Media and Brexit

Introduction: On June 23, 2016, 51.89% of British voters voted for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. The British government decided to respect the result of the referendum and initiated, through Prime Minister Theresa May, the exit procedure governed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The campaign led by the main British political parties during the months preceding the holding of the referendum had an impact on the decision of the population. Indeed, speeches, debates, political meetings, and interviews of important political figures filled the pages of newspapers and monopolized television programs. But the media did much more than relay this information to the public: they actively participated in the construction of the public debate on Brexit. Our presentation aims to highlight the role of the media as an actor (and not a spectator-relay) of the public debate on Brexit and their influence on the result of the referendum. To do this, we chose to focus on the three media that we have deemed to be most relevant for a presentation on media influence on Brexit. We first chose to talk about the printed press because printed press is a real institution and remains one of the most popular means of information in the United Kingdom. The British printed press is interesting because it is very diversified, it has more than ten national newspapers (which is much more than in countries like France, Germany, and the United States). Moreover, the British print media is very partisan. Newspapers clearly display their editorial line and their political positions, which inevitably play a role in the treatment of pro and anti-Brexit information. Then, we chose to talk about another very popular means of information in the United Kingdom: Television. Television, and in particular the BBC, the national broadcaster, has been important because it has been the scene of several key events in the Brexit campaign, including televised debates and speeches by various political figures. Finally, the third and last means of information on which we have chosen to focus is social networks because in recent years, social networks have taken a prominent place in communication and information, including in politics. Political figures and parties have understood this well and today use social networks a lot to get their messages across and try to influence young people in particular, whose attention is easier to capture on social networks. Knowing that the media are all the means of disseminating information, we could have chosen many other means of information which we did not retain because their role or their influence on Brexit were less important than the three that we chose.

1. The Influence of the Media during the campaign of Brexit

Before getting to the heart of the matter, just a quick reminder about the British print media.

British newspapers fall mainly into two broad categories: Tabloids (or "Popular") and Broadsheet (or "Quality Papers"). The main difference between the two formats is size. Tabloid is typically narrower than broadsheet.

Broadsheet provides its readers with a more detailed coverage of stories and typically features longer articles. On the other hand, tabloids do not focus on in-depth coverage of stories and often promote sensationalism. Given the different target audience, tabloid stories focus more on photographs and images, rather than written content. The language used in broadsheet is grammatically superior to that of tabloids. The reporters and editors working in broadsheet newspapers are usually more qualified and experienced than those working for tabloids. The readership of tabloids is also less educated and generally includes youth and people from the working class.

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1. The Printed Press

There are eight major print media groups, each with one or more daily newspapers, sometimes with a Sunday edition:

- News UK: The Sun, The Times (+ The Sunday Times)

- DMG Media: Daily Mail (+ The Mail on Sunday), Metro

- Telegraph Media Group: The Daily Telegraph (+ The Sunday Telegraph)

- Guardian News & Media: The Guardian (+ The Observer)

- Reach PLC: Daily Mirror (+ Sunday Mirror), Daily Express (+ Sunday Express), Daily Star (+ Daily Star Sunday)

- ESI Media: The Independent, Evening Standard

- JPI Media: I

- Nikkei Inc.: Financial Times

The UK print media has a relatively significant reach, with a large and varied readership. About 50% of Britons consult one or more daily newspapers (in print or online) every day. This percentage exceeds 80% for the monthly consultation.

All platforms combined (paper versions, computers, and smartphones/tablets), The Sun is the most read monthly daily (80% of the readership). The Daily Mirror (63%), The Daily Mail (61%), Metro (60%) and The Guardian (52%) complete the monthly top 5. The tabloids therefore enjoy a significant reach even if the quality papers remain highly consulted by the British readership.

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