| Abstract: | To explore the impact of the press in Britain during the first New Labour administration, we used aggregate-level analysis to assess the relationship between the economic content of press and changes in the public's political and economic attitudes. We examine the effects on attitudes of economic coverage in the broadsheets, 'black top' and tabloid newspapers. The results suggest that the broadsheets and 'black tops' do exert an influence on voters' views, whereas the tabloids do not. The impact is, however, not global, but confined to particular segments of the population. The modest effects we have charted, nevertheless have important cumulative political significance in the medium- to long-term, and they put press influence into sharper and more realistic perspective than many current accounts. Methodologically our results suggest the need for further work to focus on press effects on specific groups of voters. |
