Style over substance? Examining the significance of ‘the personal’ in British media discourse

Abstract

According to Langer (2011), the modern media have increasingly used the appearance and personal life of politicians as a ‘frame’ in which to judge their overall competence. This study assesses both the prevalence and nature of media framing of these factors (‘the personal’) for two British political leaders: Jeremy Corbyn and David Cameron. Articles were collected across three national newspapers that featured mentions of ‘the personal’ for these leaders, and then sub-categorised to conduct a content analysis of the framing involved. These were then compared to cross-time UK opinion polls to produce preliminary links between this framing and the public popularity of each leader. It was found that despite his attempts to keep media discourse strictly ‘political’, the media framed ‘the personal’ for Corbyn both more frequently and in a more critical manner than they did for Cameron. In comparing this to the opinion poll data on both Corbyn and Cameron, tentative relationships were found between negative framing of ‘the personal’ and unpopularity with the public. This study therefore demonstrates that ‘the personal’ is of key importance to modern political leaders in the UK.