Academics from the University’s Centre for Research Communication and Culture have conducted news audits for every General Election since 1992.

The referendum audit is concentrating on the main news bulletins/programmes on BBC1, ITV, C4, C5 and Sky, and all the main daily national newspapers. Coverage is analysed weekly, and the first report is released on Monday 23 May at 12 noon.

The reports will provide commentary about the week’s coverage and systematic measurements of which campaign groups receive the most coverage, the proportion of negative and positive coverage, which issues receive greatest prominence and the amount of coverage overall given to the referendum.

The audit is being led by Professor David Deacon,  Professor John Downey, Dr Emily Harmer, Professor  James Stanyer and Professor Dominic Wring, from the Department of Social Sciences.

Speaking about the audit Professor Deacon said: “The media plays a crucial role in elections.  For most people it is their primary source of information when it comes to deciding how to vote.  Therefore being able to see who and what is making the headlines is very important.”

The team’s full reports and further analysis will be made available on the University’s EU Referendum web page.