Partisanship in the Brexit News Media – A Content Analysis of Newspapers of Record in Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Abstract

The representation of Brexit in the news media has been a point of debate since the referendum announcement by then UK Prime Minister David Cameron in February 2016. Formal studies by academics, academic institutions and news organisations, in addition to anecdotal reports, have scrutinised coverage and dissected news and opinion across the UK and beyond. This study explores Brexit-orientated articles from The Irish Times, The Times(UK edition) and The Belfast Telegraph in the week leading up to the Brexit referendum, providing a comprehensive insight into Brexit coverage in three newspapers of record in key jurisdictions across the UK and Ireland. This study organises predominantly quantitative data to collate and categorise a large body of articles from across the five days prior to the referendum and to a lesser extent, adopts a lighter qualitative approach to examine the data more closely. The study attempts to ascertain whether the newspapers’ overarching preference tilts toward Remain or Leave and whether examining articles in three different segments –political, financial and human-interest –reveal partisanship. It also examines the prevalence of key quoted individuals and the quantity and coverage afforded to each side. The study finds that empirically, all three newspapers appear to favour a Remain result to varying degrees, but that coverage of each side, individuals and their respective campaign messages is mixed, with a slight tilt toward Leave.