10 ways news outlets are covering #GE2015

The dissolution of parliament this week marked the official start of campaign season for the 2015 UK general election.

It's no coincidence then that this was also the week news sites like Sky News, the BBC and Vice UK announced new initiatives and campaigns to step their election coverage up a gear.

With the clock ticking until Brits head to the ballot box on May 7, here's a look at some of the most innovative ways news outlets are covering #GE2015.

Sky News

The broadcaster's Stand Up Be Counted platform aims to encourage political discussion among younger audiences, addressing the fact that fewer than half of 18 to 24-year-olds voted in the last election.

In an attempt to harness the youth popularity of video sharing apps such as YouTube and Snapchat, SUBC allows users to upload short clips of themselves talking about the issues that are important to them.

People can also register to vote through the site, which is geared towards 16 to 25-year-olds and launched in September 2014.

Sky News has also quietly launched a political microsite, Biffed, which offers a "wry and satirical look at the latest news from the election campaign", a spokesperson told Journalism.co.uk by email.


Screenshot from Stand Up Be Counted.

Vice UK

Never one to follow the mainstream, Vice is shunning coverage of Westminster politics and is instead exploring issues like poverty and political disillusionment in a series of online feature-length documentaries.

The first, Regeneration Game, was released on Monday (March 30) and examines the gentrification of areas in London and its knock-on effect on the housing crisis. More films are due to be released over the next six weeks.

In addition, Vice's Gavin Haynes will be highlighting alternative voices in the run-up to the election, from jihadists outlining their vision for a future London to spending time with the Al-Zebabist Nation of OOOG, a separatist group running against Nigel Farage in South Thanet.



BBC News

It can be tricky to keep track of where each political party stands on particular issues, so to make it easier the Beeb has developed an interactive policy guide.

Updated as each manifesto is launched, the guide features 16 key policy areas, including immigration, welfare and housing.

In order to bring younger voices into its election coverage, the corporation also launched its Generation 2015 project this week, a contingent of 200 voters aged 18 to 24 who will participate in BBC stories and programs.

Other young voters can contribute to Generation 2015 on Twitter via @InMyShoes or the hashtag #InMyShoes.


Screenshot from the BBC's Policy Guide

Mirror Online

In a bid to boost the UK's low election turnout – only one in six eligible people voted in the 2010 general election – The Mirror is supporting the #NoVoteNoVoice campaign which launched in September last year.

Enlisting the help of celebrities, the initiative, which also includes groups such as Bite The Ballot and Hope Not Hate, aims to register a million new voters by May's general election.

Mindful of encouraging the youth vote, the outlet has also hired 19-year-old Helen Whitehouse to be its 'Voice of a Generation', talking to other young people about their views and representing the interests

It has also introduced its first WhatsApp service, allowing users to sign up for breaking news alerts from Mirror Politics.



New Statesman

Known for its blow-by-blow political reporting, the New Statesman was clearly content to invest in a standalone site for its elections coverage, called May2015.

A new editor, Harry Lambert, was also hired for the site, which launched in September last year.

With an emphasis on data-heavy analysis and constituency reporting, May2015 uses slick interactives to present information in an engaging and easily understandable format.

These include a 'poll of polls', allowing readers to view all election data produced by polling companies as far back as 1970, and a 'seat calculator' which shows how many seats each party would win under a range of different scenarios.


Screenshot from the New Statesman's May2015.

The Guardian

The Guardian's poll projection model updates daily to aggregate UK-wide polling data and predict which party would win if the election were to be held on that day.

The polling data is also broken down into other sections, such as "voting intention over time" and "gains and losses" for the main political parties, each of which is individually shareable on Twitter and Facebook.

Speaking at a recent Polis event in London, the outlet's data editor Alberto Nardelli said the tool aimed to "make polling interesting" for people who might not be especially engaged in election-related news.


Screenshot of the Guardian's poll projection model.

BuzzFeed UK

The BuzzFeed Brews political interview series arrived in Britain for the first time when Jim Waterson, deputy editor of BuzzFeed UK, interviewed David Cameron in March.

In a recent interview with Nieman Lab, BuzzFeed UK editor Luke Lewis said the outlet's election coverage would focus on "old-fashioned boots-on-the-ground reporting” and "small scoops" rather than "fancy show-off infographics and interactives".

As the Nieman article mentions, a BuzzFeed story on a Tory party auction fundraiser – where a statue of Margaret Thatcher sold for £210,000 – was later mentioned by publications including The Telegraph and the Guardian.

The outlet's UK political reporter Siraj Datoo, who wrote the auction fundraiser story, has also been covering the run-up to the election on Vine.


Image by Thomas Alexander for BuzzFeed.

Trinity Mirror Regionals

More than 20 of Trinity Mirror’s regional titles published election manifestos this week, based on the views of more than 18,000 readers.

In contrast to the national political agenda, the 'My Manifesto' project aims to offer a more local angle to the election.

Titles including the Manchester Evening News, Birmingham Mail and the Liverpool Echo plan to use the manifestos to lobby local politicians, setting the agenda in their areas.


Image courtesy of Trinity Mirror press office.

The Sun

A bit of a wildcard, the spin-off political site SunNation launched earlier this month under the tagline: "politics without the boring bits".

With more than a whiff of BuzzFeed about it, the site features short articles, games and quizzes such as 'The definitive ranking of every British PM since 1900 in order of sexiness', and a zombie shoot 'em up-style shooting game, 'The Walking Ed'.

It stands outside of the paywall which has been operating on The Sun's main site since August 2013, leading some commentators to point out how much traffic to thesun.co.uk has fallen since it began charging for content.


  Screenshot from Sun Nation.

Press Association

With an increasing number of people now receiving news on Facebook, PA announced this week it has partnered with the platform to curate stories for its UK Politics Page.

Focusing on interesting and shareable content, PA's politics and social team will select election-related content from publishers, parties and leaders, as well as posts and statuses from Facebook's own users.


Screengrab from facebook.com/UKpolitics.

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