Election coverage under the spotlight

REPORT: Friends of Rhiwbina Library author talk - Professor Richard Thomas on 'Reporting Elections: Rethinking the Logic of Campaign Coverage'

Professor Richard Thomas joined the Friends of Rhiwbina Library this week (Tuesday 11 November) to give an engaging talk on how politics and general elections are covered by journalists and news organisations.

A professor at Swansea University and head of its School of Culture and Communication, Richard has written extensively about bias and impartiality in journalism, examining the role journalism plays in mediating the politics of the current day.

In his talk, the long-time Rhiwbina resident walked us through his career, switching to journalism and academia later in life (coming to it as a ‘very mature student’) where he was drawn to how elections were covered.

He is primarily interested in TV election coverage, eventually co-authoring a book with Professor Stephen Cushion on the topic: Reporting Elections: Rethinking the Logic of Campaign Coverage. Through wide research of election data and analysing TV election coverage using a stopwatch, they concluded election coverage should have increased independent analysis of and discussions on public policy – public concerns, any repercussions, and realistic examinations of costs.

Further points of discussion were:

- His research examining the language politicians and journalists use when discussing devolution from Westminster.

- The percentage of time dedicated to policy vs the campaign itself in election TV coverage.

- Raising and exploring the question “All press is good press” or “there’s no such thing as bad press” with reference to the rise of UKIP and Reform UK.

- How impartiality laws are enforced by OFCOM (journalistic regulatory body) and the extent to which they are successful, with particular reference to the current polarised political climate and how to navigate journalism in a digital age.

Richard highlighted areas of change in election coverage since his book was published – in particular, with emphasis on fact-checking, pointing towards BBC Verify and US media fact-checking President Trump's speeches in real time.

He further brought the group upcto date on impartiality laws, noting recent changes (or rather lack thereof) and how a changing and increasingly polarised political and journalistic climate has caused OFCOM to be put under pressure to make difficult choices, most recently by GB News.

He ended the talk with a reminder to those attending that local news, Welsh news, and publicly funded news are crucial to healthy news coverage, and that we must “use it or lose it." He also praised Rhiwbina Info for providing news that is not covered anywhere else.

Reporting Elections: Rethinking the Logic of Campaign Coverage is available to purchase here and a link to his wider research available here.

You can read about Richard's sports book Cricketing Lives here.

December’s talk will be by Professor John Aggleton about his book Memory and the Brain: Using, Losing and Improving. Tickets are available here, and further information about upcoming Rhiwbina events can be found on the events calendar.

Report and photos by Liz Scott