Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate in British Studies, Department of British Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 British Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In its fifties, the application of agenda-setting theory has become much more widespread than in the past, and today it can be divided into two main branches: traditional and modern. Based on agenda-setting theory political parties can focus their attention on the issues they are interested in using media and political marketing tools. For a long time, the theory's main assumptions were centered around newspapers and radio and television channels as the mass media. With the development of communication technologies and the advent of social networks, the decisive role of traditional media in elections has been challenged. Today, political parties seek to use and be more active in social networks to highlight their positions and programs. Concerning this, the present study, exploring the media behaviors of the British parties in the 2015 and 2017 general elections, sought to answer the question of how the British parties' tendencies to media were in the two mentioned-above elections. The research findings, based on the findings of the most important statistical organizations in Britain and the world, show that the 2015 and 2017 British general elections were, respectively, the turning point and the culmination of the tendency of British parties to social networks as a tool of agenda-setting in modern times. Accordingly, social media seems to be ending decades of domination by newspapers and television channels to emerge as the determining media in election campaigns.

Keywords

گیدنز، آنتونی. (1379). جامعه‌شناسی (چاپ ششم). (مترجم: م. صبوری کاشانی). تهران: نشر نی.
AUEssays. (2019, February 15). Influence of Twitter and Social Media in UK Elections. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.auessays.com/essays/politics/uk-general-election-2017-twitter.php
Ben-Ur, J., & Newman, B. I. (2002). Motives, perceptions and voting intention of voters in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Psychology and Marketing, 19(12), 1047-1065. doi:10.1002/mar.10052
Booth, R., & Hern, A. (2017, June 09). Labour won social media election, digital strategists say. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/09/digital-strategists-give-victory-to-labour-in-social-media-election-facebook-twitter
Brandenburg, H. (2002). Who Follows Whom?: The Impact of Parties on Media Agenda Formation in the 1997 British General Election Campaign. Press/Politics, 7(3), 34-54. doi:10.1177/1081180x 02007003003
Brandenburg, H. (2005). Political Bias in the Irish Media: A Quantitative Study of Campaign Coverage during the 2002 General Election. Irish Political Studies, 20(3), 297-322. doi:10.1080/07907180500359350
Bright, J. et al. (2017) ‘Does Campaigning on Social Media Make a Difference? Evidence from candidate use of Twitter during the 2015 and 2017 UK Elections’, (June), pp. 1–33. Available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1710.07087.
Bright, J., Hale, S., Ganesh, B., Bulovsky, A., Margetts, H., & Howard, P. (2019). Does Campaigning on Social Media Make a Difference? Evidence From Candidate Use of Twitter During the 2015 and 2017 U.K. Elections. Communication Research, 47(7), 988-1009. doi:10.1177/0093650219872394
Cushion, S., Kilby, A., Thomas, R., Morani, M., & Sambrook, R. (2016). Newspapers, Impartiality and Television News. Journalism Studies, 19(2), 162-181. doi:10.1080/1461670x.2016.1171163
Fletcher, D., & MEC, C. (2015, April 27). Welcome to the social media election that never was. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/apr/27/social-media-general-election-political-parties
Gallacher, J., & Kaminska, M. (2017, June 12). Facebook needs to be more open about its effect on democracy | John Gallacher and Monica Kaminska. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https:// www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/12/general-election-social-media-facebook-twitter
GetSet. (2017, June 19). Related Posts. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https://www.getsetforgrowth.com/blog/the-impact-of-getting-your-social-media-strategy-right-uk-election-2017/
Green, J., & Hobolt, S. B. (2008). Owning the issue agenda: Party strategies and vote choices in British elections. Electoral Studies, 27(3), 460-476. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2008.02.003
Green-Pedersen, C. (2007). The Growing Importance of Issue Competition: The Changing Nature of Party Competition in Western Europe. Political Studies, 55(3), 607-628. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007. 00686.x
Hall, D. G. E. (Daniel George Edward). (1950). Politics: Who gets what, when, how. New York: P. Smith.
Hopmann, D. N., Elmelund-Præstekær, C., Albæk, E., Vliegenthart, R., & Vreese, C. H. (2010). Party media agenda-setting. Party Politics, 18(2), 173-191. doi:10.1177/1354068810380097
Hopmann, D. N., et al. “Party Media Agenda-Setting: How Parties Influence Election News Coverage.” Party Politics, vol. 18, no. 2, 2010, pp. 173–191., doi:10.1177/1354068810380097.
Ipsos MORI. (2014, September 15). Economy, immigration and healthcare are Britons' top three issues deciding general election vote. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/economy-immigration-and-healthcare-are-britons-top-three-issues-deciding-general-election-vote Charts available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/migrations/en-uk/files/Assets/Docs/September%20Pol%20Monitor%20charts_FINAL_POLICIES_MR.pdf
Kentish, B. (2017, June 13). Tories 'spent more than £1m' on negative Facebook adverts attacking Jeremy Corbyn. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservative-social-media-strategy-attack-jeremy-corbyn-labouir-twitter-facebook-video-stormzy-akala-jme-a7784406.html
Kentish, Benjamin. “Tories 'Spent More than £1m' on Negative Facebook Adverts Attacking Jeremy Corbyn.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 13 June 2017, www.independent.co.uk/news /uk/politics/conservative-social-media-strategy-attack-jeremy-corbyn-labouir-twitter-facebook-video-stormzy-akala-a7784406.html.
Khai Yin, J., & Ponnan, R. (2019). Challenges and Innovations in Management Practices of Censorable Film Content in The Electronic Media Industry. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, (Special Issue on SU18), 68-77. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.23853.33766
Konstantinidis, I. (2008). Who Sets the Agenda? Parties and Media Competing for the Electorates Main Topic of Political Discussion. Journal of Political Marketing, 7(3-4), 323-337. doi:10.1080/15377850802008350
Landale, J. (2017, June 09). Election results 2017: The Jeremy Corbyn factor. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2017-40219339
Lilleker, D. G., Koc-Michalska, K., Negrine, R., Gibson, R., Vedel, T., & Strudel, S. (2020). Social media campaigning in Europe: Mapping the terrain. Social Media Campaigning in Europe, 293-298. doi:10.4324/9780429196843-1
Maarek, P. J. (2004). The Professionalization of Political Communication: A Necessity or a Danger? Quo Vadis Public Relations?, 212-222. doi:10.1007/978-3-322-83381-5_16
Mccombs, M. E., Shaw, D. L., & Weaver, D. H. (2014). New Directions in Agenda-Setting Theory and Research. Mass Communication and Society, 17(6), 781-802. doi:10.1080/15205436.2014.964871
Munger, K. (2019, April 30). Social media, #Immigration, and political knowledge in #Ukelection2015. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/05/06/social-media-immigration-and-political-knowledge-in-ukelection2015/
Ofcom. (2014). News consumption in the UK: Research report (Rep.). Ofcom. Retrieved from https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets /pdf_file/0029/69815/Ofcom-News-Report-2014-slides.pdf
Ofcom. (2015). News consumption in the UK: Research report (Rep.). Ofcom. Retrieved from  https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets /pdf_file/0020/77222/News-2015-report.pdf.
Ofocm. (2019). News Consumption in the UK: 2019 (Jigsaw Research, pp. 1-122, Rep.). London: Ofcom. Retrieved from https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/157914/uk-news-consumption-2019-report.pdf.
Okan, E. Y., Topcu, A., & Akyüz, S. (2014). The Role of Social Media in Political Marketing: 2014 Local Elections of Turkey. European Journal of Business and Management, 6(22), 131-140. Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234625703.pdf.
Partheymüller, J. (2017). Agenda-Setting Dynamics during the Campaign Period. Oxford Scholarship Online, 13-34. doi:10.1093/oso/97801 98792130.003.0002
Philip Kotler (1975),"Overview of Political Candidate Marketing", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 02, eds. Mary Jane Schlinger, Ann Abor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 761-770.
Polonski, V. (2017, June 19). From voices to votes: How young people used social media to influence the General Election. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2017/section-5-the-digital-campaign/from-voices-to-votes-how-young-people-used-social-media-to-influence-the-general-election/
Reuters (RISJ Admin). (2015, November 18). Social media and the 2015 general election. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/risj-review/social-media-and-2015-general-election
Reuters: RISJ Admin. (2015, November 18). Social media and the 2015 general election. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/risj-review/social-media-and-2015-general-election
Sartori, G. (1976). Parties and party systems. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Semetko, H. A., & Blumler, J. G. (1991). Formation of Campaign Agendas, The: A Comparative Analysis of Party and Media Roles in Recent American and British Elections. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Shapiro, K. (2015, November). The role of the media in the 2015 election [Review of poster]. Politics Review, 16-17. Available at: https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/media/Documents/magazine-extras/Politics%20Review/Pol%20Rev%20Vol%2025%20No%202/PoliticsReview25_2_Poster.pdf?ext=.pdf
Statista. (2015b). Number of Facebook Users in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2012 to 2018 (in millions). Statista. Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/271349/facebook-users-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
Statista. (2015c). Number of Twitter Users in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2012 to 2018 (in millions). Statista. Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/271350/twitter-users-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/.
Telegraph. (2020, January 30). Nigel Farage presented with 'Mr Brexit' portrait as he reveal he won't miss EU 'dump'. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/30/nigel-farage-presented-mr-brexit-portrait-reveal-wont-miss-eu/
Thorsen, E., Jackson, D., & Lilleker, D. (2017). UK election analysis 2017: Media, voters and the campaign, early reflections from leading academics. Bournemouth: Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community. Available at: https://iris.luiss.it/retrieve/ handle/11385/176336/57292/UKElectionAnalysis2017_Thorsen-Jackson-and-Lilleker_v1.pdf
Vliegenthart, R., & Walgrave, S. (2008). The Contingency of Intermedia Agenda Setting: A Longitudinal Study in Belgium. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 85(4), 860-877. doi:10.1177/107769900808500409
Walgrave, S., & Aelst, P. V. (2006). The Contingency of the Mass Media's Political Agenda Setting Power: Toward a Preliminary Theory. Journal of Communication, 56(1), 88-109. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00005.x
Walgrave, S., Lefevere, J., & Nuytemans, M. (2009). Issue Ownership Stability and Change: How Political Parties Claim and Maintain Issues Through Media Appearances. Political Communication, 26(2), 153-172. doi:10.1080/10584600902850718
Weaver, David, McCombs, Maxwell, Shaw, Donald L. (2004) ‘Agenda-Setting Research: Issues, Attributes, and Influences’, in Kaid, Lynda Lee (ed.) Handbook of Political Communication Research, pp. 257–81. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f81if3-QH6r3Ros5kmREovGdBXMfCuCJ/view?usp=sharing