Poll position: How news brands covered the general election
A hugely anticipated election campaign finally kicked off in May, with prime minister Rishi Sunak launching a six-week fight to hang onto Downing Street against a looming Labour landslide. Here’s how news brands covered the highs, the lows, the rumours and the results from Election 2024…
Rishi rolls the dice
After months of speculation that the election would come in autumn, the decision to go for a July vote came as a bolt from the blue for many. For those plugged into the Westminster rumour mill that day, however, mutterings of an election-shaped announcement were bubbling away. Journalists on social media shared what they had heard as the day wore on.
Finally, at 4:30pm, the announcement came: Rishi Sunak had received permission from the King to dissolve Parliament and an election was to be held on July 4.
The following day’s front pages captured the moment Sunak took the sodden steps of Downing Street to make his announcement.
On the campaign trail
With the starting gun shot at the end of May, six weeks of hard hustling and campaign speeches followed, with party leaders travelling the length and breadth of the country to make their case to voters.
News brands took a fine tooth comb to the parties’ manifestos, explaining what they were offering and what they were missing through videos and podcasts.
Gaffes galore
It isn’t a general election without a few gaffes and 2024 certainly didn’t disappoint. From milkshakes to paddleboards and certain D-Day snubbing, news brands caught some of the faux pas the party leaders would rather forget.
Debate time
One ever-increasing fixture of election campaigns is the debate, with some news brands hosting their own to help readers make up their minds. The Sun’s ‘Never Mind the Ballots’ video series hosted both Sunak and Keir Starmer in a live edition with a studio audience, while Metro hosted senior figures from six major parties to shine a further light on their manifesto pledges.
Newsworks got in on the act too, bringing its politics roadshow to top industry events as the election campaign continued. We appeared at Media360 and The Media Leader Summit, culminating in our election eve special at our very own Newsworks Speakeasy at MAD//FEST.
Here comes Nigel…
One of the most surprising moments was Nigel Farage’s shock comeback from America to vie to become MP for Clacton. Farage had failed to be elected as an MP more than half-a-dozen times by 2024 but with Conservative support collapsing both left and right, experts felt he had a good chance to achieve his ambition. The Telegraph broadcast his comeback announcement live on YouTube.
Beyond the headlines
News brand coverage wasn’t all party leaders and flagship policy announcements, however. Eager to see how the election was affecting everyday voters, news brand features went beyond Westminster to understand how the country was really feeling.
Labour sweeps to power
They say “it ain’t over ’til it’s over”, but the Labour landslide the polls were predicting came to pass in dramatic style on polling day. News brands kept readers updated throughout the night with online seat-by-seat news tickers, with front pages printing the latest exit poll results and the initial analysis from a historic election campaign.
