Journalism jobs and news from Holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Regional press news - this story published 10 November 2005

Media called on to generate interest in politics

by holdthefrontpage staff

The media is being called upon to present a "more positive, active picture" of the public’s interest in politics.

Academics at Cardiff University conducted research to find out if the various branches of the news media did enough to encourage ordinary people to play an active role in politics.

The study found that newspapers and television tended to reinforce stereotypes, portray people as apolitical and ignore progressive opinions.

Professor Justin Lewis, from the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, said: "We were genuinely surprised to find that, despite an abundance of vox-pops on television, citizens are so rarely seen expressing a firm view about anything on the news, even if polls tell us that they probably have one.

"Advertising bombards us with exhortations to think like consumers every day.

"The news should be a place that encourages us to think like citizens."

The findings were based on analysis of more than 4,000 television news items and 2,000 press reports.

Findings included:

Most of us learn about politics and public affairs from the news media;

We rarely see or read about examples of an active, engaged citizenry;

Journalists make frequent references to public opinion but fail to provide supporting evidence;

Citizens are generally portrayed as apolitical;

We are more likely to hear about conservative "middle England" or "middle America" than popular, progressive opinions.

The new book Citizens or Consumers: What the Media Tell us about Political Participation, written by Prof Lewis, Dr Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Dr Sanna Inthorn, is based on the research and includes suggestions about how the media portrays citizens and public opinion.

E-mail this story to a friend. Your name:

Your friend's e-mail: