1997 british general election campaign british news...

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1997 BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN

BRITISH NEWS CONTENT ANALYSIS CODEBOOK OF VARIABLE NAMES ANDDEFINITIONS

Holli A. SemetkoProfessor and Chair of Audience and Public Opinion Research

University of AmsterdamOude Hoogstraat 241012 CE Amsterdam

THE NETHERLANDStel: 31 20 525 2263; fax 31 20 525 2179; home tel: 31 20 622 5527

email: [email protected]

Margaret ScammellUniversity of Liverpool

School of Politics and Communication StudiesRoxby Bldg. PO Box 147

Liverpool L69 3BXUK

tel: 44 151 794 2656fax: 44 151 794 [email protected]

Peter GoddardUniversity of Liverpool


Liverpool L69 3BXUK

tel: 44 151 794 2993fax: 44 151 794 3948

[email protected]

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Relevant Publications

Many of the variables mentioned in the following pages have been coded atevery British general election campaign since 1983. A number of thesevariables have also been used to code news from recent election campaignsin Germany, Spain, and the US for the purposes of cross-nationalcomparison. These data are the subject of the following publications:

Blumler, Jay G. and Holli A. Semetko, 1987, "Communication and Legislative Campaigns in a Unitary Parliamentary Democracy:The Case of Britain" Legislative Studies Quarterly Vol. 12 No. 3. pp. 415-443.

Curtice, John and Holli Semetko, 1994, "Does it matter what the papers say?" in A. Heath, R. Jowell and J. Curtice [eds] Labour'sLast Chance? The 1992 election and beyond Aldershot: Dartmouth. pp. 43-64.

Diez-Nicolas, Juan and Holli A. Semetko. 1995. “La television y las elecciones de 1993” in Alejandro Munoz-Alonso and JuanIgnacio Rospir [eds] Communicacion Politica Madrid: editorial Universitas, S.A. pp. 243-304.

Mathes, Rainer and Holli A. Semetko, 1991, "Foreword: A Comparative Perspective on Television and Election Campaigns" inPolitical Communication and Persuasion special issue on "Television and Election Campaigning in Advanced Industrial Societies,"Vol. 8. No. 4. pp. 139-144.

Nossiter, T.J., Margaret Scammell and Holli A. Semetko, 1995, "Old Values versus News Values" in Ivor Crewe and BrianGosschalk. [eds] Political Communications in the 1992 British General Election Campaign. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress. pp. 85-103.

Scammell, Margaret and Holli A. Semetko, 1995, "Political Advertising on Television: The British Experience" in Lynda Lee Kaidand Christina Holz-Bacha [eds] Political Advertising in the U.S. and Western Europe Beverly Hills: Sage. pp. 19-43.

Semetko, Holli A., 1989, "Television News and the 'Third Force' in British Politics: A Case Study of Election Communication"European Journal of Communication. Volume 4, Number 4. 1989. pp. 453-481.

Semetko, Holli A., 1991, "Images of Britain's Changing Party System: TV News and the 1983 and 1987 General ElectionCampaigns" Political Communication and Persuasion. Vol. 8. No. 4. pp. 163-181.

Semetko, Holli A., 1992, "Broadcasting and Election Communication in Britain" in Frederick J. Fletcher [ed] Media, Elections andDemocracy Vol. 19 of the research studies of the Canadian Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing. Toronto:RCERPF and Dundurn. pp. 25-62.

Semetko, Holli A., 1996. “Journalistic Culture in Comparative Perspective: The Concept of ‘Balance’ in U.S., British and GermanTV News” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. 51-71.

Semetko, Holli A. and Klaus Schoenbach, 1993, "The Campaign in the Media" in Russell Dalton [ed] The New Germany Votes:Unification and the Creation of the New German Party System. Providence, RI and Oxford UK: Berg. pp. 187-208.

Semetko Holli A. and Klaus Schoenbach, 1994, Germany's “Unity' Election”: Voters and the Media Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.Schoenbach, Klaus and Holli A. Semetko, 1994, "Medienberichterstattung und Parteienwerbung im Bundestagswahlkampf 1990:Ergebnisse aus Inhaltsanalysen und Befragungen"[Media coverage and party advertising in the national election campaign 1990:Evidence from content analyses and surveys] Medien Perspektiven 7/94 pp. 328-340.

Semetko, Holli, Margaret Scammell, and T.J. Nossiter, 1994, "Media Coverage of the 1992 British General Election Campaign" inAnthony Heath, Roger Jowell and John Curtice [eds] Labour's Last Chance? The 1992 election and beyond Aldershot: Dartmouth.pp. 25-42.

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Schoenbach, Klaus and Holli A. Semetko, 1995. “Journalistische ‘Professionalitaet’ versus Chancengleicheit von Regierung undOpposition: Das Dilemma der aktuellen Berichterstattung im Wahlkampf.” [Journalistic “professionalism” vs. equal opportunitiesfor government and opposition: A dilemma for news coverage of election campaigns] in K. Armingeon & R. Blum [Eds] Dasoeffentliche Theater: Politik und Medien in der Demokratie. Bern, Stuttgart, Vienna: Paul Haupt. pp.49-64.

Schoenbach, Klaus & Holli A. Semetko, 1996. “Wahlkommunikation, Journalisten und Waehler: Fuenf thesen aumBundestagswahlkampf 1990 -- mit einem internationalen Vergleich und einem ersten Blick auf 1994 [Election communication,journalists and voters: five theses on the 1990 German national election campaign -- with an international comparison and first lookat 1994] In H. Oberreuter (Ed.) Parteiensystem am Wendepunkt? Wahlen in der Fernsehdemokratie Munich: Olzog. pp. 153-164.

Semetko, Holli A. Jay G. Blumler, Michael Gurevitch, David H. Weaver, 1991, The Formation of Campaign Agendas: AComparative Analysis of Party and Media Roles in Recent American and British Elections Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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1997 BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN NEWS CONTENT ANALYSIS CODEBOOK

The 1997 study is sponsored by a grant from the British Economic and SocialResearch Council (ESRC) to Margaret Scammell and Holli Semetko. We arecoding political news from the date of the commencement of the campaign(April 1st 1997) to the 1997 election day itself (expected to be a periodof between three and four weeks), as well as during each three-week periodcovering the principal field-work dates in 1996 for the British PanelElection Study, which has continued since 1992.

Coding this year takes the form of direct input to an MS Access database.This codebook represents a text equivalent of that database.

TELEVISIONEvery news story on television will be coded, but political stories will becoded more elaborately than non-political stories. The full list ofvariables will be coded for all campaign stories, as well as all storiesmaking reference to politicians or political parties from Britain, and allstories mentioning British politicians or the election if from a foreignsource. We do not code in detail any other stories, but we include them inour database and call them “non-political.” For these TV stories, we codeonly the details of their placement in the bulletin (V1-V11) and theirfirst main subject (V53 Story Subject (What?)).

PRESSWe still need to determine the range of pages we will code in the Britishnewspapers. Page one for each newspaper will be coded at a minimum, andadditional pages will be coded if financial resources permit. As withtelevision, every story on our chosen page(s) will be coded, but politicalstories will be coded more elaborately than non-political stories. Thefull list of variables will be coded for all campaign stories, as well asall stories making reference to politicians or political parties fromBritain, and all stories mentioning British politicians or the election iffrom a foreign source. We do not code in detail any other stories, but weinclude them in our database and call them “non-political.” For thesepress stories, we code only the details of their placement (V1-V15), theirfirst main subject (V57 Story Subject (What?)) and, where they areaccompanied by photographs or other visual devices, the size of photos/visual devices and whether they are in colour (see V78-V89).

This codebook contains variable definitions and value labels applying to TVnews.

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VARIABLE LIST

V1 UNIQUE STORY ID NUMBER ____ ____ ____ ____

V2 DATE (dd/mm/yy)____ ____ ____

V3 PROGRAMME ____ ____ BBC “Nine O’Clock News” ITN “News At Ten” SKY National News (10pm)

V4 PLACE OF ITEM IN PROGRAMME RUNNING ORDER (numerical)

V5 HEADLINE STORY?Is the story a headline item? (y/n)

V6 FIRST HEAD? ____Is the story the first headline? (bong 1) (y/n)

V7 LENGTH seconds ____ ____ ____

V8 PREDOMINANT FORMAT ____

anchor only 1anchor + stills/ graphic 2anchor + film 3field report w/intro 4stand-alone field rept. 5editorial/commentary 6interview w/candidate 7interview w/campaign personnel 8interview w/expert 9interview w/reporter(s) 10interview w/outside reporter 11other 12

V9 SERIESIs the story introduced as part of a series? (y/n)

V10 CAMPAIGN MENTIONEDIs the campaign mentioned in the story? (y/n)

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V11 STORY TYPE ____ ____(STRAIGHT: relates to events over previous 24-hrs;NEWS ANALYSIS: Brings together info from different points in time.)

STRAIGHT NEWS opinion poll 01 issue profile 02 press conference 03 walkabout 04 rally,mtg, speech 05 campaign trail mixed 06 investigative 07 other 08NEWS ANALYSIS opinion poll 11 issue profile 12 press conference 13 walkabout 14 rally,mtg, speech 15 campaign trail mixed 16 investigative 17 other 18FEATURE interview 21 profile/DITLO 22 (Day In The Life Of) press conference 23 walkabout 24 rally,mtg,speech 25 campaign trail mixed 26 constit. report 27 other 28OTHER signed column 31 editorial 32 cartoon 33 photograph 34 illustration/ graphic 35 sidebar 36 other 37 reporter evaluation 38PARTY PAID ADVERTISEMENT 41NON-POLITICAL 99 (ie. no reference to campaign, politicians,political parties. Enter SUBJECT under V53 ("Story Subject (What)?"). Nofurther data required.)

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V12 SETTING/ OCCASIONWhat is the Setting or Occasion of the story?(Note the occasion that gave rise to the story - ie. the immediate stimulusfor the action or events reported in the story).

S01 Political: LegislativeS02 Political: GovernmentS03 Political: Party MeetingS04 Political: Interest Group MeetingS05 Political: International EventS06 Political: Other political actionsS11 Campaign: Event/ Rally/ Photo op., etc.S12 Campaign: Press conference/ Statement to pressS13 Campaign: Other campaign actionsS21 Media: InterviewsS22 Media: Journalist rpt./ News analysis/ Poll rpt.S23 Media-sponsored public opinion pollS24 Media: Other media actionsS31 Other causes or occasionsS99 No identifiable setting

V13-22 STORY ACTORS (WHOM?)Who is the story about? (in order of importance/ predominance) Up to tenactors are coded in the story. This variable assesses the main actor(s) inthe story, in order of importance as indicated by a combination of theamount of time, or frequency, or order in which they appear.

See attached table of Story Subject (Whom?) variables (Table 1).Max. 10 entries.

V23-42 SOURCES FOR QUOTESThere is often considerable overlap between the main actors in the story,and those who are quoted or who are seen speaking (soundbites on TV) in thestory. But there is not necessarily a direct correspondence. This variableis another indicator of the presence of partisans in the news, as itmeasures who is seen and how long they are speaking. Who is quoted/speaking as a source in the story? How long is the quote/soundbite? (linesof text/seconds)

Use attached table of Story Subject (Whom?) variables (Table 1) foractors/sources.Give the aggregate length of quotes (in seconds) from each source.Max. 10 entries (give actor and length for each = 20 entries).See APPENDIX A for guidance on coding unnamed sources.

V43-52 CITED AS SOURCE BUT NOT QUOTEDPoliticans may also be cited (mentioned) but not seen speaking (or quoted)in a news story. Who is cited as a source in the story? Use attached tableof actors/sources (Whom?) variables (Table 1) to identify these.Max. 10 entries.See APPENDIX A for guidance on coding unnamed sources.

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V53-64 STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?)The subject or topic list should be used to identify the mostpredominant/important subject in the story. Up to five additional subjectsshould be coded, if necessary, in order of importance/predominance. Sixsubjects in total can be coded for each story. The first/most importantsubject in the story should have the highest reliability between coders.

Each subject in a story should also be coded for its initiation. Whoinitiated each of subjects in the story? Party initiated subjects come fromplanned events, material from press releases or opening statements atmorning press conferences, statements not prompted by journalists.Subjects initiated by media include material from journalists' questions onthe campaign trail, from different points in time, etc. Where it is notpossible clearly to identify the initiator of the story, it should be codedit as “can’t determine.”

Use attached table of Story Subject (What?) variables (Table 2) forsubjects.

Use attached table of Initiators (Table 3) for initiator.

Max. 6 subjects (give subject and initiator for each = 12 entries).

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V65-70 REPORTERS’ COMMENTSWe are interested in the ways reporters contextualize the news about

politicians’ campaign activities and statements. Reporters’ comments referto the remarks made by reporters that surround or set the scene for thecandidate activities or candidate statements. For TV, reporters’ commentscome between the soundbites from sources. For the press, reporters’comments come between the quoted material from sources. Up to six commentscan be coded for each story. We aim to determine whether or not reporters’ comments werenondirectional (straight/descriptive) or whether they appeared to bereinforcing or deflating the statements and activities or politicians.Some comments may be a mixture of reinforcing and deflating, such as: “Itstarted off as a bad day for Mr. Major on the campaign trail, but by thetime of the evening rally in Colchester he was in top form....” thenfollows a soundbite from Major.

Code once for overall tone of each sequence of comments bounded byquotes. (Reporting actions is coded STRAIGHT. Code editorials/ signedcolumns as "RC99". Rarely, where radically different comments are includedin same block, two codes may be used.)

Use attached table of Reporters’ Comments variables (Table 4).Max. 6 entries.

V71 OVERALL TONE OF COMMENTS IN STORYHere the coder should provide a single entry to summarize the tone of allreporters’ comments in the story. This should generally be an aggregate ofReporters Comments (V66-71) entries.

Use attached table of Reporters’ Comments variables (Table 4).

V72 DISDAINDisdain: Reporters may try to distance themselves from what they perceiveto be pseudo-events, and they portray event as staged, or as a photo op, orrefer to reality behind the scenes. Examples of disdain in 1983 in Britainwere rather timid/ironic compared to some of the more direct disdainingcomments by US reporters. We can expect that as politicians in Britainhave become more skilled at and interested in staging events, reporters maydevelop a more direct disdaining style.UK Examples. Nick Witchell, BBC, 1983: “The Prime Minister climbed aboarda tractor, showed an extraordinary interest in silage making, and had herphotograph taken several thousand times.” “Her aides didn’t want us tofilm it, but there backstage is the girl and the projection machine whotogether add that extra something to the Thatcher style. In this electionthe Prime Minister has a special campaign song, slick advertising men andsharp TV presentation. At the end of each rally there is piped patrioticmusic [MUSIC SOUNDBITE]. It is a heavy atmosphere. Nonetheless, Mrs.Thatcher would be among the first to say it is the issues which count.”US 1984 Examples. “Those schoolchildren didn’t just happen to be there. Itwas planned by [Mondale’s] advance team.”Chris Wallace, NBC: “A campaign that even Hollywood would envy, tonight ourWhite House correspondent takes us backstage on a Reagan tour. The point ofall this -- to make the President look good on television. The audience

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would largely be extras on a stage. The well rehearsed rally was the usualshow stopper.”Does the reporter express "disdain" in the story ? If so, towards whichparty? (Also write down the disdaining remark, the reporter, program,date, in a separate file).

_____ No/ N/A 99 Conservative 01 Labour 02 LibDem 03 SNP 04 PC 05 Referendum 06 UKInd 07 SocLab 08 Green 09 NatLaw 10 BNP 11 NI Parties 12 Other Parties 13 Mixture 14

V73 REPORTER CORRECTIONDid the reporter correct statements or information provided by a party? Ifso, by which party?:

No/ N/A 99 Conservative 01 Labour 02 LibDem 03 SNP 04 PC 05 Referendum 06 UKInd 07 SocLab 08 Green 09 NatLaw 10 BNP 11 NI Parties 12 Other Parties 13 Mixture 14

V74-V93 TV VISUALSThe visual component of TV news may correspond closely with or departdramatically from the reporter’s voice-over commentary. Key visuals arecoded here, and defined as those with significant or special meaning,indicated either by the subject matter or the reporter’s voice-overcommentary. Most stories containing key visuals come from the campaigntrail, but in many stories (studio or stand-up interviews, stills, mugshots, opinion poll stories) there are no key visuals. We code up to fivekey visuals in a TV news story. A key visual refers to a single visual

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“occasion” (regardless of length or the number of actual picture frames)with the same subject matter and tone.

Code each key visual for:Who was the subject of the visual? (see Table 1)Who initiated the key visual? (see Table 3)Where was the key visual located? Use the following value labels code location of visuals:

Press ConferenceSpeechParty ConferenceWalkaboutDowning St.TV StudioOrganised DemoWestminster (interior)MeetingStreetCampaign Trail: SpeechCampaign Trail: protests/ hecklersCampaign Trail: OtherInstitution: School/ Hospital, etc.Photo Op - otherCampaign Ad"Mug Shot"CartoonGraphicInanimate objectOtherCan't DetermineNot applicable

(See APPENDIX B for detailed definitions for some of these value labels)

What was the tone of the visual? Code tone as: Positive, Negative or Neutral (if in doubt, code tone from perspective of campaign)

Max. 5 visuals (give subject, initiator, location and tone for each = 20entries). If more, take most significant.

V94-96TONE OF STORY TOWARDS MAIN ACTORCoders are often confused about whether their personal partisan biases mayenter into coding on this variable. Therefore, we ask the coder to evaluatethe tone of the story as a whole FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PARTY ORCANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN.Based on story as a whole including all information in the story (visualsand sound on TV, and in the press the headline) what is the tone of thestory towards the main actor? Code 0 if the candidate or party is notmentioned in the story. Code 9 if the candidate or party is mentioned, butthe story is neutral/straight. If the story displays some positive ornegative characteristics, code the story as a whole on the seven pointscale where 1 is very negative and 7 is very positive.

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V94 Favourability to Major/ Conservatives from perspective of campaign:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 STRAIGHTVERY MIXED VERY 0 N/ANEG. POS.

V95 Favourability to Blair/ Labour from perspective of campaign:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 STRAIGHTVERY MIXED VERY 0 N/ANEG. POS.

V96 Favourability to Ashdown/ Lib Dems from perspective of campaign:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 STRAIGHTVERY MIXED VERY 0 N/ANEG. POS.

V97-V104 CANDIDATE AND PARTY TRAITSCode only where exact, or closely synonymous, wording is present; fromverbal cues only, from any speaker (reporter or source).[NB. this range of variables corresponds to questions of leadership andparty image to be asked in related opinion surveys conducted as part of theBritish Election Study]

Is Major portrayed as:V97 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V98 Capable of being a strong leader? 1 Not capable of being a

strong leader? 2 N/A 3V99 Caring? 1 Not caring? 2 N/A 3V100 Decisive? 1 Not decisive? 2 N/A 3V101 Sticks to principles? 1 Does not stick to principles? 2

N/A 3V102 Keeps promises? 1 Breaks promises? 2 N/A 3V103 Listens to reason? 1 Does not listen to reason? 2

N/A 3V104 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V105 Looks after all classes? 1 Looks after one class? 2

N/A 3

Is the Conservative Party portrayed as:V106 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V107 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V108 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V109 Stands up for Britain abroad? 1 Does not stand up for Britain

abroad? 2 N/A 3V110 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V111 Capable of strong government? 1 Not capable of strong

government? 2 N/A 3V112 Keeps promises? 1 Breaks promises? 2 N/A 3

Is Blair portrayed as:V113 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3

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V114 Capable of being a strong leader? 1 Not capable of being astrong leader? 2 N/A 3

V115 Caring? 1 Not caring? 2 N/A 3V116 Decisive? 1 Not decisive? 2 N/A 3V117 Sticks to principles? 1 Does not stick to principles? 2



N/A 3

Is the Labour Party portrayed as:V122 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V123 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V124 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V125 Stands up for Britain abroad? 1 Does not stand up for Britain



Is Ashdown portrayed as:V129 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V130 Capable of being a strong leader? 1 Not capable of being a




N/A 3

Is the LibDem Party portrayed as:V138 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V139 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V140 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V141 Stands up for Britain abroad? 1 Does not stand up for Britain



Is the SNP portrayed as:V145 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V146 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V147 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3

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V148 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V149 Capable of strong government? 1 Not capable of strong


V151Some stories contain a great deal of policy relevant information whileothers contain very little, and these should be coded on the seven pointscale. Some contain none whatsoever, and these should be coded as 0.

What is the density of policy relevant information?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 N/AVERY VERYLOW HIGH

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TABLE 1: STORY ACTORS/SOURCES (WHOM?)

001 Conservative Party002 Labour Party003 Liberal Democrats004 Scottish Nationalist Party005 Plaid Cymru006 Referendum Party007 UK Independence Party008 Socialist Labour Party009 Green Party010 Natural Law Party011 British National Party012 Ulster Unionist Party013 Democratic Unionist Party014 SDLP015 Sinn Fein016 Other Northern Ireland party017 Other parties018 Conservative & Labour019 Conservative & LibDem020 Labour & LibDem021 Labour, LibDem & Conservative022 Pro-Life Alliance031 John Major032 Tony Blair033 Paddy Ashdown034 Alex Salmond (SNP)035 Dafydd Wigley (PC)036 Sir James Goldsmith (Ref)037 Arthur Scargill (SocLab)038 Northern Ireland leaders041 Major & Blair042 Major & Ashdown043 Blair & Ashdown044 Major, Blair & Ashdown045 Mrs Major046 Mrs Blair047 Mrs Ashdown048 Martin Bell051 CON: Michael Heseltine052 CON: Michael Howard053 CON: Kenneth Clarke054 CON: Malcolm Rifkind055 CON: Peter Lilley056 CON: Gillian Shephard057 CON: Michael Portillo058 CON: Brian Mawhinney059 CON: Stephen Dorrell060 CON: Other Cabinet Minister061 CON: John Redwood062 CON: Baroness Thatcher063 CON: Neil Hamilton064 CON: Michael Forsyth

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065 CON: Unnamed Party Source066 CON: Other MPs/ Candidates/ Peers, etc.067 CON: Spouse/ Family of MP/ Candidate068 CON: Other Spokesperson069 CON: Supporter (vox pop)070 CON: Party member071 LAB: John Prescott072 LAB: Jack Straw073 LAB: Gordon Brown074 LAB: Robin Cook075 LAB: Harriet Harman076 LAB: David Blunkett077 LAB: Margaret Beckett078 LAB: Chris Smith079 LAB: Other Shadow Cabinet080 LAB: Peter Mandelson081 LAB: Neil Kinnock082 LAB: John Smith083 LAB: George Robertson085 LAB: Unnamed Party Source086 LAB: Other MPs/ Candidates/ Peers, etc.087 LAB: Spouse/ Family of MP/ Candidate088 LAB: Other Spokesperson089 LAB: Supporter (vox pop)090 LAB: Party member091 LDem: Alan Beith092 LDem: Alex Carlile093 LDem: Malcolm Bruce094 LDem: Menzies Campbell095 LDem: Simon Hughes096 LDem: Emma Nicholson097 LDem: Charles Kennedy098 LDem: Lord Holme099 LDem: Jim Wallace100 LDem: Unnamed Party Source101 LDem: Other MPs/ Candidates/ Peers etc.102 LDem: Spouse/ Family of MP/ Candidate103 LDem: Other Spokesperson104 LDem: Supporter (vox pop)105 LDem: Party member106 SNP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.107 PC: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.108 Ref: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.109 UKIndP: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.110 SocLab: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.111 Green: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.112 NLawP: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.113 BNP: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.114 UUP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.115 DUP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.116 SDLP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.117 Sinn Fein: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.118 Other NI parties: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.119 Other parties/ candidates

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121 Expert122 Pollster123 Trade Union representative124 CBI representative125 Business representative (not CBI)126 City representative127 Agriculture representative128 BMA/ NHS worker/ supporter129 Govt. spokesperson (non-partisan)130 Unnamed Sources131 Citizen (non-partisan)132 Other Media (incl. other media's polls)133 Policy Institutes (non-partisan)134 Parliamentary Lobbyist135 Other representative136 Environment pressure groups137 Health pressure groups138 Family/ Children pressure groups139 Gun lobby/ blood sports groups (pro/anti)140 Gay Issues pressure groups141 Other pressure groups142 N.I. paramilitaries143 Clergy144 Judiciary145 Police/ security146 Public bodies147 Intergovernmental bodies148 EU Representative151 Voter reaction152 Media/ Special Correspondents153 Govt. documents/ figures154 Bank/ Markets/ City155 Royalty156 Bookmakers157 Hecklers/ Demonstrators158 Other world leaders159 Celebrities999 Other/ Not applicable

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TABLE 2: STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?)

201 ELECTION CAMPAIGN: General Conduct202 Political Strategy (any party)203 Media Strategy (any party)204 Campaign Ads (any party)205 Campaign Organization (any party)206 Hecklers/ Protests207 Getting Out the Vote208 Ethnic Voters209 Endorsements (any party)210 Politicians' Travels (any party)211 No Substance212 Leaked Information213 Campaign Spending (any party)214 Accessibility of Candidates/ Parties215 Tactical Voting216 Boundary Changes217 Election Campaign: Other specific issues218 Media Coverage (sidebars/ contents)

221 POLLS/ HORSERACE: general222 Marginal Seats223 Party Private Poll224 Media Own Poll225 Issue/ Other Poll226 Horserace: Party View227 Outcome Prediction228 Hung Parliament scenario229 Bandwagon230 TV Use Press Poll231 Party Reaction to Poll232 Election Hotline (tabloid reader poll)

241 PARTY LEADERS: general242 DITLO Leader243 Physical Security244 Qualities: Major245 Qualities: Blair246 Qualities: Ashdown247 Record: Major248 Record: Blair249 Record: Ashdown250 Compare Records/ Qualiies251 Thatcher: Campaigning/ Qualities/ Record

261 MEDIA TREATMENT: general262 Treatment: Major263 Treatment: Blair264 Treatment: Ashdown265 Treatment: Conservative Party266 Treatment: Labour Party267 Treatment: LibDems268 Press Endorsement

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269 TV / Press Coverage

281 PARTIES: Manifesto: Conservative282 Manifesto: Labour283 Manifesto: LibDem284 Record: Conservative285 Record: Labour286 Record: LibDem287 Conservative Internal Politics (general)288 Conservative Internal Politics (dissent)289 Labour Internal Politics (general)290 Labour Internal Politics (dissent)291 LibDem Internal Politics292 Scottish Nationalist Party293 Plaid Cymru294 Referendum Party295 UK Independence Party296 Socialist Labour Party297 Green Party298 Natural Law Party299 British National Party300 Ulster Unionist Party301 Democratic Unionist Party302 SDLP303 Sinn Fein304 Other Northern Ireland party305 Other party306 Martin Bell

311 CAMPAIGN ISSUES: Negative Campaigning312 Professionalisation of campaigning313 "Americanisation" (specifically) of campaigning314 Sleaze315 Hamilton/ Greer/ Cash for Questions (specific)316 Gaffes (general)317 Terrorism/ Bomb Scare318 Campaign Gimmicks319 Leadership (as issue)

326 CONSTITUTION/ POL. SYST.: general327 Pol. Institutions: Parlt./ Lords/ Judiciary328 Political Role of Monarchy329 Electoral Reform330 Bill of Rights331 Freedom of Information332 Secrecy333 MI5/ MI6334 Local Govt.335 Political Participation336 Policy: Conservative (not devolution)337 Policy: Labour (not devolution)338 Policy: LibDem (not devolution)339 Devolution (constitutional)

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346 DEFENCE: general347 Policy: Conservative348 Policy: Labour349 Policy: LibDem

351 ECONOMY: general352 Jobs/ Unemployment353 Inflation354 Wages/ Earnings355 Executive Pay ("Fat Cats")356 Personal Taxation357 Council Tax/ Business Rates358 VAT359 Corporate Taxation360 Agriculture361 Industry/ Business/ Manufacturing362 Trade Unions363 Industrial Action364 Nationalisation365 Privatisation366 Privatised Utilities367 Balance of Trade368 Public Spending369 Public Borrowing370 Economic Recovery371 Interest Rates372 Savings Schemes373 Money Supply374 Markets/ City375 "Stakeholding"376 Policy: Conservative377 Policy: Labour378 Policy: LibDem379 Budget: Conservative380 Budget: Labour381 Budget: LibDem

391 SOCIAL WELFARE: general392 NHS393 Health (general)394 Pte. Medicine/ Hospitals/ Insurance397 Soc. Sec.: Elderly/ Pensions398 Jobseekers' Allowance399 Child Benefit400 Other Benefits401 Welfare State402 Law & Order: Crime403 Law & Order: Penal System405 UK Ethnic Minorities406 Immigrants407 Racism408 Refugees409 Poverty

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410 Homelessness411 Women412 Youth413 The Family414 Welfare Cuts415 Policy: Conservative416 Policy: Labour417 Policy: LibDem418 Gun Control

421 EDUC., TECHNOL., ARTS: Education general422 Schools423 Universities/ Colleges424 Science & Technology425 Arts/ Arts Funding426 National Lottery427 Other issues428 Policy: Conservative429 Policy: Labour430 Policy: LibDem

441 INFRASTRUCTURE: general442 Housing/ Urban Devpt.443 Public Transport444 Roads445 Railways446 Other issues447 Policy: Conservative448 Policy: Labour449 Policy: LibDem

451 ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY: general452 Nuclear Power453 North Sea Oil454 Environmental Conservation455 Energy Conservation456 Power Generation/ Supply457 Water Supply458 Other issues459 Policy: Conservative460 Policy: Labour461 Policy: LibDem

471 FOREIGN AFFAIRS: general472 Relations with Non-European Nations473 Relations with European Nations474 EU (general)475 EU: Monetary Union476 EU: Social Chapter477 EU as Threat to Sovereignty478 Anglo-Irish relations479 Falklands480 Third World481 Overseas Development

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482 Policy: Conservative483 Policy: Labour484 Policy: LibDem485 Policy: REF/ UKInd

491 REGIONS: Scotland: general492 Scotland: devolution493 Scots Law/ Legal System494 Scotland: voting/ electoral politics495 Wales: general496 Wales: devolution497 English Regions498 London499 N.I.: general500 N.I.: voting/ electoral politics501 N.I.: peace process502 Policy: Conservative503 Policy: Labour504 Policy: LibDem505 Policy: SNP506 Policy: Plaid Cymru507 Policy: Ulster Unionist Party508 Policy: Democratic Unionist Party509 Policy: SDLP510 Policy: Sinn Fein511 Policy: Other Northern Ireland party512 N.I.: Terrorism (not "peace process")

801 NON-POLITICAL: Di802 Fergie803 The Queen804 Other Royalty stories805 Games/ Promotions806 Crimes807 Celebrities808 Other Human Interest809 World Events/ Issues/ Leaders810 Sports811 Economy (non-political)812 Health (non-political)819 Other Non-Political stories999 None/ Not Applicable

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TABLE 3: INITIATORS

I01 Conservative PartyI02 Labour PartyI03 LibDemsI04 Scottish Nationalist PartyI05 Plaid CymruI06 Referendum PartyI07 Socialist Labour PartyI08 Green PartyI09 UK Independence PartyI10 Natural Law PartyI11 British National PartyI12 Northern Ireland PartiesI13 Pro-Life AllianceI18 Other partiesI19 Mixture of partiesI21 Media (poll/ anal./ interview)I22 GovernmentI23 Interest GroupI98 Other causes or occasionsI99 Can't determine

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TABLE 4: REPORTERS’ COMMENTS

RC01 Reinforcing CONRC02 Reinforcing LABRC03 Reinforcing LDemRC04 Reinforcing SNPRC05 Reinforcing PCRC06 Reinforcing REFRC07 Reinforcing SocLabRC08 Reinforcing GreenRC09 Reinforcing UKIndRC10 Reinforcing NatLawRC11 Reinforcing BNPRC12 Reinforcing NIRC13 Reinforcing CON/LABRC14 Reinforcing CON+RC15 Reinforcing LAB+RC16 Reinforcing CON/LAB+RC21 Mixed CONRC22 Mixed LABRC23 Mixed LDemRC24 Mixed SNPRC25 Mixed PCRC26 Mixed REFRC27 Mixed SocLabRC28 Mixed GreenRC29 Mixed UKIndRC30 Mixed NatLawRC31 Mixed BNPRC32 Mixed NIRC33 Mixed CON/LABRC34 Mixed CON+RC35 Mixed LAB+RC36 Mixed CON/LAB+RC41 Deflating CONRC42 Deflating LABRC43 Deflating LDemRC44 Deflating SNPRC45 Deflating PCRC46 Deflating REFRC47 Deflating SocLabRC48 Deflating GreenRC49 Deflating UKIndRC50 Deflating NatLawRC51 Deflating BNPRC52 Deflating NIRC53 Deflating CON/LABRC54 Deflating CON+RC55 Deflating LAB+RC56 Deflating CON/LAB+RC61 Straight CONRC62 Straight LABRC63 Straight LDem

25

RC64 Straight SNPRC65 Straight PCRC66 Straight REFRC67 Straight SocLabRC68 Straight GreenRC69 Straight UKIndRC70 Straight NatLawRC71 Straight BNPRC72 Straight NIRC73 Straight CON/LABRC74 Straight CON+RC75 Straight LAB+RC76 Straight CON/LAB+RC98 Can't determineRC99 Not applicable

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APPENDIX A: Guidance on coding unnamed sources as V23-42 SOURCES FOR QUOTESor V43-52 CITED AS SOURCE BUT NOT QUOTED.

Often quotes or citations are not attributed to specific individualspeakers, but to ‘a spokesman’, ‘a source’, etc. Many of these, some ofwhich derive from lobby or off-the-record briefings, involve party (orparty-faction) affiliations but do not identify speakers directly.Additionally, there are various unnamed non-party sources.

We have decided that unnamed non-party sources present less of a problemand consequently that these can be coded in relation to role, occupation orthe person for whom they are speaking. However, we are much moreuncomfortable about coding in relation to role, occupation or the personfor whom they are speaking in the case of party-affiliated sources (eg. itwould be misleading to code ‘a Blair aide’ as “Tony Blair” (032)).Conssequently, the following guidelines have been developed in order toproduce consistency in coding unnamed but party-affiliated sources:

Collective attributions seeming to reflect the will of the party andexpressing the party line (‘Senior Tories’, ‘the Labour leadership’) arecoded as the party (001 Conservative Party, 002 Labour Party, etc.), thoughthis depends on context - ‘senior Tories’ cited as expressing opinions atodds with the party line are coded “Unnamed Party Source” (065 CON: UnnamedParty Source, 085 LAB: Unnamed Party Source, etc.). Unnamed individualswith party attributions are coded “Unnamed Party Source” unless there seemto be grounds for thinking that they are party spokespersons/ strategists(the word ‘aide’ is often significant here, for example) in which case theyare coded as such (068 CON: Other Spokesperson, 088 LAB: OtherSpokesperson, etc.).

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APPENDIX B: Definitions for Location of Visuals value labels for use incoding V75-V94 TV VISUALS.

A “Walkabout” involves meeting ordinary people in ordinary locations(shopping streets, etc.), often with hand-shaking, baby-kissing, etc.Photo op meetings with specific groups or in staged locations (eg.meeting a battalion of soldiers, playing football with local kids) arecoded “Photo Op - other.”“TV studio” is not intended for interviews specifically (these are notcoded) but covers those fairly frequent instances where visualsillustrate v/o’s such as ‘[?] spent all day giving televisioninterviews”, as well as material from television appearances (chat-shows, talk-shows, debates) where actors are shown saying newsworthythings (new policies, gaffes, etc.).“Organised Demo” is intended for organised street demonstrations only,not for disruptions to speeches or rallies nor for isolated hecklers.“Westminster (interior)” covers visuals in both Houses of Parliament,committees, corridors, etc. The frequent appearances of MPs outsideWestminster are coded “Street”.“Meeting” is for for private meetings only (eg. of party strategists,policy teams, scientific advisors, etc) normally involving sober-looking people sitting around a table, and not for meetings involvingthe public.“Street” reflects the fact that actors are frequently questioned byjournalists in the street or whilst emerging from cars, or picturedanxiously hurrying to and from engagements. Street scenes in DowningStreet are coded “Downing St.”.“Photo Op - other” is a ‘dump’ category for photo ops which are notclassifiable under other headings. Photo ops as part of the campaignsthemselves should be coded “Campaign Trail: Other”.

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1997 BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN

BRITISH NEWS CONTENT ANALYSIS CODEBOOK OF VARIABLE NAMES ANDDEFINITIONS:PRESS VERSION

Holli A. SemetkoProfessor and Chair of Audience and Public Opinion Research

University of AmsterdamOude Hoogstraat 241012 CE Amsterdam

THE NETHERLANDStel: 31 20 525 2263; fax 31 20 525 2179; home tel: 31 20 622 5527

email: [email protected]

Margaret ScammellUniversity of Liverpool


Liverpool L69 3BXUK

tel: 44 151 794 2656fax: 44 151 794 [email protected]

Peter GoddardUniversity of Liverpool


Liverpool L69 3BXUK

tel: 44 151 794 2993fax: 44 151 794 3948

[email protected]

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Relevant Publications

Many of the variables mentioned in the following pages have been coded atevery British general election campaign since 1983. A number of thesevariables have also been used to code news from recent election campaignsin Germany, Spain, and the US for the purposes of cross-nationalcomparison. These data are the subject of the following publications:

Blumler, Jay G. and Holli A. Semetko, 1987, "Communication and Legislative Campaigns in a Unitary Parliamentary Democracy:The Case of Britain" Legislative Studies Quarterly Vol. 12 No. 3. pp. 415-443.

Curtice, John and Holli Semetko, 1994, "Does it matter what the papers say?" in A. Heath, R. Jowell and J. Curtice [eds] Labour'sLast Chance? The 1992 election and beyond Aldershot: Dartmouth. pp. 43-64.

Diez-Nicolas, Juan and Holli A. Semetko. 1995. “La television y las elecciones de 1993” in Alejandro Munoz-Alonso and JuanIgnacio Rospir [eds] Communicacion Politica Madrid: editorial Universitas, S.A. pp. 243-304.

Mathes, Rainer and Holli A. Semetko, 1991, "Foreword: A Comparative Perspective on Television and Election Campaigns" inPolitical Communication and Persuasion special issue on "Television and Election Campaigning in Advanced Industrial Societies,"Vol. 8. No. 4. pp. 139-144.

Nossiter, T.J., Margaret Scammell and Holli A. Semetko, 1995, "Old Values versus News Values" in Ivor Crewe and BrianGosschalk. [eds] Political Communications in the 1992 British General Election Campaign. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress. pp. 85-103.

Scammell, Margaret and Holli A. Semetko, 1995, "Political Advertising on Television: The British Experience" in Lynda Lee Kaidand Christina Holz-Bacha [eds] Political Advertising in the U.S. and Western Europe Beverly Hills: Sage. pp. 19-43.

Semetko, Holli A., 1989, "Television News and the 'Third Force' in British Politics: A Case Study of Election Communication"European Journal of Communication. Volume 4, Number 4. 1989. pp. 453-481.

Semetko, Holli A., 1991, "Images of Britain's Changing Party System: TV News and the 1983 and 1987 General ElectionCampaigns" Political Communication and Persuasion. Vol. 8. No. 4. pp. 163-181.

Semetko, Holli A., 1992, "Broadcasting and Election Communication in Britain" in Frederick J. Fletcher [ed] Media, Elections andDemocracy Vol. 19 of the research studies of the Canadian Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing. Toronto:RCERPF and Dundurn. pp. 25-62.

Semetko, Holli A., 1996. “Journalistic Culture in Comparative Perspective: The Concept of ‘Balance’ in U.S., British and GermanTV News” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. 51-71.

Semetko, Holli A. and Klaus Schoenbach, 1993, "The Campaign in the Media" in Russell Dalton [ed] The New Germany Votes:Unification and the Creation of the New German Party System. Providence, RI and Oxford UK: Berg. pp. 187-208.

Semetko Holli A. and Klaus Schoenbach, 1994, Germany's “Unity' Election”: Voters and the Media Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.Schoenbach, Klaus and Holli A. Semetko, 1994, "Medienberichterstattung und Parteienwerbung im Bundestagswahlkampf 1990:Ergebnisse aus Inhaltsanalysen und Befragungen"[Media coverage and party advertising in the national election campaign 1990:Evidence from content analyses and surveys] Medien Perspektiven 7/94 pp. 328-340.

Semetko, Holli, Margaret Scammell, and T.J. Nossiter, 1994, "Media Coverage of the 1992 British General Election Campaign" inAnthony Heath, Roger Jowell and John Curtice [eds] Labour's Last Chance? The 1992 election and beyond Aldershot: Dartmouth.pp. 25-42.

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Schoenbach, Klaus and Holli A. Semetko, 1995. “Journalistische ‘Professionalitaet’ versus Chancengleicheit von Regierung undOpposition: Das Dilemma der aktuellen Berichterstattung im Wahlkampf.” [Journalistic “professionalism” vs. equal opportunitiesfor government and opposition: A dilemma for news coverage of election campaigns] in K. Armingeon & R. Blum [Eds] Dasoeffentliche Theater: Politik und Medien in der Demokratie. Bern, Stuttgart, Vienna: Paul Haupt. pp.49-64.

Schoenbach, Klaus & Holli A. Semetko, 1996. “Wahlkommunikation, Journalisten und Waehler: Fuenf thesen aumBundestagswahlkampf 1990 -- mit einem internationalen Vergleich und einem ersten Blick auf 1994 [Election communication,journalists and voters: five theses on the 1990 German national election campaign -- with an international comparison and first lookat 1994] In H. Oberreuter (Ed.) Parteiensystem am Wendepunkt? Wahlen in der Fernsehdemokratie Munich: Olzog. pp. 153-164.

Semetko, Holli A. Jay G. Blumler, Michael Gurevitch, David H. Weaver, 1991, The Formation of Campaign Agendas: AComparative Analysis of Party and Media Roles in Recent American and British Elections Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

4

1997 BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN NEWS CONTENT ANALYSIS CODEBOOK

The 1997 study is sponsored by a grant from the British Economic and SocialResearch Council (ESRC) to Margaret Scammell and Holli Semetko. We arecoding political news from the date of the commencement of the campaign(April 1st 1997) to the 1997 election day itself (expected to be a periodof between three and four weeks), as well as during each three-week periodcovering the principal field-work dates in 1996 for the British PanelElection Study, which has continued since 1992.

Coding this year takes the form of direct input to an MS Access database.This codebook represents a text equivalent of that database.

TELEVISIONEvery news story on television will be coded, but political stories will becoded more elaborately than non-political stories. The full list ofvariables will be coded for all campaign stories, as well as all storiesmaking reference to politicians or political parties from Britain, and allstories mentioning British politicians or the election if from a foreignsource. We do not code in detail any other stories, but we include them inour database and call them “non-political.” For these TV stories, we codeonly the details of their placement in the bulletin (V1-V11) and theirfirst main subject (V53 Story Subject (What?)).

PRESSWe still need to determine the range of pages we will code in the Britishnewspapers. Page one for each newspaper will be coded at a minimum, andadditional pages will be coded if financial resources permit. As withtelevision, every story on our chosen page(s) will be coded, but politicalstories will be coded more elaborately than non-political stories. Thefull list of variables will be coded for all campaign stories, as well asall stories making reference to politicians or political parties fromBritain, and all stories mentioning British politicians or the election iffrom a foreign source. We do not code in detail any other stories, but weinclude them in our database and call them “non-political.” For thesepress stories, we code only the details of their placement (V1-V15), theirfirst main subject (V57 Story Subject (What?)) and, where they areaccompanied by photographs or other visual devices, the size of photos/visual devices and whether they are in colour (see V78-V89).

This codebook contains variable definitions and value labels applying topress news.

5

VARIABLE LIST

V1 UNIQUE STORY ID NUMBER ____ ____ ____ ____

V2 DATE (dd/mm/yy)____ ____ ____

V3 NEWSPAPER ____ ____ Sun Mirror Mail Express Guardian Independent Telegraph Times Financial Times

V4 PAGE NUMBER

V5 MAIN HEADLINE

V6 HEAD SIZE ____ in sq. cm - incl. front page sub-heads

V7 TEXT SIZE in sq. cm - all front page text of story below byline

____ ____ ____

V8 CONTINUATION SIZE in sq. cm - all continuation text except headline

____

V9 NUMBER OF COLUMNS of front page text

V10 CAMPAIGN MENTIONEDIs the campaign mentioned in the story? (y/n)

V11 TOP HALF?Is all or part of the story on the top half of the page? (y/n)

V12 COLOUR TEXT/ BACKGROUND IN STORY?Is the story text coloured or set against a coloured background? (y/n)

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V13 BOXED?Is the story presented within a box? (y/n)

V14 WIRE SERVICE AS SOURCE?Which wire service is given as the source of the story? Reuters Other None

V15 STORY TYPE ____ ____(STRAIGHT: relates to events over previous 24-hrs;NEWS ANALYSIS: Brings together info from different points in time.)

STRAIGHT NEWS opinion poll 01 issue profile 02 press conference 03 walkabout 04 rally,mtg, speech 05 campaign trail mixed 06 investigative 07 other 08NEWS ANALYSIS opinion poll 11 issue profile 12 press conference 13 walkabout 14 rally,mtg, speech 15 campaign trail mixed 16 investigative 17 other 18FEATURE interview 21 profile/DITLO 22 (Day In The Life Of) press conference 23 walkabout 24 rally,mtg,speech 25 campaign trail mixed 26 constit. report 27 other 28OTHER signed column 31 editorial 32 cartoon 33 photograph 34 illustration/ graphic 35 sidebar 36 other 37 reporter evaluation 38PARTY PAID ADVERTISEMENT 41NON-POLITICAL 99 (ie. no reference to campaign, politicians,political parties. Enter SUBJECT under V?? ("Story Subject (What)?").

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Enter PHOTO SIZE and COLOUR? under Press Photos where applicable. Nofurther data required.)

V16 SETTING/ OCCASIONWhat is the Setting or Occasion of the story?(Note the occasion that gave rise to the story - ie. the immediate stimulusfor the action or events reported in the story).

S01 Political: LegislativeS02 Political: GovernmentS03 Political: Party MeetingS04 Political: Interest Group Meeti ngS05 Political: International EventS06 Political: Other political actionsS11 Campaign: Event/ Rally/ Photo op., etc.S12 Campaign: Press conference/ Statement to pressS13 Campaign: Other campaign actionsS21 Media: InterviewsS22 Media: Journalist rpt./ News analysis/ Poll rpt.S23 Media-sponsored public opinion pollS24 Media: Other media actionsS31 Other causes or occasionsS99 No identifiable setting

V17-26 STORY ACTORS (WHOM?)Who is the story about? (in order of importance/ predominance) Up to tenactors are coded in the story. This variable assesses the main actor(s) inthe story, in order of importance as indicated by a combination of theamount of time, or frequency, or order in which they appear.

See attached table of Story Subject (Whom?) variables (Table 1).Max. 10 entries.

V27-46 SOURCES FOR QUOTESThere is often considerable overlap between the main actors in the story,and those who are quoted or who are seen speaking (soundbites on TV) in thestory. But there is not necessarily a direct correspondence. This variableis another indicator of the presence of partisans in the news, as itmeasures who is seen and how long they are speaking. Who is quoted/speaking as a source in the story? How long is the quote/soundbite? (linesof text/seconds)

Use attached table of Story Subject (Whom?) variables (Table 1) foractors/sources.Give the aggregate length of quotes (no. of lines of text) from eachsource.Max. 10 entries (give actor and length for each = 20 entries).See APPENDIX A for guidance on coding unnamed sources.

8

V47-56 CITED AS SOURCE BUT NOT QUOTEDPoliticans may also be cited (mentioned) but not seen speaking (or quoted)in a news story. Who is cited as a source in the story? Use attached tableof actors/sources (Whom?) variables (Table 1) to identify these.Max. 10 entries.See APPENDIX A for guidance on coding unnamed sources.

V57-68 STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?)The subject or topic list should be used to identify the mostpredominant/important subject in the story. Up to five additional subjectsshould be coded, if necessary, in order of importance/predominance. Sixsubjects in total can be coded for each story. The first/most importantsubject in the story should have the highest reliability between coders.

Each subject in a story should also be coded for its initiation. Whoinitiated each of subjects in the story? Party initiated subjects come fromplanned events, material from press releases or opening statements atmorning press conferences, statements not prompted by journalists.Subjects initiated by media include material from journalists' questions onthe campaign trail, from different points in time, etc. Where it is notpossible clearly to identify the initiator of the story, it should be codedit as “can’t determine.”

Use attached table of Story Subject (What?) variables (Table 2) forsubjects.

Use attached table of Initiators (Table 3) for initiator.

Max. 6 subjects (give subject and initiator for each = 12 entries).

V69-74 REPORTERS’ COMMENTSWe are interested in the ways reporters contextualize the news about

politicians’ campaign activities and statements. Reporters’ comments referto the remarks made by reporters that surround or set the scene for thecandidate activities or candidate statements. For TV, reporters’ commentscome between the soundbites from sources. For the press, reporters’comments come between the quoted material from sources. Up to six commentscan be coded for each story. We aim to determine whether or not reporters’ comments werenondirectional (straight/descriptive) or whether they appeared to bereinforcing or deflating the statements and activities or politicians.Some comments may be a mixture of reinforcing and deflating, such as: “Itstarted off as a bad day for Mr. Major on the campaign trail, but by thetime of the evening rally in Colchester he was in top form....” thenfollows a soundbite from Major.

Code once for overall tone of each sequence of comments bounded byquotes. (Reporting actions is coded STRAIGHT. Code editorials/ signedcolumns as "RC99". Rarely, where radically different comments are includedin same block, two codes may be used.)

Use attached table of Reporters’ Comments variables (Table 4).Max. 6 entries.

9

V75 OVERALL TONE OF COMMENTS IN STORYHere the coder should provide a single entry to summarize the tone of allreporters’ comments in the story. This should generally be an aggregate ofReporters’ Comments (V69-74) entries.

Use attached table of Reporters’ Comments variables (Table 4).

V76 DISDAINDisdain: Reporters may try to distance themselves from what they perceiveto be pseudo-events, and they portray event as staged, or as a photo op, orrefer to reality behind the scenes. Examples of disdain in 1983 in Britainwere rather timid/ironic compared to some of the more direct disdainingcomments by US reporters. We can expect that as politicians in Britainhave become more skilled at and interested in staging events, reporters maydevelop a more direct disdaining style.UK Examples. Nick Witchell, BBC, 1983: “The Prime Minister climbed aboarda tractor, showed an extraordinary interest in silage making, and had herphotograph taken several thousand times.” “Her aides didn’t want us tofilm it, but there backstage is the girl and the projection machine whotogether add that extra something to the Thatcher style. In this electionthe Prime Minister has a special campaign song, slick advertising men andsharp TV presentation. At the end of each rally there is piped patrioticmusic [MUSIC SOUNDBITE]. It is a heavy atmosphere. Nonetheless, Mrs.Thatcher would be among the first to say it is the issues which count.”US 1984 Examples. “Those schoolchildren didn’t just happen to be there. Itwas planned by [Mondale’s] advance team.”Chris Wallace, NBC: “A campaign that even Hollywood would envy, tonight ourWhite House correspondent takes us backstage on a Reagan tour. The point ofall this -- to make the President look good on television. The audiencewould largely be extras on a stage. The well rehearsed rally was the usualshow stopper.”Does the reporter express "disdain" in the story ? If so, towards whichparty? (Also write down the disdaining remark, the reporter, program,date, in a separate file).

_____ No/ N/A 99 Conservative 01 Labour 02 LibDem 03 SNP 04 PC 05 Referendum 06 UKInd 07 SocLab 08 Green 09 NatLaw 10 BNP 11 NI Parties 12 Other Parties 13 Mixture 14

10

V77 REPORTER CORRECTIONDid the reporter correct statements or information provided by a party? Ifso, by which party?:

No/ N/A 99 Conservative 01 Labour 02 LibDem 03 SNP 04 PC 05 Referendum 06 UKInd 07 SocLab 08 Green 09 NatLaw 10 BNP 11 NI Parties 12 Other Parties 13 Mixture 14

V78-V89 PRESS PHOTOSIf the story is accompanied by photographs or other visual devices, codeeach for:-

Who was the subject of the photo/visual? (see Table 1)Who initiated the photo/visual? (see Table 3)Where was the photo/visual located? Use the following variables to code location of visuals:

Press ConferenceSpeechParty ConferenceWalkaboutDowning St.TV StudioOrganised DemoWestminster (interior)MeetingStreetCampaign Trail: speechCampaign Trail: protests/ hecklersCampaign Trail: OtherInstitution: School/ Hospital, etc.Photo Op - otherCampaign Ad"Mug Shot"CartoonGraphicInanimate objectOtherCan't DetermineNot applicable

11

(See APPENDIX B for detailed definitions for some of these value labels)

What was the tone of the visual? Code tone as: Positive, Negative or Neutral (if in doubt, code tone from perspective of campaign)

How big was it? (in sq. cm.)Was it in colour? (y/n)

Max. 2 photos/ visual devices. Include those on continuation pages.(give subject, initiator, location, tone, size, whether in colour, for each= 12 entries). If more, take most significant.

V90-92TONE OF STORY TOWARDS MAIN ACTORCoders are often confused about whether their personal partisan biases mayenter into coding on this variable. Therefore, we ask the coder to evaluatethe tone of the story as a whole FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PARTY ORCANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN.Based on story as a whole including all information in the story (visualsand sound on TV, and in the press the headline) what is the tone of thestory towards the main actor? Code 0 if the candidate or party is notmentioned in the story. Code 9 if the candidate or party is mentioned, butthe story is neutral/straight. If the story displays some positive ornegative characteristics, code the story as a whole on the seven pointscale where 1 is very negative and 7 is very positive.

V90 Favourability to Major/ Conservatives from perspective of campaign:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 STRAIGHTVERY MIXED VERY 0 N/ANEG. POS.

V91 Favourability to Blair/ Labour from perspective of campaign:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 STRAIGHTVERY MIXED VERY 0 N/ANEG. POS.

V92 Favourability to Ashdown/ Lib Dems from perspective of campaign:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 STRAIGHTVERY MIXED VERY 0 N/ANEG. POS.

12

CANDIDATE AND PARTY TRAITSCode only where exact, or closely synonymous, wording is present; fromverbal cues only, from any speaker (reporter or source).[NB. this range of variables corresponds to questions of leadership andparty image to be asked in related opinion surveys conducted as part of theBritish Election Study]

Is Major portrayed as:V93 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V94 Capable of being a strong leader? 1 Not capable of being a




N/A 3

Is the Conservative Party portrayed as:V102 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V103 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V104 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V105 Stands up for Britain abroad? 1 Does not stand up for Britain



Is Blair portrayed as:V109 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V110 Capable of being a strong leader? 1 Not capable of being a




N/A 3

Is the Labour Party portrayed as:V118 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V119 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V120 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V121 Stands up for Britain abroad? 1 Does not stand up for Britain

abroad? 2 N/A 3

13

V122 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V123 Capable of strong government? 1 Not capable of strong


Is Ashdown portrayed as:V125 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V126 Capable of being a strong leader? 1 Not capable of being a




N/A 3

Is the LibDem Party portrayed as:V134 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V135 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V136 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V137 Stands up for Britain abroad? 1 Does not stand up for Britain



Is the SNP portrayed as:V141 Extreme? 1 Moderate? 2 N/A 3V142 United? 1 Divided? 2 N/A 3V143 Good for all classes? 1 Good for one class? 2 N/A 3V144 Trustworthy? 1 Not Trustworthy? 2 N/A 3V145 Capable of strong government? 1 Not capable of strong


V147Some stories contain a great deal of policy relevant information whileothers contain very little, and these should be coded on the seven pointscale. Some contain none whatsoever, and these should be coded as 0.

What is the density of policy relevant information?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 N/AVERY VERYLOW HIGH

14

TABLE 1: STORY ACTORS/SOURCES (WHOM?)

001 Conservative Party002 Labour Party003 Liberal Democrats004 Scottish Nationalist Party005 Plaid Cymru006 Referendum Party007 UK Independence Party008 Socialist Labour Party009 Green Party010 Natural Law Party011 British National Party012 Ulster Unionist Party013 Democratic Unionist Party014 SDLP015 Sinn Fein016 Other Northern Ireland party017 Other parties018 Conservative & Labour019 Conservative & LibDem020 Labour & LibDem021 Labour, LibDem & Conservative022 Pro-Life Alliance031 John Major032 Tony Blair033 Paddy Ashdown034 Alex Salmond (SNP)035 Dafydd Wigley (PC)036 Sir James Goldsmith (Ref)037 Arthur Scargill (SocLab)038 Northern Ireland leaders041 Major & Blair042 Major & Ashdown043 Blair & Ashdown044 Major, Blair & Ashdown045 Mrs Major046 Mrs Blair047 Mrs Ashdown048 Martin Bell051 CON: Michael Heseltine052 CON: Michael Howard053 CON: Kenneth Clarke054 CON: Malcolm Rifkind055 CON: Peter Lilley056 CON: Gillian Shephard057 CON: Michael Portillo058 CON: Brian Mawhinney059 CON: Stephen Dorrell060 CON: Other Cabinet Minister061 CON: John Redwood062 CON: Baroness Thatcher063 CON: Neil Hamilton064 CON: Michael Forsyth

15

065 CON: Unnamed Party Source066 CON: Other MPs/ Candidates/ Peers, etc.067 CON: Spouse/ Family of MP/ Candidate068 CON: Other Spokesperson069 CON: Supporter (vox pop)070 CON: Party member071 LAB: John Prescott072 LAB: Jack Straw073 LAB: Gordon Brown074 LAB: Robin Cook075 LAB: Harriet Harman076 LAB: David Blunkett077 LAB: Margaret Beckett078 LAB: Chris Smith079 LAB: Other Shadow Cabinet080 LAB: Peter Mandelson081 LAB: Neil Kinnock082 LAB: John Smith083 LAB: George Robertson085 LAB: Unnamed Party Source086 LAB: Other MPs/ Candidates/ Peers, etc.087 LAB: Spouse/ Family of MP/ Candidate088 LAB: Other Spokesperson089 LAB: Supporter (vox pop)090 LAB: Party member091 LDem: Alan Beith092 LDem: Alex Carlile093 LDem: Malcolm Bruce094 LDem: Menzies Campbell095 LDem: Simon Hughes096 LDem: Emma Nicholson097 LDem: Charles Kennedy098 LDem: Lord Holme099 LDem: Jim Wallace100 LDem: Unnamed Party Source101 LDem: Other MPs/ Candidates/ Peers etc.102 LDem: Spouse/ Family of MP/ Candidate103 LDem: Other Spokesperson104 LDem: Supporter (vox pop)105 LDem: Party member106 SNP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.107 PC: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.108 Ref: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.109 UKIndP: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.110 SocLab: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.111 Green: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.112 NLawP: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.113 BNP: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.114 UUP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.115 DUP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.116 SDLP: MP/ Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.117 Sinn Fein: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.118 Other NI parties: Cand./ Spokes./ Supptr.119 Other parties/ candidates/ Spokes./ Supptr.

16

121 Expert122 Pollster123 Trade Union representative124 CBI representative125 Business representative (not CBI)126 City representative127 Agriculture representative128 BMA/ NHS worker/ supporter129 Govt. spokesperson (non-partisan)130 Unnamed Sources131 Citizen (non-partisan)132 Other Media (incl. other media's polls)133 Policy Institutes (non-partisan)134 Parliamentary Lobbyist135 Other representative136 Environment pressure groups137 Health pressure groups138 Family/ Children pressure groups139 Gun lobby/ blood sports groups (anti/pro)140 Gay Issues pressure groups141 Other pressure groups142 N.I. paramilitaries143 Clergy144 Judiciary145 Police/ security146 Public bodies147 Intergovernmental bodies148 EU Representative151 Voter reaction152 Media/ Special Correspondents153 Govt. documents/ figures154 Bank/ Markets/ City155 Royalty156 Bookmakers157 Hecklers/ Demonstrators158 Other world leaders159 Celebrities999 Other/ Not applicable

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TABLE 2: STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?)

201 ELECTION CAMPAIGN: General Conduct202 Political Strategy (any party)203 Media Strategy (any party)204 Campaign Ads (any party)205 Campaign Organization (any party)206 Hecklers/ Protests207 Getting Out the Vote208 Ethnic Voters209 Endorsements (any party)210 Politicians' Travels (any party)211 No Substance212 Leaked Information213 Campaign Spending (any party)214 Accessibility of Candidates/ Parties215 Tactical Voting216 Boundary Changes217 Election Campaign: Other specific issues218 Media Coverage (sidebars/ contents)

221 POLLS/ HORSERACE: general222 Marginal Seats223 Party Private Poll224 Media Own Poll225 Issue/ Other Poll226 Horserace: Party View227 Outcome Prediction228 Hung Parliament scenario229 Bandwagon230 TV Use Press Poll231 Party Reaction to Poll232 Election Hotline (tabloid reader poll)

241 PARTY LEADERS: general242 DITLO Leader243 Physical Security244 Qualities: Major245 Qualities: Blair246 Qualities: Ashdown247 Record: Major248 Record: Blair249 Record: Ashdown250 Compare Records/ Qualiies251 Thatcher: Campaigning/ Qualities/ Record

261 MEDIA TREATMENT: general262 Treatment: Major263 Treatment: Blair264 Treatment: Ashdown265 Treatment: Conservative Party266 Treatment: Labour Party267 Treatment: LibDems268 Press Endorsement

18

269 TV / Press Coverage

281 PARTIES: Manifesto: Conservative282 Manifesto: Labour283 Manifesto: LibDem284 Record: Conservative285 Record: Labour286 Record: LibDem287 Conservative Internal Politics (general)288 Conservative Internal Politics (dissent)289 Labour Internal Politics (general)290 Labour Internal Politics (dissent)291 LibDem Internal Politics292 Scottish Nationalist Party293 Plaid Cymru294 Referendum Party295 UK Independence Party296 Socialist Labour Party297 Green Party298 Natural Law Party299 British National Party300 Ulster Unionist Party301 Democratic Unionist Party302 SDLP303 Sinn Fein304 Other Northern Ireland party305 Other party306 Martin Bell

311 CAMPAIGN ISSUES: Negative Campaigning312 Professionalisation of campaigning313 "Americanisation" (specifically) of campaigning314 Sleaze315 Hamilton/ Greer/ Cash for Questions (specific)316 Gaffes (general)317 Terrorism/ Bomb Scare318 Campaign Gimmicks319 Leadership (as issue)

326 CONSTITUTION/ POL. SYST.: general327 Pol. Institutions: Parlt./ Lords/ Judiciary328 Political Role of Monarchy329 Electoral Reform330 Bill of Rights331 Freedom of Information332 Secrecy333 MI5/ MI6334 Local Govt.335 Political Participation336 Policy: Conservative (not devolution)337 Policy: Labour (not devolution)338 Policy: LibDem (not devolution)339 Devolution (constitutional)

19

346 DEFENCE: general347 Policy: Conservative348 Policy: Labour349 Policy: LibDem

351 ECONOMY: general352 Jobs/ Unemployment353 Inflation354 Wages/ Earnings355 Executive Pay ("Fat Cats")356 Personal Taxation357 Council Tax/ Business Rates358 VAT359 Corporate Taxation360 Agriculture361 Industry/ Business/ Manufacturing362 Trade Unions363 Industrial Action364 Nationalisation365 Privatisation366 Privatised Utilities367 Balance of Trade368 Public Spending369 Public Borrowing370 Economic Recovery371 Interest Rates372 Savings Schemes373 Money Supply374 Markets/ City375 "Stakeholding"376 Policy: Conservative377 Policy: Labour378 Policy: LibDem379 Budget: Conservative380 Budget: Labour381 Budget: LibDem

391 SOCIAL WELFARE: general392 NHS393 Health (general)394 Pte. Medicine/ Hospitals/ Insurance397 Soc. Sec.: Elderly/ Pensions398 Jobseekers' Allowance399 Child Benefit400 Other Benefits401 Welfare State402 Law & Order: Crime403 Law & Order: Penal System405 UK Ethnic Minorities406 Immigrants407 Racism408 Refugees409 Poverty410 Homelessness

20

411 Women412 Youth413 The Family414 Welfare Cuts415 Policy: Conservative416 Policy: Labour417 Policy: LibDem418 Gun Control

421 EDUC., TECHNOL., ARTS: Education general422 Schools423 Universities/ Colleges424 Science & Technology425 Arts/ Arts Funding426 National Lottery427 Other issues428 Policy: Conservative429 Policy: Labour430 Policy: LibDem

441 INFRASTRUCTURE: general442 Housing/ Urban Devpt.443 Public Transport444 Roads445 Railways446 Other issues447 Policy: Conservative448 Policy: Labour449 Policy: LibDem

451 ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY: general452 Nuclear Power453 North Sea Oil454 Environmental Conservation455 Energy Conservation456 Power Generation/ Supply457 Water Supply458 Other issues459 Policy: Conservative460 Policy: Labour461 Policy: LibDem

471 FOREIGN AFFAIRS: general472 Relations with Non-European Nations473 Relations with European Nations474 EU (general)475 EU: Monetary Union476 EU: Social Chapter477 EU as Threat to Sovereignty478 Anglo-Irish relations479 Falklands480 Third World481 Overseas Development482 Policy: Conservative

21

483 Policy: Labour484 Policy: LibDem485 Policy: REF/ UKInd

491 REGIONS: Scotland: general492 Scotland: devolution493 Scots Law/ Legal System494 Scotland: voting/ electoral politics495 Wales: general496 Wales: devolution497 English Regions498 London499 N.I.: general500 N.I.: voting/ electoral politics501 N.I.: peace process502 Policy: Conservative503 Policy: Labour504 Policy: LibDem505 Policy: SNP506 Policy: Plaid Cymru507 Policy: Ulster Unionist Party508 Policy: Democratic Unionist Party509 Policy: SDLP510 Policy: Sinn Fein511 Policy: Other Northern Ireland party512 N.I.: Terrorism (not "peace process")

801 NON-POLITICAL: Di802 Fergie803 The Queen804 Other Royalty stories805 Games/ Promotions806 Crimes807 Celebrities808 Other Human Interest809 World Events/ Issues/ Leaders810 Sports811 Economy (non-political)812 Health (non-political)819 Other Non-Political stories999 None/ Not Applicable

22

TABLE 3: INITIATORS

I01 Conservative PartyI02 Labour PartyI03 LibDemsI04 Scottish Nationalist PartyI05 Plaid CymruI06 Referendum PartyI07 Socialist Labour PartyI08 Green PartyI09 UK Independence PartyI10 Natural Law PartyI11 British National PartyI12 Northern Ireland PartiesI13 Pro-Life AllianceI18 Other partiesI19 Mixture of partiesI21 Media (poll/ anal./ interview)I22 GovernmentI23 Interest GroupI98 Other causes or occasionsI99 Can't determine

23

TABLE 4: REPORTERS’ COMMENTS

RC01 Reinforcing CONRC02 Reinforcing LABRC03 Reinforcing LDemRC04 Reinforcing SNPRC05 Reinforcing PCRC06 Reinforcing REFRC07 Reinforcing SocLabRC08 Reinforcing GreenRC09 Reinforcing UKIndRC10 Reinforcing NatLawRC11 Reinforcing BNPRC12 Reinforcing NIRC13 Reinforcing CON/LABRC14 Reinforcing CON+RC15 Reinforcing LAB+RC16 Reinforcing CON/LAB+RC21 Mixed CONRC22 Mixed LABRC23 Mixed LDemRC24 Mixed SNPRC25 Mixed PCRC26 Mixed REFRC27 Mixed SocLabRC28 Mixed GreenRC29 Mixed UKIndRC30 Mixed NatLawRC31 Mixed BNPRC32 Mixed NIRC33 Mixed CON/LABRC34 Mixed CON+RC35 Mixed LAB+RC36 Mixed CON/LAB+RC41 Deflating CONRC42 Deflating LABRC43 Deflating LDemRC44 Deflating SNPRC45 Deflating PCRC46 Deflating REFRC47 Deflating SocLabRC48 Deflating GreenRC49 Deflating UKIndRC50 Deflating NatLawRC51 Deflating BNPRC52 Deflating NIRC53 Deflating CON/LABRC54 Deflating CON+RC55 Deflating LAB+RC56 Deflating CON/LAB+RC61 Straight CONRC62 Straight LABRC63 Straight LDem

24

RC64 Straight SNPRC65 Straight PCRC66 Straight REFRC67 Straight SocLabRC68 Straight GreenRC69 Straight UKIndRC70 Straight NatLawRC71 Straight BNPRC72 Straight NIRC73 Straight CON/LABRC74 Straight CON+RC75 Straight LAB+RC76 Straight CON/LAB+RC98 Can't determineRC99 Not applicable

25

APPENDIX A: Guidance on coding unnamed sources as V27-46 SOURCES FOR QUOTESor V47-56 CITED AS SOURCE BUT NOT QUOTED.

Often quotes or citations are not attributed to specific individualspeakers, but to ‘a spokesman’, ‘a source’, etc. Many of these, some ofwhich derive from lobby or off-the-record briefings, involve party (orparty-faction) affiliations but do not identify speakers directly.Additionally, there are various unnamed non-party sources.

We have decided that unnamed non-party sources present less of a problemand consequently that these can be coded in relation to role, occupation orthe person for whom they are speaking. However, we are much moreuncomfortable about coding in relation to role, occupation or the personfor whom they are speaking in the case of party-affiliated sources (eg. itwould be misleading to code ‘a Blair aide’ as “Tony Blair” (032)).Conssequently, the following guidelines have been developed in order toproduce consistency in coding unnamed but party-affiliated sources:

Collective attributions seeming to reflect the will of the party andexpressing the party line (‘Senior Tories’, ‘the Labour leadership’) arecoded as the party (001 Conservative Party, 002 Labour Party, etc.), thoughthis depends on context - ‘senior Tories’ cited as expressing opinions atodds with the party line are coded “Unnamed Party Source” (065 CON: UnnamedParty Source, 085 LAB: Unnamed Party Source, etc.). Unnamed individualswith party attributions are coded “Unnamed Party Source” unless there seemto be grounds for thinking that they are party spokespersons/ strategists(the word ‘aide’ is often significant here, for example) in which case theyare coded as such (068 CON: Other Spokesperson, 088 LAB: OtherSpokesperson, etc.).

26

APPENDIX B: Definitions for Location of Visuals value labels for use incoding V78-V89 PRESS PHOTOS.

A “Walkabout” involves meeting ordinary people in ordinary locations(shopping streets, etc.), often with hand-shaking, baby-kissing, etc.Photo op meetings with specific groups or in staged locations (eg.meeting a battalion of soldiers, playing football with local kids) arecoded “Photo Op - other.”“TV studio” is not intended for interviews specifically (these are notcoded) but covers those fairly frequent instances where visualsillustrate v/o’s such as ‘[?] spent all day giving televisioninterviews”, as well as material from television appearances (chat-shows, talk-shows, debates) where actors are shown saying newsworthythings (new policies, gaffes, etc.).“Organised Demo” is intended for organised street demonstrations only,not for disruptions to speeches or rallies nor for isolated hecklers.“Westminster (interior)” covers visuals in both Houses of Parliament,committees, corridors, etc. The frequent appearances of MPs outsideWestminster are coded “Street”.“Meeting” is for for private meetings only (eg. of party strategists,policy teams, scientific advisors, etc) normally involving sober-looking people sitting around a table, and not for meetings involvingthe public.“Street” reflects the fact that actors are frequently questioned byjournalists in the street or whilst emerging from cars, or picturedanxiously hurrying to and from engagements. Street scenes in DowningStreet are coded “Downing St.”.“Photo Op - other” is a ‘dump’ category for photo ops which are notclassifiable under other headings. Photo ops as part of the campaignsthemselves should be coded “Campaign Trail: Other”.

2

All TV TablestvmainDescription: The main table (TV CODING) from the Access TV database, containingdata from each field for which only one code is permitted per story.Contents:1. V1 ID Number

(Counter)Unique record (story) ID. Links relatedrecords in subtables to main table.

2. V2 Date Date Date of story3. V3 Programme Text Source of story (BBC9, ITV10 or Sky10)4. V4 Item number Number Place of story in programme running

order5. V5 Headline story? Yes/No Given as ‘headline’ at opening of

programme?6. V6 First head? Yes/No Given as first ‘headline’ at opening of

programme?7. V7 Length Number Length of story (in seconds)8. V8 Format Text Predominant format of story (see

codebook list/ Access database tableFORMAT for permitted variables)

9. V9 Part of series? Yes/No Is the story introduced as part of aseries?

10. V10 Campaign mentioned? Yes/No Is the election campaign mentioned inthe story?

11. V11 Story Type Number Type of story (see codebook list/ Accessdatabase table STORY TYPE forpermitted variables and numericalcodes). NB. Where type of story = 99(non-political), remainder of recordcoded as ‘not applicable’ and no codinggiven in related subtables except storysubject (in ss(what) table)

12. V12 Location of Story Text (alpha-numeric)

What is the setting or occasion whichgave rise to the story? (see codebook list/Access database table STORYSETTING/ OCCASION for permittedvariables and alpha-numeric codes)

13. V71 Tone of story as a whole Text (alpha-numeric)

Overall tone of reporters’ comments -generally an aggregate of story entry intable repcomms (see codebook Table 4/Access database table VARIABLES:REPORTERS’ COMMENTS forpermitted variables and alpha-numericcodes)

14. V72 Reporter disdain? Text Does the reporter express ‘disdain’ inthe story? If so, towards which party?(see text values in codebook list/ Accessdatabase table REPORTERSAPPROACH for permitted variables)

15. V73 Reporter correction? Text Does the reporter correct statements orinformation provided by a party? If so,by which party? (see text values incodebook list/ Access database tableREPORTERS APPROACH forpermitted variables)

16. V94 Favourable to Major/CON?

Number How favourable was the story as a wholeto Major and the Conservative Party?(on a numerical scale where ‘1’ is very

3

negative, ‘4’ is mixed and ‘7’ is verypositive; ‘9’ indicates ‘straight’ and ‘0’not applicable)

17. V95 Favourable to Blair/LAB?

Number How favourable was the story as a wholeto Blair and the Labour Party? (on anumerical scale as for V94 above)

18. V96 Favourable to Ashdown/LD?

Number How favourable was the story as a wholeto Ashdown and the Liberal Democrats?(on a numerical scale as for V94 above)

19. V97 Major - Trustworthy? Number Is Major portrayed as trustworthy (‘1’),not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

20. V98 Major - Strong? Number Is Major portrayed as capable of being astrong leader (‘1’), not capable of beinga strong leader (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

21. V99 Major - Caring? Number Is Major portrayed as caring (‘1’), notcaring (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

22. V100 Major - Decisive? Number Is Major portrayed as decisive (‘1’), notdecisive (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

23. V101 Major - Sticks toprinciples?

Number Is Major portrayed as sticking toprinciples (‘1’), not sticking toprinciples (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

24. V102 Major - Keeps promises? Number Is Major portrayed as keeping promises(‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

25. V103 Major - Listens toreason?

Number Is Major portrayed as listening to reason(‘1’), not listening to reason (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

26. V104 Major - Extreme? Number Is Major portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

27. V105 Major - Looks after oneclass?

Number Is Major portrayed as looking after oneclass (‘1’), looking after all classes (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

28. V106 Conservative Party -Extreme?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asextreme (‘1’), moderate (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

29. V107 Conservative Party -United?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asunited (‘1’), divided (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

30. V108 Conservative Party - Forone?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asgood for all classes (‘1’), good for oneclass (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

31. V109 Conservative Party - ForBritain?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asstanding up for Britain abroad (‘1’), notstanding up for Britain abroad (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

32. V110 Conservative Party -Trustworthy?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed astrustworthy (‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

33. V111 Conservative Party -Strong?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed ascapable of strong government (‘1’),capable of strong government (‘2’) or

4

neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?34. V112 Conservative Party -

Keeps promises?Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed as

keeping promises (‘1’), breakingpromises (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

35. V113 Blair - Trustworthy? Number Is Blair portrayed as trustworthy (‘1’),not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

36. V114 Blair - Strong? Number Is Blair portrayed as capable of being astrong leader (‘1’), not capable of beinga strong leader (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

37. V115 Blair - Caring? Number Is Blair portrayed as caring (‘1’), notcaring (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

38. V116 Blair - Decisive? Number Is Blair portrayed as decisive (‘1’), notdecisive (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

39. V117 Blair - Sticks toprinciples?

Number Is Blair portrayed as sticking toprinciples (‘1’), not sticking toprinciples (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

40. V118 Blair - Keeps promises? Number Is Blair portrayed as keeping promises(‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

41. V119 Blair - Listens to reason? Number Is Blair portrayed as listening to reason(‘1’), not listening to reason (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

42. V120 Blair - Extreme? Number Is Blair portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

43. V121 Blair - Looks after oneclass?

Number Is Blair portrayed as looking after oneclass (‘1’), looking after all classes (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

44. V122 Labour Party - Extreme? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as extreme(‘1’), moderate (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

45. V123 Labour Party - United? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as united(‘1’), divided (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

46. V124 Labour Party - For one? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as good forall classes (‘1’), good for one class (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

47. V125 Labour Party - ForBritain?

Number Is the Labour Party portrayed asstanding up for Britain abroad (‘1’), notstanding up for Britain abroad (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

48. V126 Labour Party -Trustworthy?

Number Is the Labour Party portrayed astrustworthy (‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

49. V127 Labour Party - Strong? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as capableof strong government (‘1’), capable ofstrong government (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

50. V128 Labour Party - Keepspromises?

Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as keepingpromises (‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

51. V129 Ashdown - Trustworthy? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as trustworthy

5

(‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

52. V130 Ashdown - Strong? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as capable ofbeing a strong leader (‘1’), not capableof being a strong leader (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

53. V131 Ashdown - Caring? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as caring (‘1’),not caring (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

54. V132 Ashdown - Decisive? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as decisive (‘1’),not decisive (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

55. V133 Ashdown - Sticks toprinciples?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as sticking toprinciples (‘1’), not sticking toprinciples (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

56. V134 Ashdown - Keepspromises?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as keepingpromises (‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

57. V135 Ashdown - Listens toreason?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as listening toreason (‘1’), not listening to reason (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

58. V136 Ashdown - Extreme? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

59. V137 Ashdown - Looks afterone class?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as looking afterone class (‘1’), looking after all classes(‘2’) or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

60. V138 LibDem Party -Extreme?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed asextreme (‘1’), moderate (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

61. V139 LibDem Party - United? Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed as united(‘1’), divided (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

62. V140 LibDem Party - For one? Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed as goodfor all classes (‘1’), good for one class(‘2’) or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

63. V141 LibDem Party - ForBritain?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed asstanding up for Britain abroad (‘1’), notstanding up for Britain abroad (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

64. V142 LibDem Party -Trustworthy?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed astrustworthy (‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

65. V143 LibDem Party - Strong? Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed ascapable of strong government (‘1’),capable of strong government (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

66. V144 LibDem Party - Keepspromises?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed askeeping promises (‘1’), breakingpromises (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

67. V145 SNP - Extreme? Number Is the SNP portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

68. V146 SNP - United? Number Is the SNP portrayed as united (‘1’),divided (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

6

69. V147 SNP - For one? Number Is the SNP portrayed as good for allclasses (‘1’), good for one class (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

70. V148 SNP - Trustworthy? Number Is the SNP portrayed as trustworthy(‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

71. V149 SNP - Strong? Number Is the SNP portrayed as capable ofstrong government (‘1’), capable ofstrong government (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

72. V150 SNP - Keeps promises? Number Is the SNP portrayed as keepingpromises (‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

73. V151 Information Density Number What is the density of policy relevantinformation? (on a numerical scalewhere ‘1’ is very low and ‘7’ is veryhigh; ‘0’ indicates not applicable)

ss(whom)Description: A subtable (STORY SUBJECT (WHOM?) (TV)) to the main (TVCODING) table from the Access TV database, permitting up to ten entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V13-V22 # Number Who are the main actors in the story?

(see codebook Table 1/ Access databasetable VARIABLES: STORY SUBJECT(WHOM?) for permitted variables andnumerical codes)

quotedDescription: A subtable (SOURCES FOR QUOTES (TV)) to the main (TVCODING) table from the Access TV database, permitting up to ten entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V23-V41

(oddnumbersonly)

Length Number Aggregate length of quotes from eachsource (in seconds)

3. V24-V42(evennumbersonly)

Source Number Who is quoted (seen speaking) in thestory? (see codebook Table 1/ Accessdatabase table VARIABLES: STORYSUBJECT (WHOM?) for permittedvariables and numerical codes)

7

citedDescription: A subtable (UNQUOTED SOURCES (TV)) to the main (TV CODING)table from the Access TV database, permitting up to ten entries for each record in themain table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V43-V52 Source Number Who is cited as a source (but not seen

speaking) in the story? (see codebookTable 1/ Access database tableVARIABLES: STORY SUBJECT(WHOM?) for permitted variables andnumerical codes)

ss(what)Description: A subtable (STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?) (TV)) to the main (TVCODING) table from the Access TV database, permitting up to six entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries


(oddnumbersonly)

1 - Story Subject(What?)

Number What were the most important/predominant subjects in the story? NB.The first code for each record representsthe most important/ predominant storysubject overall (see codebook Table 2/Access database table VARIABLES:STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?) forpermitted variables and numericalcodes)


2 - Initiator Text (alpha-numeric)

Who initiated each of the subjects? (seecodebook Table 3/ Access database tableINITIATORS for permitted variablesand alpha-numeric codes)

repcommsDescription: A subtable (REPORTERS’ COMMENTS (TV)) to the main (TVCODING) table from the Access TV database, permitting up to six entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V65-70 Reporters’ Comments Text (alpha-

numeric)What is the tone of each sequence ofreporters’ comments bounded by quotes?(see codebook Table 4/ Access databasetable VARIABLES: REPORTERS’COMMENTS for permitted variablesand alpha-numeric codes)

8

tvvisualDescription: A subtable (TV VISUALS) to the main (TV CODING) table from theAccess TV database, permitting up to five entries for each record in the main table andsharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries


(alternateevennumbersonly)

1 - Subject Number Who was the subject of the ‘key visual’?(see codebook Table 1/ Access databasetable VARIABLES: STORY SUBJECT(WHOM?) for permitted variables andnumerical codes)

3. V71-V91(alternateoddnumbersonly)


Who was the initiator of each ‘keyvisual’? (see codebook Table 3/ Accessdatabase table INITIATORS forpermitted variables and alpha-numericcodes)

4. V72-V92(alternateevennumbersonly)

3 - Location of Visual Text What was the location of the ‘keyvisual’? (see codebook list/ Accessdatabase table LOCATION OFVISUALS for permitted variables)

5. V73-V93(alternateoddnumbersonly)

4 - Tone Text Was the tone of the ‘key visual’ positive,negative or neutral (from the perspectiveof the campaign, where appropriate)?

9

Press tablespresmainDescription: The main table (PRESS CODING) from the Access press database,containing data from each field for which only one code is permitted per story.Contents:1. V1 ID Number

(Counter)Unique record (story) ID. Links relatedrecords in subtables to main table.

2. V2 Date Date Date of story3. V3 Newspaper Text Source of story (name of newspaper)4. V4 Page Number Page number on which story is located5. V5 First head Text Principal headline given to story6. V6 Head size Number Size of headline (in sq. cm - including

front page sub-heads)7. V7 Text size Number Size of text (in sq. cm - all front page

text of story below byline)8. V8 Continuation size Number Size of continuation text where story

continues on another page (in sq. cm -all continuation text except headline)

9. V9 Number of columns Number Number opf columns of front page text10. V10 Campaign mentioned? Yes/No Is the election campaign mentioned in

the story?11. V11 Top half? Yes/No Is all or part of the story on the top half

of the page?12. V12 Colour? Yes/No Is the story text coloured or set against a

coloured background?13. V14 Boxed? Yes/No Is the story presented within a box?14. V15 Wire Service? Text Which wire service is given as the

source of the story? (Reuters, Other orNone)

15. V16 Story Type Number Type of story (see codebook list/ Accessdatabase table STORY TYPE forpermitted variables and numericalcodes). NB. Where type of story = 99(non-political), remainder of recordcoded as ‘not applicable’ and no codinggiven in related subtables except storysubject (in ss(what) table) and photosize and colour? in photos table

16. V17 Location of Story Text (alpha-numeric)

What is the setting or occasion whichgave rise to the story? (see codebook list/Access database table STORYSETTING/ OCCASION for permittedvariables and alpha-numeric codes)

17. V75 Tone of story as a whole Text (alpha-numeric)

Overall tone of reporters’ comments -generally an aggregate of story entry intable repcomms (see codebook Table 4/Access database table VARIABLES:REPORTERS’ COMMENTS forpermitted variables and alpha-numericcodes)

18. V76 Reporter disdain? Text Does the reporter express ‘disdain’ inthe story? If so, towards which party?(see text values in codebook list/ Accessdatabase table REPORTERSAPPROACH for permitted variables)

19. V77 Reporter correction? Text Does the reporter correct statements orinformation provided by a party? If so,

10

by which party? (see text values incodebook list/ Access database tableREPORTERS APPROACH forpermitted variables)

20. V90 Favourable to Major/CON?

Number How favourable was the story as a wholeto Major and the Conservative Party?(on a numerical scale where ‘1’ is verynegative, ‘4’ is mixed and ‘7’ is verypositive; ‘9’ indicates ‘straight’ and ‘0’not applicable)

21. V91 Favourable to Blair/LAB?

Number How favourable was the story as a wholeto Blair and the Labour Party? (on anumerical scale as for V90 above)

22. V92 Favourable to Ashdown/LD?

Number How favourable was the story as a wholeto Ashdown and the Liberal Democrats?(on a numerical scale as for V90 above)

23. V93 Major - Trustworthy? Number Is Major portrayed as trustworthy (‘1’),not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

24. V94 Major - Strong? Number Is Major portrayed as capable of being astrong leader (‘1’), not capable of beinga strong leader (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

25. V95 Major - Caring? Number Is Major portrayed as caring (‘1’), notcaring (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

26. V96 Major - Decisive? Number Is Major portrayed as decisive (‘1’), notdecisive (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

27. V97 Major - Sticks toprinciples?

Number Is Major portrayed as sticking toprinciples (‘1’), not sticking toprinciples (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

28. V98 Major - Keeps promises? Number Is Major portrayed as keeping promises(‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

29. V99 Major - Listens toreason?

Number Is Major portrayed as listening to reason(‘1’), not listening to reason (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

30. V100 Major - Extreme? Number Is Major portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

31. V101 Major - Looks after oneclass?

Number Is Major portrayed as looking after oneclass (‘1’), looking after all classes (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

32. V102 Conservative Party -Extreme?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asextreme (‘1’), moderate (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

33. V103 Conservative Party -United?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asunited (‘1’), divided (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

34. V104 Conservative Party - Forone?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asgood for all classes (‘1’), good for oneclass (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

35. V105 Conservative Party - ForBritain?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed asstanding up for Britain abroad (‘1’), notstanding up for Britain abroad (‘2’) or

11

neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?36. V106 Conservative Party -

Trustworthy?Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed as

trustworthy (‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

37. V107 Conservative Party -Strong?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed ascapable of strong government (‘1’),capable of strong government (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

38. V108 Conservative Party -Keeps promises?

Number Is the Conservative Party portrayed askeeping promises (‘1’), breakingpromises (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

39. V109 Blair - Trustworthy? Number Is Blair portrayed as trustworthy (‘1’),not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

40. V110 Blair - Strong? Number Is Blair portrayed as capable of being astrong leader (‘1’), not capable of beinga strong leader (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

41. V111 Blair - Caring? Number Is Blair portrayed as caring (‘1’), notcaring (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

42. V112 Blair - Decisive? Number Is Blair portrayed as decisive (‘1’), notdecisive (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

43. V113 Blair - Sticks toprinciples?

Number Is Blair portrayed as sticking toprinciples (‘1’), not sticking toprinciples (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

44. V114 Blair - Keeps promises? Number Is Blair portrayed as keeping promises(‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

45. V115 Blair - Listens to reason? Number Is Blair portrayed as listening to reason(‘1’), not listening to reason (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

46. V116 Blair - Extreme? Number Is Blair portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

47. V117 Blair - Looks after oneclass?

Number Is Blair portrayed as looking after oneclass (‘1’), looking after all classes (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

48. V118 Labour Party - Extreme? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as extreme(‘1’), moderate (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

49. V119 Labour Party - United? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as united(‘1’), divided (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

50. V120 Labour Party - For one? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as good forall classes (‘1’), good for one class (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

51. V121 Labour Party - ForBritain?

Number Is the Labour Party portrayed asstanding up for Britain abroad (‘1’), notstanding up for Britain abroad (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

52. V122 Labour Party -Trustworthy?

Number Is the Labour Party portrayed astrustworthy (‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

53. V123 Labour Party - Strong? Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as capable

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of strong government (‘1’), capable ofstrong government (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

54. V124 Labour Party - Keepspromises?

Number Is the Labour Party portrayed as keepingpromises (‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

55. V125 Ashdown - Trustworthy? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as trustworthy(‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

56. V126 Ashdown - Strong? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as capable ofbeing a strong leader (‘1’), not capableof being a strong leader (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

57. V127 Ashdown - Caring? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as caring (‘1’),not caring (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

58. V128 Ashdown - Decisive? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as decisive (‘1’),not decisive (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

59. V129 Ashdown - Sticks toprinciples?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as sticking toprinciples (‘1’), not sticking toprinciples (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

60. V130 Ashdown - Keepspromises?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as keepingpromises (‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

61. V131 Ashdown - Listens toreason?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as listening toreason (‘1’), not listening to reason (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

62. V132 Ashdown - Extreme? Number Is Ashdown portrayed as extreme (‘1’),moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

63. V133 Ashdown - Looks afterone class?

Number Is Ashdown portrayed as looking afterone class (‘1’), looking after all classes(‘2’) or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

64. V134 LibDem Party -Extreme?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed asextreme (‘1’), moderate (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

65. V135 LibDem Party - United? Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed as united(‘1’), divided (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

66. V136 LibDem Party - For one? Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed as goodfor all classes (‘1’), good for one class(‘2’) or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

67. V137 LibDem Party - ForBritain?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed asstanding up for Britain abroad (‘1’), notstanding up for Britain abroad (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

68. V138 LibDem Party -Trustworthy?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed astrustworthy (‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

69. V139 LibDem Party - Strong? Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed ascapable of strong government (‘1’),capable of strong government (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

70. V140 LibDem Party - Keepspromises?

Number Is the LibDem Party portrayed askeeping promises (‘1’), breakingpromises (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable

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(‘3’)?71. V141 SNP - Extreme? Number Is the SNP portrayed as extreme (‘1’),

moderate (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

72. V142 SNP - United? Number Is the SNP portrayed as united (‘1’),divided (‘2’) or neither/ not applicable(‘3’)?

73. V143 SNP - For one? Number Is the SNP portrayed as good for allclasses (‘1’), good for one class (‘2’) orneither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

74. V144 SNP - Trustworthy? Number Is the SNP portrayed as trustworthy(‘1’), not trustworthy (‘2’) or neither/not applicable (‘3’)?

75. V145 SNP - Strong? Number Is the SNP portrayed as capable ofstrong government (‘1’), capable ofstrong government (‘2’) or neither/ notapplicable (‘3’)?

76. V146 SNP - Keeps promises? Number Is the SNP portrayed as keepingpromises (‘1’), breaking promises (‘2’)or neither/ not applicable (‘3’)?

77. V147 Information Density Number What is the density of policy relevantinformation? (on a numerical scalewhere ‘1’ is very low and ‘7’ is veryhigh; ‘0’ indicates not applicable)

ss(whom)Description: A subtable (STORY SUBJECT (WHOM?) (PRESS)) to the main(PRESS CODING) table from the Access press database, permitting up to ten entriesfor each record in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with themain table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V17-V26 # Number Who are the main actors in the story?

(see codebook Table 1/ Access databasetable VARIABLES: STORY SUBJECT(WHOM?) for permitted variables andnumerical codes)

quotedDescription: A subtable (SOURCES FOR QUOTES (PRESS)) to the main (PRESSCODING) table from the Access press database, permitting up to ten entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries


(oddnumbersonly)

Length Number Aggregate length of quotes from eachsource (number of lines of text)


Source Number Who is quoted in the story? (seecodebook Table 1/ Access database tableVARIABLES: STORY SUBJECT(WHOM?) for permitted variables andnumerical codes)

14

citedDescription: A subtable (UNQUOTED SOURCES (PRESS)) to the main (PRESSCODING) table from the Access press database, permitting up to ten entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contains 2 columnar fields.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V47-V56 Source Number Who is cited as a source (but not quoted

directly) in the story? (see codebookTable 1/ Access database tableVARIABLES: STORY SUBJECT(WHOM?) for permitted variables andnumerical codes)

ss(what)Description: A subtable (STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?) (PRESS)) to the main(PRESS CODING) table from the Access press database, permitting up to six entriesfor each record in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with themain table. Contains 3 columnar fields.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries


(oddnumbersonly)

1 - Story Subject(What?)

Number What were the most important/predominant subjects in the story? NB.The first code for each record representsthe most important/ predominant storysubject overall (see codebook Table 2/Access database table VARIABLES:STORY SUBJECT (WHAT?) forpermitted variables and numericalcodes)



Who initiated each of the subjects? (seecodebook Table 3/ Access database tableINITIATORS for permitted variablesand alpha-numeric codes)

repcommsDescription: A subtable (REPORTERS’ COMMENTS (PRESS)) to the main (PRESSCODING) table from the Access press database, permitting up to six entries for eachrecord in the main table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contains 2 columnar fields.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V69-V74 Reporters’ Comments Text (alpha-

numeric)What is the tone of each sequence ofreporters’ comments bounded by quotes?(see codebook Table 4/ Access databasetable VARIABLES: REPORTERS’COMMENTS for permitted variablesand alpha-numeric codes)

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photosDescription: A subtable (PRESS PHOTOS) to the main (PRESS CODING) tablefrom the Access press database, permitting up to two entries for each record in themain table and sharing the ID number for each record with the main table.Contents:1. ID Number Unique record (story) ID. Links entries

to related records in main table.2. V78/

V841 - Subject of photo Number Who was the subject of the photo/ visual

device? (see codebook Table 1/ Accessdatabase table VARIABLES: STORYSUBJECT (WHOM?) for permittedvariables and numerical codes)

3. V79/V85


Who initiated the photo/ visual device?(see codebook Table 3/ Access databasetable INITIATORS for permittedvariables and alpha-numeric codes)

4. V80/V86

3 - Tone of Photo Text Was the tone of the photo/ visual devicepositive, negative or neutral (from theperspective of the campaign, whereappropriate)?

5. V81/V87

4 - Location of Photo Text What was the location of the photo/visual device? (see codebook list/ Accessdatabase table LOCATION OFVISUALS for permitted variables)

6. V82/V88

5 - Size of Photo Number Size of photo (in sq. cms)

7. V83/V89

6 - Colour? Yes/No Was the photo in colour?

1997 british general election campaign british news...

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