The Election and The Television

So in the run up to this year's general election I think it would be fair to say that we've had more than our fair share of television coverage. In fact, most people will probably be glad when it's over and not have to constantly hear about Brown, Clegg and Cameron and all their elusive promises of change.

But saying that we have had a great deal of coverage isn't necessarily a good thing. This year has seen the first ever election debates in which the three "main" parties' leaders had the chance to discuss and debate different issues in front of a live studio audience. Three debates were held in total and ran continuously for 90 minutes each, broadcast one week by ITV then Sky then BBC. As a result of the first debate, polls showed that support for the Liberal Democrats increased dramatically. Clearly this indicates that television has an extreme influence on shaping people's opinions. In fact, I would argue that out of all the branches of the media, television is by far the most influential. The first debate on ITV received 9.4 million viewers, a very respectable amount in today's world. It even overtook the ratings for Coronation Street and Eastenders.

So if we assume that the main function of all this election coverage is to aid the democratic process by providing accurate and unbiased information to the country's viewers, how successful has it been? Well I think there obviously has been a lot of coverage and this is a good thing as far as informing people goes, however as far as representing all the options available to people, the coverage has been extremely poor. For example, I remember seeing a Labour election leaflet that was sent to my house that was peddling the notion that the election is a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives therefore if you don't want a Tory government you have to vote Labour. And just recently after the final debate on April 29, Clegg of the Lib Dems in now claiming that the election is a two-horse race between his party and the Conservatives because of Brown's performance in the debates and due to his recent scandal in Rochdale. Basically, the coverage of any alternative to the three "main parties" for me has been almost non-existent. I've seen little coverage for the nationalist parties apart from some side articles such as the SNP and Plaid Cymru teaming up in opposition to nuclear weapons.

All in all I think there has been a lot of coverage. But in terms of a fair representation of everything that's out there, I think there is room for improvement. And I'm not suggesting giving the Monster Raving Loony Party a regular slot on BBC1 at tea time, I just think there should be more in the way of alternative views represented on the mainstream channels to give people a more informed picture of who they can vote for and not just the option of three unionist capitalists parties.