The Electoral Impact of Press Coverage of the British Economy, 1979–87
- 1 April 1993
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in British Journal of Political Science
- Vol. 23 (2), 175-210
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007123400009728
Abstract
There is a considerable amount of evidence to suggest that the political preferences of voters are influenced by the condition of the domestic economy. This article examines the proposition that, in Britain at least, the connections between macro-economic change and public perceptions of the government are mediated by the way in which the major national daily newspapers cover economic news. Using an aggregate data-analytic approach, it is shown that there is a moderate correlation between the economic coverage of most national dailies and the condition of the ‘real economy’ – though, unsurprisingly, some newspapers tend to be more accurate in their coverage than others. It is also shown that although press coverage of the economy fails to exert a direct effect on government popularity, it does exert an indirect effect through its impact on the overall level of personal financial optimism/pessimism.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
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