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Reporting the Data-Driven Digital Campaign

Media
Campaign
Big Data
Kate Dommett
University of Sheffield
Kate Dommett
University of Sheffield

Abstract

Online campaigning has become a prominent part of elections, with political parties and non-party campaigners using a range of different methods and media to campaign online. This paper examines journalists’ attempts to report data-driven campaigning online in the 2019 UK General Election. It presents insights from interviews with 15 journalists at major online, print, television and national broadcasting outlets. Exploring the kind of coverage journalists offered of the UK General Election, it uses interview data to discuss what we know about data-driven digital election campaigns and what barriers to knowledge exist. These findings are then used to discuss the significance of digital technology for the public sphere, considering how the information citizens’ possess about online data-driven campaigning may affect the way they view elections and politics.