At a recent Central Bylines production team meeting a comment was made that the Liberal Democrats don’t receive their fair share of press coverage. I have no party affiliation, but as I heard this I asked myself “Is there any basis for this claim?” It’s proved quite difficult to find good data on this topic, but I’ve found perhaps enough to draw some tentative conclusions. Firstly, let’s look at their coverage by print newspapers.
Newspaper coverage of the Lib Dems
It’s hard to find information about how Liberal Democrat coverage compares with that of other parties. In particular there appears to be a lack of quantitative research into the amount of coverage received by different parties on a regular or daily basis. There are some reports on coverage received during general election campaigns which perhaps support this claim, which seems to be long-standing.
In 2017 the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture at the University of Loughborough published weekly reports on the coverage received by all of the parties during that general election campaign, culminating in a final report in June 2017.
Their first conclusion referred to a “two party squeeze”. Comparing coverage in the 2017 election to that of 2015, the report noted that the Conservatives and Labour accounted for 85% of press coverage in 2017 (about 65% in 2015). The Lib Dems, Greens, SNP and UKIP all received disproportionately low coverage relative to their previous vote share.
The report drew a similar conclusion regarding coverage of leaders, stating “this was a highly presidential campaign focusing overwhelmingly on the two candidates for the premiership” (ie Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May). The report also contained the cutting statement: “While UK broadcasters are legally compelled to be impartial, the British press are (in)famously partisan.”
Lib Dem press coverage in the recent general elections
The situation improved little in the election in 2019. The corresponding report by Loughborough University shows a very similar percentage coverage, with Labour and the Tories again gaining about 83% of the coverage. The report notes that coverage of the election was even more presidential, with Corbyn and Boris Johnson the most frequently featured individuals.
This pattern changed little in the 2024 election. The 2024 Loughborough report noted a small (2%) increase in coverage for the two main parties, although it also noted that reporting was more party-based and less presidential. It also pointed out that coverage of the Lib Dems and the SNP lost out to Reform UK Ltd. Lib Dem coverage in the press fell from 13% to 8%.
The Reform Party, a reincarnation of the Brexit Party in 2019, grew from 7% to 10%. One might argue that the Lib Dems coverage might have been even lower, had its leader Sir Ed Davey not participated in a highly publicised series of stunts which gained press coverage.
Notwithstanding the lower percentage coverage, the Lib Dems did have a highly successful election. Despite attracting fewer overall votes than Reform, they increased their number of seats from 8 to 72. This is in part due to the vagaries of the first-past-the-post voting system. It’s pretty evident that the Lib Dems benefited from tactical voting in seats where they were the favourite local party to unseat the resident Conservative MP.
TV coverage
The picture is similar when TV reporting is examined. The 2017 Loughborough report also noted that the Conservatives and Labour accounted for 67% of all TV coverage, with other parties gaining about a third collectively.
Their 2019 report observed that television was more diverse than the press in the range of political parties covered. For the press, the 2019 general election was a two-horse race; other parties struggled to gain much coverage. The Lib Dems obtained less than 15% of the TV coverage.
The Loughborough research also pointed out that television news was more ‘presidentialised’ than the press, with the party leaders commanding a greater proportion of TV coverage relative to their party colleagues for the Tories and Labour. The Lib Dems actually complained (to no avail) about the exclusion of Jo Swinson, the Lib Dems’ leader, from televised debates. Only Corbyn and Johnson participated.
In 2024 Loughborough reported that the TV coverage for the Lib Dems, Reform and SNP was broadly similar, in contrast to press coverage where Reform received the most.
BBC’s Question Time
Perhaps a more telling set of data is to review the extent to which the parties appear as participants in the BBC flagship political programme Question Time. My fellow Bylines writers have commented on this.
Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture produced a study in June 2024 analysing the composition of participants over a nine-year period.
Looking at the most frequently appearing individuals, the highest represented Lib Dem is Layla Moran MP who came in joint 19th in terms of frequency, appearing less often than, for example, the Daily Telegraph writer and GB News presenter Camilla Tominey.
The report points out that the top five journalists used in the programme all write for The Spectator, a right-wing publication.
Later the report also notes: “In booking guests, the Question Time producers clearly consider both the show’s public service nature – holding senior politicians to account – and the requirement to make the programme entertaining for a mass audience. The tendency to overuse panellists who write or broadcast for right-wing media outlets suggests an emphasis on heat over light.”
Diplomatically stated, but a telling point. Equally pointed, the report later states: “The commitment to due impartiality can indeed mean that impartiality occurs over time – but the evidence does not demonstrate Question Time is achieving this. Instead, it may be sacrificing the BBC’s reputation for impartiality to create provocative programmes.”
Perhaps the Liberal Democrats might appear more often if they were more controversial?
What next for the Lib Dems?
It does seem that the Lib Dems, as well as the other smaller parties, do not receive the level of coverage that their vote share and number of seats would warrant proportionately. Both the print press and TV media seem focused on the two larger electoral parties, with large sections seemingly pro-Conservative and/or attacking Labour.
Further evidence of this emerged recently, where an article in the Observer discussing the popularity of party leaders, omitted one of the top six leaders, that being Sir Ed Davey, the most popular in the poll!
Reform appear to have been more successful in attracting coverage, possibly due to the colourful personalities in their leadership, and their populist rhetoric. One could be forgiven for thinking it doesn’t pay to be sensible and moderate in your policies and personalities. Sad to say, but it looks as though Sir Davey may have to continue to stage his action stunts if his party is to garner more coverage.
