CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Pinto, Nilesh Arthur |
|---|---|
| Title | Image is Everything: Decoding the British Press' Portrayal of Leader Traits |
| Summary | Voters form impressions of leaders based on what they see in the media. This study undertakes a content analysis of more than 3,000 newspaper articles published during the leader-centric 2017 British general election campaign to understand the portrayal of the two prime ministerial candidates, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, in the country’s partisan press. I explore the extent and conditions under which partisan bias and media values such as fairness influenced the newspapers’ construction of leader images with regard to two specific traits – competence and character. I find that partisan bias was dominant across the press and newspapers effectively serve as a proxy campaign vehicle for political parties by painting radically different images of the two leaders. The newspapers borrow from the playbook of negative campaigning by actively vilifying the candidate of the party they do not support. Contrary to expectations, this trend is also visible in the so-called quality press. Notably, partisan support of a candidate is expressed through silence by devoting less attention to the attributes of the candidate they would like to see elected. The findings lead to worrying questions about press ethics in the UK and the media's impact on the polarisation societies in liberal democracies. |
| Supervisor | Toka, Gabor |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/pinto_nilesh-arthur.pdf |
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