Carl Hartley
Carl Hartley teaches broadcast and digital journalism at the University of Leeds and has worked in the broadcast industry for almost 25 years. He is a senior journalist for the BBC and producer of the Sound of Politics podcast hosted by Professor Stephen Coleman.
https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/5431/carl-hartley
Prof Stephen Coleman
Stephen Coleman is Professor of Political Communication at the University of Leeds. He is currently writing a book about the mood of the 2024 election, based on a year of listening to phone-in callers.
https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/240/professor-stephen-coleman
UK Election 2024
Section 7: News and journalism
73. Why the press still matters (Prof Steven Barnett)
74. When the Star aligned: how the press ‘voted’ (Prof Dominic Wring, Prof David Deacon)
75. Visual depictions of leaders and losers in the (still influential) print press (Prof Erik Bucy)
76. Towards more assertive impartiality? Fact-checking on BBC television news (Prof Stephen Cushion)
77. The outsize influence of the conservative press in election campaigns (Prof Dan Stevens, Prof Susan Banducci, Prof Ekaterina Kolpinskaya and Dr Laszlo Horvath)
78. GB News – not breaking any rules… (Prof Ivor Gaber)
79. Vogue’s stylish relationship to politics (Dr Chrysi Dagoula)
80. Tiptoeing around immigration has tangible consequences (Dr Maria Kyriakidou, Dr Iñaki Garcia-Blanco)
81. A Taxing Campaign (Prof David Deacon et al)
82. Not the Sun wot won it: what Murdoch’s half-hearted, last-minute endorsements mean for Labour (Dr John Jewell)
83. Is this the first podcast election? (Carl Hartley, Prof Stephen Coleman)
84. A numbers game (Prof Paul Bradshaw)
85. Election 2024 and the remarkable absence of media in a mediated spectacle (Prof Lee Edwards)
86. 2024: the great election turn-off (Prof Des Freedman)
‘Could this be the first podcast election?’ asked Times columnist, James Marriott (5th June 2024). For the two of us it certainly was. A few months before the election was called, we had started producing The Sound of Politics podcast (available on Spotify and Podcast Radio) and added four new ‘election special’ episodes over the course of the campaign.
Hardly significant at the time of the last UK election, podcasts have now become a leading media platform in the UK with over two-thirds of adults listening to at least one podcast each month. The weekly podcast listener – that’s 30% of the UK population – consumes on average 5 hours and 27 minutes each week from around 5 podcasts. Among these is a growing number of political podcasts, some of which regularly hit 2 million downloads per episode. For example, there was nearly double the number of people watching The Rest Is Politics podcast commentary on the televised leaders’ debates than watched the debates themselves.
Podcasting is an intimate medium that builds a relationship of trust with its listeners. Consequently, its audiences are loyal, and they are usually the ones to introduce the podcast to their network connections. In a world of fake online news, it is ironic that people place their trust in an online platform, which suggests that trust has more to do with the strength of cultural connection than any deterministic technological logic.
Just as there is no single, generic ‘political website’ or ‘political blog’, political podcasts come in several different forms. Three of those forms came to the fore during the 2024 Election campaign.
Bringing rivals together
In this format two or more people with opposing views share a podcast studio to share their insights and experiences about what it’s like to be in the political fray. They reflect upon the latest political news, debating in a way you might with your friends over a coffee, before agreeing to disagree. One of the UK’s most popular podcasts during this election campaign was The Rest is Politics, with former Labour spin doctor, Alistair Campbell and Tory rebel, Rory Stewart. Listeners to this podcast are invited to believe that they are listening in to an informal conversation between political frenemies. Another popular election podcast, Electoral Dysfunction, has Sky News journalist Beth Rigby moderating conversations between Labour MP, Jess Phillips, and former Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson who aim to relate election issues to everyday life for women. Such bi-partisan approaches appeal to voters on both sides of the partisan divide, while inviting each to become aware of the other side’s perspective.
In-depth extensions to traditional media
These podcasts tend to feature journalists who want to tell a more expansive and developed story than the crowded schedules of mainstream media election coverage allow for. They also offer a freer space for journalists to express thoughts away from the rules of Ofcom, often with ‘expert’ guests alongside them. Amongst the best of these in the 2024 campaign were BBC’s Newscast, ITV’s Talking Politics, Channel 4’s Fourcast and Politico‘s Politics at Jack and Sam’s.
Laughing through the election
A number of comedic political podcasts featured sharp and witty comedians spending much of their time observing the passing electoral show. These podcasts often tackled serious issues in ways that only comedians could get away with. Amongst the best of these were Triggernometry with Konstantin Kissin and Francis Foster, and Comedian Matt Forde’s The Political Party.
A non-assertive political medium
Podcasts are ‘media disruptors’, presenting yet another challenge to the increasingly outdated notion of ‘media schedules’ around which audiences are expected to adjust their listening habits. Podcasts can be accessed at any time and dipped into by people living increasingly busy, mobile lives. They offer convenience, but this is not at the expense of attention. Their most important contribution to elections (and wider democratic culture) is that they do not sound like politics as usual. Neither ‘on message’ politicians nor ‘single-narrative’ journalists are likely to do well in the world of podcasting. The election podcasts that worked best during this election campaign were the ones that took listeners seriously by assuming that they could make up their own minds without propagandist assistance. Podcasts, at their best, offer stimulus rather than slogan; conversation rather than declaration. It will be fascinating to see how this addition to political communication will have developed by the time of the next general election.
