Critical investigation Task 4: essay plan

“To what extent did the media coverage of the EU referendum affect the engagement of young people in politics?”

Introduction (200 words)

• Introduce the general overall perspective, lay out primary, secondary texts and historical texts
• General focus on the negative way that young people were presented during the coverage of the EU referendum
• If not negative there was little to no representation of young people in the media at all
• British Youth Council work with the EU referendum
• Vast difference in the way that the Leave and Remain parties were viewed in the media
•  Remain, was younger
•  Leave, was older
• Specifically talk about what "media coverage"; newspaper/TV/digital media?

Section 1 – Before the referendum (300 words)

• Web articles and media coverage just before the EU Referendum
• How did this affect the turn out?
• What were the preferred readings and dominant ideologies?
• How were young people targeted?
• Historical text - Media coverage of past elections: 1992 general election/1975 EU referendum/Possibly 1997?
• Focus on the media coverage and how this affected voter behaviour, especially the 1992 general election, coverage by The Sun
• Compare how the coverage was done in the past, with the coverage in the 2016 referendum 
• Do the strategies differ? Have they changed in anyway? How are they the same?
• 1997 too (especially since there is a lot out there in terms of New Labour and media coverage, spin etc.) 

Section 2 – During the referendum (400 words)

• Primary text - Textual analysis
• Take the front page cover of one of each major newspaper during the referendum, deconstruct 
• Lack of young people focus? Too much young people focus?
• The analysis of each front page cover, and how would that have affected the engagement of a young people
• EU Referendum coverage was one that was infamous for its spread of lies, negativity and fear mongering
• Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Times, Sunday Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, Independent

Section 3 – Post referendum (400 words)

• Huge focus on the youth
• “Young people were marginalised”
• https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/young-people-referendum-turnout-brexit-twice-as-high 
• "Turn out was twice as high than expected" 
• Young people were a lot more keener to get involved with politics, most specifically the referendum
• https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/meet-the-75-young-people-who-voted-to-remain-in-eu
• “When we tweeted a callout asking young readers for their responses, rather than the 20 or so we expected, we received more than 200 emails in half an hour.”
• Young people are angry and annoyed that they were not listened to
• Could create an unintentional reading amongst older readers as it would reinforce the fact that young people do not appreciate authority and are not happy with democratic vote. Unintentional view of anarchistic, rebellious, immature young people
• http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/720956/brexit-voter-apologies-for-leave-vote-lbc
• This made the news and was very famous for the fact that it was an actual Brexit voter admitting that he made a mistake
• “My lad’s 13. He’s getting to an age now and I will apologise to him. I will say sorry to him.”
• Emotional, admits that he had not thought about his young child and effectively young people around the UK
• Shows that even Brexit voters are starting to realise they have voted for something that will negatively affect young people

Section 4 - Statistical analysis (250 words)

• Voter behaviour and media influence. 
• Academic research and set out the conditions which the referendum then took place in. 
• http://opinium.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/the_impact_of_brexit_on_consumer_behaviour_0.pdf
• Report and data which focuses on the psychological behaviour of the average voter
• This data could have been used by marketing strategists and campaigners for both Remain and Leave teams to target voters
• There is a significant lack of focus on young people in the report's data
• If that was the case, could show that young people were not targeted for the campaign and reinforces the fact that they were not a priority

Section 5 -  Effects theory and research (500 words)

• What impact does the media have on audiences in political campaigns? 
• Are young people part of this or excluded? Bias etc. 
• Academic texts AND Guardian/MM articles that explore this issue. 
• This is a crucial section to demonstrate academic strength of essay. 

Section 6 -  Future of this debate (400 words)

• Are young people getting more power/influence as a result of new technology? 
• Are newspapers / influence of media on the decline? 
• Fake news. Facebook. 
• How might future election campaigns be fought? Trump etc.

Conclusion (150 words)

• Sum up argument
• Snappy ending