Strikes in Politicisation by Jacqueline E. Briggs

Author:Jacqueline E. Briggs [Briggs, Jacqueline E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780429796241
Google: yzeDDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 3594399
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1998-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Media and the Miners

In terms of the way the strike was portrayed by the media, it is necessary to examine people’s perceptions of that coverage. What impact did the way that the 1984/5 Miners’ Strike was represented on television and in the newspapers have upon those living in the mining communities?

An interesting point to note is that the numbers of those claiming that the media was biased against the miners corresponds exactly to the number of those interviewees who state that their attitudes towards the police changed during the 1984/5 Miners’ Strike. Thirty six out of the total sixty (60 per cent) felt that media coverage was biased against the miners whereas twenty four (40 per cent) decided that it was not biased. The same interviewees were involved in both cases. How significant is this? Perhaps it is hardly surprising if these people hold a particular set of political opinions and beliefs. Surely, it is inevitable that they will think in a similar vein when questioned both in respect to the behaviour of the police and in relation to that of the media? An additional revelation was that twelve out of the sixty claimed that their level of participation increased, this constitutes 20 per cent of the interviewees. The remaining forty eight, 80 per cent, state that their level of participation did not increase. This is not, however, as significant as might be anticipated because a proportion of those who state that their level of participation did not increase as a direct result of the Strike were already heavily involved and participating in the political scenario prior to the Strike.

The interviewees who were questioned for this research were asked a number of questions about the media and about their perceptions of the media coverage during the strike. Firstly, they were asked whether or not they read a newspaper every day. Of the sixty interviews conducted, twenty six people claim to read the Daily Mirror on a daily basis, twelve claim to read the Guardian, five say that they read the Independent, four read the Star, three read the Daily Mail, two read the Yorkshire Post, one reads the Yorkshire Evening Post, two read the Express and five state that they do not read a newspaper.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect about choice of newspaper is the fact that no-one reads the Sun newspaper (or at least no-one admits to reading the Sun). This could be explained by a number of factors. Firstly, it could be that the interviewees, by their very nature, constitute an unrepresentative sample. This is to say that the ‘type’ of person who is likely to come forward for interview is perhaps unlikely to read the Sun in the first instance. Secondly, it could quite simply be that the interviewees are aware of the stigma attached to Sun readers in certain quarters (Jasper Carrott the popular comedian for one) so that they are reluctant to confess that they read the Sun, this is similar to the way

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