Patterns of press partisanship in the 2010 General Election

Abstract

From a communications perspective much of the commentary and analysis of the 2010 General Election focused on the possible influence of the first ever televised leaders’ debates as well as the burgeoning range of online social networking sites. This article, however, concentrates on the role of that most traditional medium, the national press. The British newspaper industry has been a notable political actor; it has been as controversial as it has been overtly partisan. Arguably there have, however, been some changes to this in recent years arising from Labour's electoral successes and the resulting ‘Tony press’, which was markedly less strident in its coverage and more supportive of the leader rather than his party. 2010 was interesting because there was a revival of the so-called ‘Tory press’ in that these titles adopted a stridency not witnessed since the Conservatives last won an election in 1992. Consequently there is a discussion of why certain newspapers switched allegiances and how this impacted on their reporting. Attention is also given to the differences in campaign reporting by the three sectors of the press, and how the various newspaper readerships voted.