Resumen de Representation of the UK Parliament’s Power in the National Media: Too Weak, or Too Strong?

Meg Russell, Lisa James

• Representations of UK parliamentary power in the popular media have attracted little attention, despite shaping citizens’ impressions of the institution. We begin to close this gap, through a content analysis of 657 articles in the national newspapers 2013–2019—a period straddling the Brexit referendum. Pre-referendum, media representations of parliamentary power were mixed, while afterwards, as parliament exerted influence over Brexit, it was presented as more powerful. But right-leaning newspapers shifted their normative position from lamenting parliament’s weakness to criticising its strength. Parliament hence faced a lose-lose situation, with key media outlets depicting it either as dangerously weak or dangerously strong.