Monday, May 6, 2019

Formula journalism

Some viewers were outraged when there was no Liberal Democrat on Marr On Sunday. Editor Jon Neal held the line...


During the local elections and the Euros, a formula is concocted by Ric 'Dumbledore' Bailey, Chief Political Adviser. It is partly used to determine the number of Party Election Broadcasts, but finessed to give programme editors a ratio of bookings by major political parties for the duration of the campaign. Its algorithm is a secret, but it tends to favour 'real' results and eschew polls.

The problem is that it should change once we have a new result. The Libdems got 11% of the popular vote under Nick Clegg in the equivalent local elections of 2015. This time it was 19%, which ought to be worth an extra appearance before May 23rd.  The Tories got 35% in 2015, and 28% this time. They ought to have at least one appearance taken away.  And we might see a few more Greens, at 273 seats this time, compared with 87 in 2015.

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