Political Communication in Britain The Leader's Debates, the Campaign and the Media in the 2010 General Election

The 2010 General Election represented a pathbreaking contest in Political Communication. The TV debates changed forever the feel of the campaign. This book brings together key commentators, analysts and polling experts to present readers with a unique and valuable insight into the development of political communication in British Politics.

Dominic Wring is Reader in Political Communication, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, UK. He is co-editor of Political Communications: The General Election Campaign of 2005 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); author of The Politics of Marketing the Labour Party (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005); founder/former convener of the UK Political Studies Association Media Politics Group and Chair of the International Political Studies Association Research Committee for Political Communication. Roger Mortimore is Director of Political Analysis, Ipsos MORI, UK. He has worked for MORI since 1993, concentrating on electoral research in particular, notably the highly successful exit polls at the last four general elections. He has written or co-written a number of books on elections, including Elections in Britain - A Voter's Guide (5th edition, Palgrave, 2005) with Dick Leonard, and the Explaining Labour's Landslide series with Robert Worcester and Paul Baines, and was co-editor of the Political Communications books on the 2001 and 2005 elections. Since 2003 he has been Journals Review Editor of the International journal of Public Opinion Research. Simon Atkinson is Assistant Chief Executive, Ipsos MORI, UK. He has worked on the company's political polling for twenty years, and has been a member of the British Polling Council since its launch in 2004. Simon is co-editor of the Political Communications books on the 2001 and 2005 general elections.

Introduction; D.Wring
PART I: DEBATES
What Took So Long? The late arrival of TV election debates in the UK; R.Bailey
The Leaders' Debates: How 270 Minutes of Television Challenged the Position of the Press; A.Boulton& T.Roberts
A Framing Content Analysis of Media Coverage of the Debates; S.Coleman, F.Steibel& J.G.Blumler
PART II: POLLING
Polling Voting Intentions; P.Kellner& J.Twyman
The Accuracy of the Polls: Were they Wrong about the LibDems All Along?; S.Atkinson& R.Mortimore
The Polls, the Media and Voters: the Leader’s Debates; A.Hawkins
PART III: VOTERS
The UK Expense Scandal and Political Trust; J.van Heerde-Hudson
Public Confidence in Elections; J.Watson
How Voters in the Marginals Experienced the Campaign; R.Mortimore, H.Coombs& T.Mludzinski
PART IV: PARTIES
The Conservative Campaign; K.Culwick& A.Wilson
The Labour Campaign; N.Cook
The Liberal Democrat Campaign; Lord C.Rennard
PART V: CAMPAIGNING
Election Campaigning Transformed; I.Gaber
Constituency Campaigning in 2010; J.Fisher, D.Cutts& E.Fieldhouse
Below the Radar? Online campaigning at the Local Level; R.Southern& S.Ward
The Visual Election: Online and Off; C.Burgess
PART VI: MEDIA
So What Was That All About? Mainstream Mediation of the Campaign; D.Deacon, D.Wring, J.Stanyer& P.Golding
Genre and the Mediation of Election Politics; K.Richardson, K.Parry& J.Corner
Conclusion; R.Mortimore& S.Atkinson