UK GENERAL ELECTION PRESS COVERAGE PARTY COVERAGE Behind the leaders, the race is very tight. The Scottish National Party has surged into third place in terms of front page mentions in the U.K. press, punching far above its weight compared to the polls. The SNP is jockeying with UKIP and the Liberal Democrats for a larger share of the front page press coverage. Will Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP continue to dominate? Is being out of the news good news for Nick Clegg? Has Nigel Farage established his party more firmly in the mainstream media debate? And will that be reflected on May 7? We’ve used Factiva, the world’s leading news database, to examine press coverage of the U.K. election over the last month.* While opinion polls largely show the Conservative and Labour parties running neck-and-neck, when it comes to the press, we can see winners and losers in the coverage war. Cameron We tracked all coverage (positive, negative, neutral) of the main parties on the front pages of the major U.K. newspapers.* The results show that Labour is mentioned far more times on the front page than the Conservative party. Miliband Sturgeon Farage 33% 37% Clegg 11% 12% 7% 40% 25% Labour 15% 12% Conservative SNP UKIP 8% Lib Dem LEADER COVERAGE It’s a different story when it comes to the leaders. David Cameron is the most mentioned party leader on the front pages—possibly a result of also being the prime minister. Ed Miliband is behind in second place. Even further behind are Nicola Sturgeon and Nigel Farage who are vying for third place, while Nick Clegg languishes in fifth place. BREXIT We then scrutinized all the main media for mentions of “Brexit” since it started cropping up in 2013. It’s been on the rise since early 2014, but there was a real surge in mentions in the second half of March. Just a blip? Or is this a word we’re going to hear much more in the months ahead? 2013 April–December *National and major regional UK publications, between March 19 2015 and April 21 2015. 2014 January–December 2015 January-April