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Whose voices are heard in the news? A study of sources in television coverage of the Scottish independence referendum

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 06:22 authored by Marina DekavallaMarina Dekavalla, Alenka Jelen-Sanchez
This article explores the prominence of different types of sources in the coverage of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum on BBC Scotland’s regional news bulletin. It combines the most commonly used classifications of news sources in the literature and proposes an integrated taxonomy, in which official, unofficial, elite and non-elite sources may take on news-shaper or news-maker roles. This taxonomy is used to analyse the referendum coverage on BBC’s Reporting Scotland in the final month of the campaign. Findings suggest that, despite the presence of many types of sources, male-dominated political elites were the main focus in the news. Although the inclusion of some grassroots and citizen sources is encouraging, the coverage more broadly manifests a liberal democratic logic whereby the media represent the views of politicians and political organisations to the public, whose role is to make an informed choice between them, with comparatively limited opportunities to participate in the mediated political debate.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

British Politics

ISSN

1746-918X

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Issue

4

Volume

12

Page range

449-472

Department affiliated with

  • Music Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-05-30

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-08-21

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-05-26

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