‘Standards, corruption, scandals and sleaze’ dominate in week four of the election campaign
Betting outrage sees ‘Standards, corruption, scandals and sleaze’ become the second most covered issue in week four of the election, and the third ranked issue across the entire campaign – ahead of key policy issues, such as economy and immigration.
Coverage of issues associated with 'Minority groups' has broken into the top ten this week (6th). The announcement of the Labour Party’s position on trans rights and JK Rowling’s criticism of the party have lent considerable impetus in this rise.
Nigel Farage has confirmed his position as the clear alternative party voice to the two main contenders for the premiership. Despite criticism of his comments on Ukraine, coverage of Reform has not become more negative in aggregate terms.
Negative newspaper coverage of the Conservatives has increased in week four. What has ordinarily been one of the party's more reliable sources of support in previous elections appears to have now turned on them in this campaign.
The fourth of five reports by º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC) analysing media coverage of the General Election.
The betting scandal and Labour’s trans rights fall out with JK Rowling saw a change in this week’s top 10 issues covered by the media.
‘Standards, corruption, scandals and sleaze’ become the second most covered issue in week four of the election and the third ranked issue across the entire campaign – ahead of key policy issues, such as economy and immigration.
The betting debate also propelled Cabinet minister Alister Jack into the top 20 most talked about people over the past seven days.
Coverage of issues associated with ‘minority groups’ has broken into the top ten this week at 6th place. The announcement of the Labour Party’s position on trans rights and JK Rowling’s criticism of the party propelled this topic up the media agenda. The Harry Potter author finished the week as the 9th most talked about person related to the General Election.
Week four as also saw Nigel Farage confirming his position as the clear alternative party voice to the two main contenders for the premiership. Despite criticism of his comments on Ukraine, coverage of Reform has not become more negative in aggregate terms.
Farage has remained in third place throughout the campaign and has been the politician who has consistently attracted more attention than any other after Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak.
Ed Davey, who is perceived to have had a good campaign with the Liberal democrats, achieves his highest ranking in this week’s Top 20 most prominent political figures in the media campaign. Even though he has closed the gap on his Reform UK rival, the LibDem leader still only received just over half the news attention that Farage has generated.
In an interesting change from the 2019 election, press headlines in the 2024 campaign have used the first names and surnames of the two main party leaders in roughly equal measure. This contrasts significantly with patterns found in 2019, where the Conservative party leader was frequently referred to by his first name and the Labour leader almost exclusively by his surname.
Speaking about this week’s report, Professor David Deacon said: “Examining how politicians are named in newspaper headlines can be revealing. In 2019, it was a ‘Boris’ versus ‘Corbyn’ contest, whereas this time round, it’s more of a ‘Sunak’ versus ‘Starmer’ stand-off. This seems to us to be emblematic of a broader dealignment and distancing in many editorial responses to the current campaign.”
Results in the report are derived from detailed content analysis of news coverage of the election, compiled by experts in the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture. The research team has conducted news audits for every General Election since 1992. 
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
Betting outrage sees ‘Standards, corruption, scandals and sleaze’ become the second most covered issue in week four of the election, and the third ranked issue across the entire campaign – ahead of key policy issues, such as economy and immigration.
Coverage of issues associated with 'Minority groups' has broken into the top ten this week (6th). The announcement of the Labour Party’s position on trans rights and JK Rowling’s criticism of the party have lent considerable impetus in this rise.
Nigel Farage has confirmed his position as the clear alternative party voice to the two main contenders for the premiership. Despite criticism of his comments on Ukraine, coverage of Reform has not become more negative in aggregate terms.
Negative newspaper coverage of the Conservatives has increased in week four. What has ordinarily been one of the party's more reliable sources of support in previous elections appears to have now turned on them in this campaign.
The fourth of five reports by º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC) analysing media coverage of the General Election.
The betting scandal and Labour’s trans rights fall out with JK Rowling saw a change in this week’s top 10 issues covered by the media.
‘Standards, corruption, scandals and sleaze’ become the second most covered issue in week four of the election and the third ranked issue across the entire campaign – ahead of key policy issues, such as economy and immigration.
The betting debate also propelled Cabinet minister Alister Jack into the top 20 most talked about people over the past seven days.
Coverage of issues associated with ‘minority groups’ has broken into the top ten this week at 6th place. The announcement of the Labour Party’s position on trans rights and JK Rowling’s criticism of the party propelled this topic up the media agenda. The Harry Potter author finished the week as the 9th most talked about person related to the General Election.
Week four as also saw Nigel Farage confirming his position as the clear alternative party voice to the two main contenders for the premiership. Despite criticism of his comments on Ukraine, coverage of Reform has not become more negative in aggregate terms.
Farage has remained in third place throughout the campaign and has been the politician who has consistently attracted more attention than any other after Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak.
Ed Davey, who is perceived to have had a good campaign with the Liberal democrats, achieves his highest ranking in this week’s Top 20 most prominent political figures in the media campaign. Even though he has closed the gap on his Reform UK rival, the LibDem leader still only received just over half the news attention that Farage has generated.
In an interesting change from the 2019 election, press headlines in the 2024 campaign have used the first names and surnames of the two main party leaders in roughly equal measure. This contrasts significantly with patterns found in 2019, where the Conservative party leader was frequently referred to by his first name and the Labour leader almost exclusively by his surname.
Speaking about this week’s report, Professor David Deacon said: “Examining how politicians are named in newspaper headlines can be revealing. In 2019, it was a ‘Boris’ versus ‘Corbyn’ contest, whereas this time round, it’s more of a ‘Sunak’ versus ‘Starmer’ stand-off. This seems to us to be emblematic of a broader dealignment and distancing in many editorial responses to the current campaign.”
Results in the report are derived from detailed content analysis of news coverage of the election, compiled by experts in the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture. The research team has conducted news audits for every General Election since 1992. 
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
