Talk to Madrid business school on UK election and lessons for politics and news media

1. The ‘Fake’ election: lessons for
journalism and politics from
#GE2017
Professor Charlie Beckett
@CharlieBeckett
Madrid
June 2017

5. Result – May ’lost’, Corbyn ‘won’

6. Taking control of the message

7. Stage-management

8. Behind the scenes

9. Journalist push-back

10. Policy u-turns mid-campaign

11. Corbyn stage-managed

12. Getting crowded

13. Remind you of someone?

14. Be seen to debate

15. Mainstream media hostile and deluded

16. Using social media to counter MSM

17. Positive videos, positive SM results

18. Using social media to counter MSM

19. Negative less shared than positive, online

21. We were warned (and ignored it)

22. ‘The campaign doesn’t change anything’

24. She ‘messed up’ but ‘won’

26. In the end it was about politics
• Brexit not an issue – not debated – anti-austerity and anti-authority played
• Campaign did matter and Corbyn ‘won it’ – built base – echo chamber
mobilised support
• May ran sterile campaign and u-turns blew competence claim
• But record Conservative vote – just down on early opinion polls
• High turnout – especially young but also 35-45 yos – divisive result
• UKIP split to Labour and Conservatives
• Main two parties still dominated
• Labour’s ‘Radical’ ideas were actually moderate/transactional
• The more they saw of Corbyn the more they liked him

27. What did UK media get wrong?
• Too reliant on polls – easy journalism
• Too partisan (even the Left)
• Not diverse enough (Oxbridge, PPE, London)
• Didn’t get out of the newsroom enough
• Didn’t get off Twitter enough
• Didn’t listen enough

28. Further reading:
• How should we report elections?
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/06/10/how-we-report-elections-a-
new-agenda-after-the-2017-shock/
• This was a fake politics election
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2017/06/07/never-mind-fake-news-this-
was-the-fake-politics-election/
• Liberalism Trumped – it’s time to listen to the angry mob
• http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2016/06/09/liberalism-trumped-its-time-
to-listen-to-the-angry-mob/