Programme

There is a pre-conference workshop, to which all EPOP attendees are invited.

The Media in Context Project: What we learned about Voters, Parties and Media from GE2017

The snap election called by Theresa May presents a further opportunity to assess and understand the role of media in British politics at a time when a fractured media system is being held at least partly responsible for presenting misleading information to voters. Some of the key findings from a study of the media in GE2015 point to an asymmetry in the Conservative party’s ability to influence the media agenda compared to Labour’s in 2015, (eg economy vs NHS); patterns of intermedia agenda setting are different for coverage of leaders than issues; the extent to which issues are entirely absent from coverage has been overestimated; and Twitter activity often points users to links in traditional and online media.

Two years later the context of the general election is quite different – a post-Brexit Britain with a majority Conservative government, different leaders of almost all the major parties, Brexit both the main issue and the ostensible reason the election was called, and a growing distrust of polling data and the media (eg ‘fake news’ and Twitter bots). This provides us an opportunity to re-examine and extend the study of the media through three recent elections. In this pre-conference workshop, we present analysis of media coverage and its effects in GE2017 and draw links between key narratives on the EU referendum and other issue in GE2015, the EU referendum and key narratives in the 2017 campaign. These comparisons should allow us to better understand the extent to which media contribute to the ability of voters to hold governments accountable through the electoral process.

The workshop will be led by Susan Banducci, Daniel Stevens, and Travis Coan (University of Exeter)

Summary of conference programme

Friday 8 September

10.30am-12.30pm: Pre-Conference Workshop - The Media in Context Project: What we learned about Voters, Parties and Media from GE2017
12 noon onwards: Registration
12.30-1.30pm: Lunch
1.30-3pm: Panel Session 1
3-3.30pm: Tea/Coffee
3.30-5pm: Panel Session 2
5.15-6.30pm: Plenary on the 2017 General Election (Title TBD)
7pm: Reception and Dinner (followed by EPOP Quiz), East Midlands Conference Centre, University Park Campus

Saturday 9 September

9-10.30am: Panel Session 3
10.30-11am: Tea/Coffee
11am-12.30pm: Panel Session 4
12.30-1.30pm: Lunch and EPOP AGM
1.30-3pm: Panel Session 5
3-3.30pm: Tea/Coffee
3.30-5pm: Panel Session 6
5.15-6.15pm: British Election Study Session: BES update for 2016-2018 and Q&A
6.45pm: Coaches to Nottingham City Centre
7.15pm: Reception and Dinner, The Council House, Old Market Square

Sunday 10 September

9.30-11am: Panel Session 7
11-11.30am: Tea/Coffee
11.30am-1pm: Panel Session 8
1pm: END OF CONFERENCE (buffet lunch available)

EPOP 2017 full programme

Download the EPOP programme 2017 (PDF)