her look more appealing to the electorate.

13. Quick Questions
Q1 – What 3 key points are important to remember when dealing with the Media and politics?
Q2 – Why is TV considered incredibly important when parties are considering their media strategies?
Q3 – Evaluate the use of Media Advisers (Spin Doctors/Media Consultants) as a media strategy used by political parties during election campaigns

14. Leader’s Debates
Television remains the main source of political news for most voters. By law, it must remain neutral when reporting on political issues although accusations of bias and unfair reporting are often made by political parties of all opinions.
For the first time in the 2010 UK general election, the leaders of the main parties participated in televised debates.
Gordon Brown did not come across well, particularly in the first debate. Viewers thought he was overly aggressive and relied too much on his “experience” instead of introducing new ideas. Labour would go on to lose the election.
Leader's Clash in Debate

15. Leader’s Debates
However, the Liberal Democrats saw their share of the vote at the election increase by only 1 per cent. Their overall number of MPs fell by five.
In 2010 Nick Clegg was perceived to have ‘won’ the debates. He was perceived by the public as “honest” and offering up genuine alternatives to the old two party system.
2nd Debate 2010

16. Leader’s Debates 2015
Before the 2015 general election, David Cameron and Ed Miliband only shared a stage in one televised debate, which included 7 political parties such as SNP, UKIP and the greens – with an audience of over 7 million!
Arguably the biggest winner of the first debate was Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, she finished only 2% behind the PM in polls, which was remarkable considering a panel of 11 ordinary voters could not name who she was in the week BEFORE the debate! – the SNP also went on to have a record breaking electoral result becoming the 3rd largest party.
A Panelbase survey also found 38% of voters in 2015 claimed they were influenced by the debates – over a third of the population.
2015 Debate highlights

17. Ed Miliband failed to break through in the television election debate as the minority parties emerged as the winners of the contest.
Miliband came fourth after the audience turned on him twice over Labour’s economic failures and hypocrisy over zero-hours contracts.
The Prime Minister kept himself above the fray as he urged voters not to send the UK back to “square one” by electing Mr Miliband.
Ed Miliband mocked for election debate performance

18. Digital Media/Social Media
Digital campaigns have become increasingly significant in recent elections with parties making use of social media to raise awareness of issues and how they are going to respond to them.
Digital campaigns enable the parties to reach sections of the electorate easily by making use of social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. E.g. easier to engage with younger voters through social media than some off the more traditional methods.

19. By 2009, in preparation for the 2010 General Election, the Conservative party had put seven staff into place to run their internet strategy, alongside a design agency.
In contrast, the Labour party had only three members of staff in its new media team.
The Conservatives favoured an approach similar to that found in the private sector with a ‘top-down’ policy towards marketing.
As part of their media strategy, the Conservatives also used YouTube to try and engage with the public, as well as making use of ‘WebCameron’ to market David Cameron to the voters.
WebCameron

21. Digital Media – overplayed?
Overall parties which adopted effective Digital Media strategies benefited from increased online traffic, Conservatives (2010), SNP (2011).
Although there was a definite increase in the volume of online communications in the run up to the 2010 and 2015 general elections, the fact remains that what happens offline is vital.
It has been suggested that in some quarters the idea that the 2010 and then the 2015 General Elections were ‘digital’ has been overplayed.

22. Digital Media – increasing in importance?
However, if even more recent events have to be believed, digital media strategies are growing in importance in terms of electoral performance. In the June 2017 snap election Labour outflanked the Conservatives in the battle for votes on social media for the first time in a major election, according to digital strategists close to both camps.

23. The Conservatives were using social media to target Labour marginals rather than defend its own vulnerable seats, many of which it went on to lose.
“The Tories were advancing further into Labour territory but weren’t defending their own marginals,” said Sam Jeffers, the co-founder of Who Targets Me, which tracked more than 7,000 political Facebook adverts sent to nearly 12,000 voters.
“In the final stages we saw lots of Labour ads in Hastings and Rye [where the home secretary, Amber Rudd, almost lost her seat], but no Tory ads.”
Jeffers said that in the last 48 hours, the Conservatives’ social media video encouraging people to get out and vote was viewed less than half as many times as Labour’s.
Moreover, on polling day Labour spent considerable money promoting its hashtag #forthemany on Twitter. Twitter is considered Labour’s online stronghold and while buying the rights to promote a single hashtag can cost as much as £50,000, the expense may have been worth it to rally the younger vote, which appears to have played a significant role in Labour’s performance.
Conservative - Corbyn Ad

24. Questions
Evaluate the impact of the Leaders’ Debates as a media strategy used by political parties during election campaigns.
Evaluate a focus on Digital/Social media as a media strategy used by political parties during election campaigns.
Explain why digital media strategies could be seen as an increasingly important aspect of campaigning.