2024 election coding schedule

PASS THE MIC: Women of colour in the Scottish media

Methodology Guide (adapted from Global Media Monitoring Project, by Karen Boyle, Melody House and Talat Yaqoob, October 2020) UPDATED JUNE 2024

WHAT TO CODE

For all media, only code stories about Scotland: If the story is about an issue in/concerning Scotland, or if a Scottish person is mentioned/gives commentary or is pictured (Twitter).

NEWSPAPERS:

  1. WHICH PAPERS WILL BE INCLUDED IN THIS STUDY:
    1. Daily Record/ Sunday Mail
    1. Scottish Sun/ Scottish Sun on Sunday
    1. Scottish Daily Mail/ Mail on Sunday Scotland
    1. Herald
    1. Scotsman/ Scotland on Sunday
    1. National/ Sunday National
    1. Sunday Post
  2. CODING DATES: Friday 7 June 2024 – Thursday 4 July 2024
  3. WHAT TO CODE: Code 20 stories on the main news pages. Code regular news stories and commentaries only: not editorials, letters to the editor. If a story begins on one page and continues elsewhere, code the entire story. Do not code:
    1. Editorials, letters to the editor
    1. Cartoons and jokes
    1. Weather reports
    1. Advertising
    1. Sports stories unless these are presented as news. So, for instance, if the lead sports story on the back pages is trailed on the front page, you would not normally include this. Likewise with lifestyle or business stories that are trailed on the front page, but appear in designated sections of the paper.
    1. News in brief stories of c.50 words or less unless accompanied by a photograph or including a quotation from a clearly identified source.
    1. Recipes (unless presented as main news story)
    1. Property (unless presented as main news story)


WEB NEWS

  1. WHICH WEBPAGES WILL BE INCLUDED IN THIS STUDY:
    1. STV NEWS: https://news.stv.tv/
    1. BBC NEWS SCOTLAND: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scotland
    1. Daily Record https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/
    1. Scottish Sun: https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/
    1. National (subscription)
    1. Herald (subscription)
    1. Scotsman (subscription)
  2. CODING DATES Friday 7 June 2024 – Thursday 4 July 2024
  3. WHAT TO CODE: Code up to 20 stories or online news content items with links on the home page. The home page usually has ‘teasers’, that is, descriptions or short excerpts of news stories with hyperlinked text. The home  page is the first layer of the website. They hyperlinks when clicked upon up a second page with the entire story. This is the second layer of the website. Do not code beyond the second layer unless the second layer is only a link to a summary, in which case code the story on the third layer. Within these parameters: do code all news stories, whether local, national or international; opinion and commentary pieces; stories tagged as celebrity; opinion and commentary pieces. Include all elements of the story, including video content. In the case of sidebars: Check the date of the article, if they were posted the day you are coding include, otherwise do not code. This goes for all stories on the landing page. In the case of live blogs: Only code information from that day, do not recode the same information across multiple days. Do not code:
    1. Advertising (including advertorials, sponsored or promoted content)
    1. Editorials
    1. Cartoon and jokes
    1. Weather
    1. Sections for kids
    1. Sports unless presented as news (e.g. stories tagged as “RANGERS FC” or “CELTIC FC” featured prominently on Record site, or those tagged as “SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP” on the Sun should not be coded unless these are stories which would have appeared in the news section – and not sports pages – of a print edition).
    1. Lifestyle, advice columns, recipes and business news. Or stories tagged as “relationships” (Sun).
    1. Story listings.
    1. Hyperlinks within the main story (on the second layer), or headlines/stories included within the main story as READ MORE.
    1. “Today’s papers” articles
    1. Your pictures sections
    1. Recipes (unless presented as main news story)
    1. Property (unless presented as main news story)

TELEVISION:

  1. WHICH BROADCASTS WILL BE INCLUDED IN THIS STUDY:
    1. STV NEWS, 6-6.25PM STV (& include weekend editions)
    1. REPORTING SCOTLAND, 630-7, BBC1 (& include weekend editions)
    1. THE NINE, BBC SCOTLAND, 9-10
  2. CODING DATES Friday 7 June 2024 – Thursday 4 July 2024
  3. WHAT TO CODE: Following the GMMP guidance and code all stories included in the broadcast except for sports reporting (only include sports if presented as a news story not within standard sports segment of the programme).

Do not code:

  1. Scrolling news text
    1. Weather forecast

TWITTER:

  1. WHICH TWITTER ACCOUNTS WILL BE INCLUDED IN THIS STUDY:
    1. @STVNews
    1. @BBCScotlandNews
    1. @Daily_Record
    1. @ScottishSun
    1. @HeraldScotland
    1. @TheScotsman
    1. @ScotNational/ @SunScotNational
  2. CODING DATES Friday 7 June 2024 – Thursday 4 July 2024
  3. WHAT TO CODE: Begin coding at 6pm and include all tweets from the prior 12 hours. Working backwards, select every tweet, up to a total of 25 tweets. Include the 280 characters of the tweet, plus any image/clip included in the tweet and text which appears beneath the image. In the case of videos included in tweets, code the video if it’s on the first layer only (ie it plays in the tweet).

Do not code:

  1. Duplicates – only exclude if it is a complete duplicate. If the same story is tweeted multiple times with different elements highlighted include them all.
    1. Retweets from other news organisations (even within same corporation: e.g. if BBCScotlandNews account retweets the main BBCNews or BBCSports do not include; likewise do not include @lifeStyleDailyR, @Record_Sport, retweets from @Daily_Record, but do include those from other news accounts e.g.@RecordCrime)
    1. Pinned tweets
    1. Teasers under the tweet
    1. Comments by followers or others appearing after tweet
    1. Threads: only code the lead tweet in a thread.
    1. Sports tweets in the main feed of new agencies that don’t have distinct sports accounts (e.g. @TheScotsman) unless it is a story which would normally appear in news section of paper.
    1. Weather reports
    1. Cartoons and jokes
    1. Advertising
    1. Recipes (unless presented as main news story)
    1. Property (unless presented as main news story)


THE CODING SYSTEM

BASIC:

  1. Name of media
  2. Date
  3. Number of anchors (TV only)
  4. Website description and URL (including time of access).

STORY:

  1. Position within news (e.g. the first story in newscast 1; for papers code the page it starts on; for twitter ignore this etc.)
  2. Four letter summary
  3. Type of article (Newspapers only)
  4. News
  5. Commentary (only code as commentary is explicitly presented as commentary, opinion, or a regular column with a named writer – this can include pseudonyms. NB if the column is a pseudonym, code for gender/is this person of colour based on the presentation of the pseudonym whether or not that matches the actual identity of the columnist)
  6. Is this story about the election?
    1. Yes
    1. No
  7. Is this story about the Euros?
    1. Yes
    1. No
  8. Is this story about the war in Gaza?
    1. Yes
    1. No
  9. Is this story about Taylor Swift?
    1. Yes
    1. No
  10. TOPIC
    1. Politics & Government
    1. Economy
    1. Science & Health
    1. Social & legal
    1. Crime & violence
    1. Gender & related
    1. Celebrity, arts & media, sport
    1. Other (only use in a last resort)
  11. Scope
    1. Local (e.g. Glasgow, Forth Valley)
    1. National Scotland
    1. Scotland in UK (a story that refers to UK countries/cities outwith Scotland)
    1. Scotland in Europe (code only if the story is about Europe or the EU as collective entities)
    1. Scotland in Foreign/international (e.g. French elections)

ANALYSIS

  • Is the story about gender in/equality? (Only code as “about” gender in/equality if this is explicit, e.g. a story about the gender pay gap.)
  • Is the story about racial in/equality? (Only code as “about” racial in/equality if this is explicit e.g. a story about a Black Live Matter protest, or about under-representation of women of colour in the Scottish Parliament. Stories about immigration would only be coded as “about” racial in/equality if they offered explicit commentary which situated immigration as an issue of racial discrimination/ justice.)
  • Is the story about a woman of colour? (Only answer YES if the woman of colour is the subject of the story: e.g. Kamala Harris makes her first speech as Vice President Elect.)
  • Is this story about immigration / asylum? (Only code as “about” immigration / asylum if this is explicit)

JOURNALISTS AND REPORTERS

  • Role (television only: Use one line on the coding sheer for each news anchor or announcer – code the anchor only in the first story they appear in.)

1 anchor, announcer or presenter (usually in studio)

2 reporter (usually outside studio, include reports who do not appear on screen, but whose voice is heard)

3 other journalist (commentator, analyst, correspondent etc.)

  • Sex

1 female

2 male

3 other (only use if explicitly defined as e.g. non-binary or trans within the article; if a trans woman in the news is not explicitly defined as such she should be coded as female)

4 don’t know

  • Is this a person of colour?

1 Yes

2 No

3 Don’t know

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS: include all people who the story is about; who are interviewed; who are quoted (directly or indirectly); code individual people only, do not code group, organisations, fictional characters, or deceased historical figures unless the story is about them. Code people in pictures that are captioned, if not captioned then do not code. The only exception is for public figures, if they are pictured code them even if uncaptioned.

  • Sex

1 female

2 male

3 other (only use if explicitly defined as e.g. non-binary or trans within the article; if a trans woman in the news is not explicitly defined as such she should be coded as female)

4 don’t know

  • Is this a person of colour?

1 Yes

2 No

3 Don’t know

  • Is a racial marker used to describe or identify this person? For the purposes of this question, racial markers would include if someone was described by their skin colour (e.g. white supremacist, black actor) or ethnic identity markers such as “a member of the Asian community”, or “African American”. NB: markers of nationality – e.g. the Japanese Prime Minister – should not in isolation be taken as racial markers.
    • Yes
    • No
  • Is this person’s religion mentioned in the story?
    • Yes
    • No
  •   Occupation or position – See GMMP methodology for explanation of each

0 Not stated. Story does not describe the person’s occupation or position.

1 Royalty, ruling monarch, deposed monarch, any member of royal family

2 Politician / member of parliament, president, government minister, political leader, political party staff

3 Government employee, public servant, bureaucrat, diplomat, intelligence officer, government spokesperson, etc.

4 Police, military, para-military group, militia, prison officer, security officer, fire officer

5 Academic expert, lecturer, teacher. Use this for any researcher that is not also a scientist (e.g. think tank)

6 Doctor, dentist, health specialist

7 Health worker, social worker, childcare worker

8 Science or technology professional, engineer, technician, computer specialist

9 Media professional, journalist, video or film-maker, theatre director. social media influencer, YouTuber, Instagrammer

10 Lawyer, judge, magistrate, legal advocate, legal expert, legal clerk

11 Business person, executive, manager, entrepreneur, economist, financial expert, stock broker

12 Office or service worker, non-management worker in office, store, restaurant, catering

13 Tradesperson, artisan, labourer, truck driver, construction, factory, domestic worker

14 Agriculture, mining, fishing, forestry worker. Use this for anyone working in the RSPB or similar roles.

15 Religious figure, priest, monk, rabbi, mullah, nun

16 Activist or worker in civil society organisation, non-governmental organisation, trade union, human rights, consumer issues, environment, aid agency, peasant leader, United Nations

17 Sex worker

18 Celebrity, artist, actor, writer, singer, radio or television personality

19 Sportsperson, athlete, player, coach, referee

20 Student, pupil, schoolchild

21 Homemaker, parent, either female or male. Code this only if no other occupation is given, e.g. a doctor who is also described as a mother is coded 6.

22 Child, young person (up to 18 years). Code this only if no other occupation/position is given, e.g. a schoolchild is coded 20; a child labourer is coded 14.

23 Villager or resident engaged in unspecified occupation. Code this only if no other occupation is given, e.g. a teacher who is also described as a villager is coded 5.

24 Retired person, pensioner. Code this only if no other occupation is given, e.g. a retired police officer is coded 4; a retired politician is coded 2.

25 Criminal, suspect. Code this only if no other occupation is given, e.g, a lawyer suspected of committing a crime is coded 10; a former politician who has committed a crime is coded 2. 26 Unemployed. Code this only if no other occupation is given, e.g. an unemployed actor is coded 18; an unemployed person who commits a crime is coded 25.

27 Other. Use only as a last resort (specify the occupation/position in ‘Comments’ section of coding sheet) Use this category for fans (e.g. of Taylor swift or football)

n  In what function or capacity is this person included in the story?

Choose one code only for each person in the story. If there are several people in the story, some of them may have the same function. E.g. the story might be about two people, in which case both of these people would be given code 1; the story might include three eye witnesses, in which case all three would be given code 5. Code 1 takes precedence over other codes. E.g. if the person is both a subject and a spokesperson, choose code 1= Subject.

0 Do not know: the person’s function is not clear.

1 Subject: the story is about this person, or about something the person has done, said etc.

2 Spokesperson: the person represents, or speaks on behalf of another person, a group or an organisation, use this for politicians/lawyers/judges speaking on behalf of someone or something (e.g. Swinney talking on behalf of SNP, lawyer speaking on behalf of client, Judge giving judgement)

3 Expert or commentator: the person provides additional information, opinion or comment, based on specialist knowledge or expertise

4 Personal experience: the person provides opinion or comment, based on individual personal experience; the opinion is not necessarily meant to reflect the views of a wider group

5 Eye witness: the person gives testimony or comment, based on direct observation (e.g. being present at an event)

6 Popular opinion: the person’s opinion is assumed to reflect that of the ‘ordinary citizen’ (e.g., in a street interview, vox populi etc); it is implied that the person’s point of view is shared by a wider group of people. Use this for pundits unless presented/treated as an expert/commentator – also use this for celebrities / politicians giving their opinion on something.

7 Other. Use only as a last resort (describe the function in ‘Comments’ section of coding sheet). Use this for passing mentions of people in stories (but don’t code if mentioned in the possessive e.g. ‘Starmer’s party – don’t code Starmer)

o Is this person directly quoted in the story?

              1 Yes

              2 No

p Is there a photograph of this person in the story?

              1 Yes

              2 No

q Family role given?

1 Yes

              2 No

r Is there a photograph of a person of colour, or people of colour, who are not individually mentioned in the story?

  1. Yes
  2. No

s Is there a generic reference to people or communities of colour in the story (e.g. “black teenagers”, “African American voters”, “Islamic leaders”)

  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Implicitly

SQ1 Is this person a candidate in the election?

  1. Yes
  2. No

SQ2 What country are they standing in?

  1. Scotland
  2. England
  3. Northern Ireland
  4. Wales

SQ3 Is this a party leader?

  1. Yes – Scotland
  2. Yes – UK
  3. Yes – Other
  4. No

SQ4 What party are they from?

  1. Labour
  2. Conservative
  3. SNP
  4. Lib Dep
  5. Green
  6. Reform
  7. Independent
  8. Other