DCU Academic publishes study of 2011 general election media coverage

Leading DCU Academic Professor Kevin Rafter of the DCU School of Communications has published a unique study of the 2011 General Election media coverage with access to privileged internal documentation of the approach followed by RTÉ during the 2011 general election. Regulating the Airwaves: How Political Balance is Achieved in Practice in Election News Coverage examines the political campaign from the perspective of the news broadcaster. In contrast to other studies, which have examined general election news content, looking at the visibility of parties, the link between positions and issues covered by the media and the type of coverage they receive, Professor Rafter’s study looks at it from the news broadcaster’s position and how political balance is understood and implemented. Professor Rafter outlines that the 2011 General Election in Ireland marked a new departure as the regulation of both public and private broadcasters was now the preserve of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) due to 2009 legislation.

Part one examines the issue of coverage balance as understood in an academic context and how broadcast balance has been achieved in an Irish context. There is access to minutes from the internal RTÉ Steering Committee meetings which had a central role in co-ordinating coverage across radio, television and online. It looks at how RTÉ interacted with the political campaign through election news coverage, party political broadcast advertising and the party leader debates. The final part looks at the lessons to be learned from the manner in which fairness and balance were applied in programme output during an election campaign.

Professor Rafter summarises that RTÉ’s election coverage raises important issues about the role of an individual broadcast service and the relationship with an independent authority. He contends that while the paper has focussed on RTÉ’s application of campaign communication rules, arising from legislation and regulatory body guidelines, a wider study to include the practices and procedures followed by non RTÉ broadcasters would be beneficial in order to have an insight into the whole system. It also found that there may be merit in reviewing, post-election the application by broadcasters of the policies in the BAI’s Code of Election coverage.

Furthermore, it highlights the importance of ensuring the public are informed of how campaign communications are in place but more importantly how they are implemented in order to achieve political balance. Consultation with the public was highlighted as a key element, bearing in mind how influential broadcast coverage was for the general electorate.

Regulating the Airwaves: How Political Balance is Achieved in Practice in Election News Coverage, by Kevin Rafter, Irish Political Studies

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