ResourcesPrint slide 6 as handout for activity 1.

The effects of the mass media on people’s

political viewsObjectives• To define the terms political

socialisation and democracy.

• To describe the ways in which the media can affect voting behaviour.

• To carry out independent research into which newspaper supported which political party in the 2010 elections.

Starter The table shows the

national daily newspapers’ support for political parties in the 2005 national elections.

Labour won the election.

1. Which party did tabloids tend to support?

2. Which party did broadsheets tend to support?

3. In what ways can the newspapers can affect the outcome of an election?

Newspaper Political party

Daily Mirror Labour

Daily Express Conservative

The Sun Labour

Daily Mail Conservative

Daily Telegraph*

Conservative

Guardian* Labour

Times* Labour

Independent* Liberal Democrats

Financial Times*

Labour

* = broadsheet newspaper

Media and political socialisation Voting behaviour refers to which political party a

person votes for in an election and how they make the decision on which political party to vote for.

Political socialisation is the process of acquiring political values, beliefs and preferences. It affects whether we participate in elections and which party we vote for.

The mass media are an influential agency of political socialisation because we get most of our information about political parties from the media.

Democracy (‘rule by people’) refers to a political system in which all adults have the right to vote in elections to elect their representatives in the Parliament.

Task 1 Read the handout in front

of you: Draw a table like this one

into your book and fill it in with information on which newspaper supported which party in the 2010 election.

1. Which party won?2. Do you think the

newspapers affected the result of the election? How?

Newspaper support for political parties, May 2010

electionDaily Telegraph

The Sun

Daily Mail

Daily Express

Guardian

Times

Independent

Daily Mirror

Financial Time

Conservative

Conservative

Conservative

Conservative

Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

Conservative

Labour

Conservative

The Daily Telegraph is backing David Cameron's Conservatives. Our editorial concludes:"We believe that only a Conservative government can restore the nation's fortunes."

The Daily Mail has also come out for the Tories.

displaying serious-minded conservative instincts and a tungsten determination to fulfil the Tories' traditional function of clearing up the mess left by Labour.'

The Daily Express believes only David Cameron can save Britain, telling readers: “the Daily Express urges readers to vote Conservative tomorrow. The future of our nation is at stake."

The Sunday Telegraph is backing the Conservatives, and have stated that the party needs "a strong majority in order to tackle the enormous challenges it faces".

The Financial Times is backing the Conservatives in the General Election for the first time since 1987.The newspaper, which has supported Labour since 1992, announced the switch in an editorial

The Mirror while not formally endorsing the Liberal Democrats, has published a General Election tactical voting guide with the express aim of 'saving Britain from a Tory nightmare'

The Sun had a front page headline declaring "Labour's lost it". The Sun had previously supported the Labour party for 12 years.

The Guardian have announced that they are no longer supporting Labour.

The Times announced its support for the Conservatives. Their editorial said: "The Times has not endorsed the Conservative Party at a general election for 18 years.

The Independent – likes lib dem policy

Task 2 Work in pairs. Read pages 206 – 207 in the textbook and answer

these questions:1. According to Curtice and Mair, how can newspapers

affect the way people vote?2. Which political party have newspapers tended to

support since 1945?3. What are the two concerns about the newspaper’s

influence on voting behaviour?4. How can a decline in newspaper readership (the

number of people who regularly read newspapers) be good for democracy?

Newspapers and politics 1. In Britain, newspapers tend to support a particular

political party. For example, Daily Telegraph supports the Conservative Party, while Daily Mirror supports the Labour Party. They do this by writing favourable articles about the party they support. As a result, newspapers tend to present a biased view of politics. Therefore, people who read one particular newspaper are likely to vote for the political party supported by that newspaper.

2. Since 1945, British newspapers have tended to support the Conservative Party. For example, in 1992, 5 out of 6 national tabloid newspapers supported the Conservative Party, which went on to win the election. However, in 1997, The Sun started to support the Labour Party which went on to win the election.

Newspapers and politics3. The critics of the media point out that:a) The media have too much influence on

voting behaviour through the articles they publish.

b) The media coverage of politics is too negative which puts people off voting in elections. This is damaging to democracy as people need to take part in elections in order for them to be truly democratic. For example, if only 35% of all adults vote and a political party wins the election, was that party truly elected by ‘the people’?

Newspapers and politics 4. However, as newspaper readership is

declining, the influence newspapers have over people’s voting behaviour may also be decreasing. This means that people may be able to make up their own mind about the party they will vote for and the reasons why so the results of the elections could be more objective (unbiased).

Task 3Work in pairs.Draw a grid like this

one into your book and add as many ideas as you can to both sides in relation to this statement:

‘The mass media influence voting behaviour therefore harming democracy’.

Agree Disagree

‘The mass media influence voting behaviour therefore harming democracy’.

Agree Disagree

‘The mass media influence voting behaviour therefore harming democracy’.

• fewer people are reading newspapers so the newspapers are losing their influence over our attitudes and behaviour.

• people read the biased newspaper articles and vote accordingly in elections rather than actually listening to what the political parties are promising to do. Therefore, the election results are not the people’s choice, but are influenced by the newspapers.

• today, there are other sources of information about politics apart from newspapers, e.g. Individuals’ blogs on the Internet. The public can read these to get the alternative version of the ‘news’ and so not be influenced by the media.

• people are not passive when using the media, we can think about what we read and not let the newspapers affect our attitudes and behaviour (Decoding Approach)

• other agencies of socialisation are more powerful than the media, e.g. family and peer groups.

What are the mass media?

Technological advances affecting

the mass media

The consumption of the mass media -

newspaper readership, TV

watching and the Internet

Mass media representations of

ethnic groups

Mass media and crime

What effect do the media have on its audience? How do the mass media act

as agents of socialisation?

Who owns the mass media? - Theories on

the mass media

Mass media representations of gender

Contemporary media related issues

such as violence

Revision and end of Topic exam question

How can media

develop people’s political views?

How is the content of the media

created?

What influence has the development of

the internet got over the

distribution of power within the

media?

Review 1. Do you think the media you use influence

your opinions and behaviour? How?