Einar Thorsen

Professor of Journalism and Communication at Bournemouth University

Publications | Conferences | Teaching | Projects

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General election reinvigorates the power of the press – The Guardian

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    Peter Wilby:

    "The cognoscenti's verdict on the campaign was that, since voters could now directly compare the party leaders for 270 minutes on TV, catching every nuance in their voices, watching every twitch of their facial muscles, press power would drain away. Its partisanship, many judged, would look increasingly irrelevant against the calm, controlled format and inbuilt balance of the TV debates. But the newspapers weren't listening. Most ended the campaign more partisan, more hysterical, less balanced than ever. And after what happened to Clegg, who can say they were wrong?"

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    Del.ici.us tags: election2010 media newspapers tvdebates

The influence of television on the general election – The Guardian

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    Peter Bazalgette:

    "Such sudden excitements and their equally rapid evaporation are characteristic of the internet era. This is indeed the "last-minute" generation who turn up in their hundreds to vote at the thirteenth hour and find that they can't get a ballot paper.

    […]

    Tellingly, Cameron said last week that he wanted to forget the tyranny of 24-hour news bites and concentrate calmly and rationally on the business of government.

    Is that going to be possible, particularly when an election, the TV debates and the rest may come our way again as soon as this autumn? If so, a key paradox will be exposed once more. While a mass audience listen to the candidates spar, they then split into a thousand postmodern splinter groups to vote. So remember the classic Riepl's law: innovations in media add to what went before rather than replacing it. We've now got the mass and the micro audience … but we've yet to learn how to maximise them."

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    Del.ici.us tags: peterbazalgette election2010 media tvdebates newmedia socialmedia

By the next election, Fleet Street should get the hang of it – The Observer

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    Peter Preston:

    "Ryley [head of Sky News] has changed elections for all our lifetimes – and, though you wouldn't quite deduce it amid much press snarling, he's given newspapers a circulation transfusion as well. What happened for three Fridays in a row after those three TV debate Thursdays? Sales went up between 5% and 10%. You watched, you chatted, you wanted to compare notes: so you bought a paper.

    However, take the rest of TV's election coverage through almost four weeks of campaigning and see audiences for everything except the debates shrink away. Don't bother us with sardines when we've supped with the big fish. What's on the cooking channel?"

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    Del.ici.us tags: peterpreston election2010 newspapers tvdebates

Kay Burley. Discuss. – Online Journalism Blog

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    Paul Bradshaw:

    "But professional journalism is also the exercise of power – “Power without responsibility,” as the quote has it (which continues: “the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages”). We expect to scrutinise politicians and hold them to certain ethical standards yet cry foul when the same scrutiny is applied to us. Studying journalism – while doing it – should be about accepting that responsibility and thinking about what it entails. And then doing it better."

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    Del.ici.us tags: paulbradshaw teaching-example kayburley election2010

For election data that matters, we have our nerds to thank – Ben Goldacre – The Guardian

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    Ben Goldacre on idea of website containing structured data on what the candidates think on issues:

    "Neither academics, nor parties, nor the media have achieved this: but 6,000 activists around the country have worked on a crowd-sourcing operation built around DemocracyClub, again set up by two volunteers, Seb Bacon and Tim Green. With the help of mySociety, they populated the YourNextMP database of candidates, itself the baby of another volunteer, Edmund von der Burg. This data is now freely available, a resource for any political theorist or technically capable adolescent, down to its rawest form.

    Data is the fabric of our lives, and everywhere around us: but to be analysed, so it can generate knowledge and understanding, it must be corralled. In an ideal world, these empty frameworks would be built by national institutions: until they wake up, we have our nerds."

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    Del.ici.us tags: election2010 structured data politics mysociety bengoldacre