iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Next season you have a cardiff away game to look forward to - let me know if you come 🍻 👍

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

How does it compare to the London Stadium 🫣

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Jakob Ohme @dscheykopp.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Hi #ica26. We have an open 4.5 yr Postdoc position @weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social Berlin in PolComm/Comp Social Scienes on opinion dynamics in climate topics. Hit me up if you want a to talk about it in CT or send to colleagues who might be interested. www.weizenbaum-institut.de/news/detail/...

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Interesting and great panel. Was there any solutions offered?

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Victoria Derbyshire @vicderbyshire.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

EXCL: Andy Burnham’s first broadcast interview since confirming he’d join any potential Labour leadership contest • is ‘sympathetic’ to reversing the gov’s NI rise for employers • asked why he believes he’d be a better PM than Keir Starmer says ‘I’m not getting into that’ 1/2 👇

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Both maxwellmodell.bsky.social and @perkinskeighley.bsky.social doing a great job of presenting our Cardiff uni research on 2026 media election coverage in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 including initiating a debate amongst students on the role and value of vox pops and explainers across social media 👇

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Fascinating reflections by @jaclarner.bsky.social on understanding of voting system in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 & how people may have cast their vote: “While the introduction of more focus and effort on analysing public opinion in Wales is a good thing, the range of polling and these MRP estimates was often confusing.”

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Interesting our research prompting new political debates about whether the media focus on 2-🐎 race shaped the electoral outcome of the Senedd election. Post election survey research urgently needed 🚨 👇

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Thanks for sharing - I’d not seen that our research was picked up down under 🇦🇺 seems vox pops divides opinions around the world

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Surprised this vox pops hasn’t come out of the archives - a good example of how it can misrepresent the public. Clip went viral implying public not engaged in snap election when surveys showed they were as did other vox pops that day in Bristol (down Gloucester road I think) 👇

static.klipy.com

Brenda From Bristol: Not Another One! (Brexit)

ALT: Brenda From Bristol: Not Another One! (Brexit)

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Excellent summary of our media election research here 👇 including on the 🔥topic of vox pops with @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social @maxwellmodell.bsky.social @perkinskeighley.bsky.social

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Yes, that’s what our research - which has initiated this debate on vox pops - was suggesting - we need to find ways to accurately reflect public opinion via Polls AND some vox pops

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Good to see our research on vox pops generating a debate - but we don’t argue they should be banned!

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Apologies - what I meant is - in my view - it would better to have fewer vox pops that accurately represent public opinion than more vox pops which did not take into account wider polls

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I think my bias is accuracy - and ensuring public opinion fairly represented rather than misleadingly constructed

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

You can but then you’re confronted with the argument from editors that there’s only so much space politics can fill in a news bulletin

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I don’t disagree with that principle but our past research suggests often vox pops misrepresents public opinion. I would argue for public to be even more central to reporting by drawing on surveys (not 🐎 race Qs) and construct vox pops to represent the findings of the opinion poll.

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

The vox pops we analysed in the research were very brief so not the most effective way to represent public opinion

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Thanks - that’s really interesting. What our research highlighted was the proportion of time dedicated to vox pops- not that they should stop. But they appeared to be replacing party political perspectives and journalistic scrutiny of them

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Fair point, a looked broadcasters’ tv, online and social media output - not print. TV often has mini sound bites that don’t add up too much but do give colour and personality to sometimes dry issues

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Great summary of our 2026 media election research 🗳️ 📺 👇

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Dr Keighley Perkins @perkinskeighley.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

We’re pleased to share a new report from the Enhancing the Impartiality of Political News project, examining UK- & Wales-based media coverage of the 2026 Senedd, Holyrood & English local elections. 🔗 canva.link/reporting-uk... 🧵👇 #journalismstudies #impartiality #impartialityproject

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Very interesting. I co-produced this research: we detected vox pops were used instead of party political perspectives because it’s difficult to reflect all six either in single reports or over whole campaign. Voters give immediate testimony on real life issues but this limits scrutiny of parties

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Our new Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture election research featured in the Guardian 👇

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Interesting- I hadn’t read this but pleased my research back in 2017 is still informing debate 👍 Hopefully our new research sparks some debates about role of vox pops and construction of public opinion

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NationCymru @nation.cymru · 16/05/2026

From the outset, Plaid Cymru and Reform UK used campaign slogans that presented the Senedd election as a direct battle between the two parties. But, held under the new proportional voting system, the election couldn’t have been further from a two-horse race

wp.me

A new voting system meant the Welsh election couldn’t have been further from a two‑horse race – so why was it portrayed as one?

Stephen Cushion, Professor, Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University, Keighley Perkins, Research Associate School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University; Swans...

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Our new Cardiff University research on how the media covered the Senedd election featured here 👇

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Wales just held its first Senedd election under a new proportional voting system. But did the media treat the electoral contest as a two-horse race between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK? Our new research systematically examines campaign news coverage 👀🧵 theconversation.com/a-new-voting...

theconversation.com

A new voting system meant the Welsh election couldn’t have been further from a two-horse race – so why was it portrayed as one?

Polls and projections increasingly framed the Senedd election as a contest between two parties.

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

To be fair to broadcasters: they did produce explainers on how proportional representation works. And the polls they reported largely reflected the actual result. But explanation and horse-race commentary aren’t equal. One got a slot. The other drove the whole campaign narrative.

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

This matters because research shows heavy poll reporting can create a “bandwagon effect”, where voters drift toward parties seen as gaining momentum. And our survey ahead of the campaign found widespread public confusion about the new voting system: www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/media-u...

enhancingimpartiality.com

Understanding the needs of media users in Wales: An analysis of UK-wide news and public knowledge about devolution — Researching the impartiality of political news

Given the continued dominance of UK-based news in Wales, a content analysis of network news produced by leading broadcasters was carried out. This included analysing over 3000 social posts, online art...

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

As more polls were published, it fuelled a Plaid-Reform horse race media narrative. On May 5, ITV Wales at Six opened with Plaid surging ahead of Reform. And day-to-day coverage increasingly became about momentum and winners rather than what voters were actually choosing between.

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Our Cardiff University tracked all election news items across BBC, ITV, Ch. 4, S4C & Sky.. We found: • 1 in 4 TV news items featured an opinion poll • More than half did on UK-wide bulletins • In final week: nearly half of TV items referenced a poll: public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...

public.flourish.studio

Proportion of TV news items to feature opinion polls during the Senedd election campaign

A Flourish data visualization by Maxwll Modell

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Both Plaid Cymru and Reform ran campaign slogans framing the election as a straight choice between them. But that's a classic first-past-the-post tactic - should the media have reported or resisted this campaign framing? x.com/DanWalesRefo...

x.com

Dan Thomas MS on X: "May 7 is a choice between more of the same or real change. Vote Reform for real change. https://t.co/7UwfflU0xK" / X

May 7 is a choice between more of the same or real change. Vote Reform for real change. https://t.co/7UwfflU0xK

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

theconversation.com

A new voting system meant the Welsh election couldn’t have been further from a two-horse race – so why was it portrayed as one?

Polls and projections increasingly framed the Senedd election as a contest between two parties.

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Our new Cardiff University media election research featured below 👇

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

No need to perceive coverage; you can read our systematic assessment of all coverage of parties in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 elections - see our latest Senedd study here: www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/imparti...

enhancingimpartiality.com

How impartial was news coverage of the Senedd election campaign? — Researching the impartiality of political news

Our analysis found that broadcasters broadly allocated similar levels of coverage to all six major parties. But in prioritising breadth of party‑political perspectives, we found reporting did not cons...

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Stephen Cushion @stephencushion.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Bit extreme - our systematic tracking of all elections across UK in network news and in coverage of Senedd election in Wales news shows all major parties regularly featured. Lib Dems may not be leading news items but they’re not getting zero coverage: www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/imparti...

enhancingimpartiality.com

How impartial was news coverage of the Senedd election campaign? — Researching the impartiality of political news

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Dr Keighley Perkins @perkinskeighley.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Really pleased to share our latest piece from the Impartiality project at @cujournmedcul.bsky.social, looking at how broadcasters are covering the Senedd election in an increasingly digital media environment. 🔗 tinyurl.com/2nyuy3wz 🧵👇 #journalism #impartiality #journalismstudies #socialmedia

tinyurl.com

Welsh broadcasters target voters with digital election coverage

From explainers to quickfire interviews, digital coverage is transforming the Senedd campaign coverage.

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NationCymru @nation.cymru · 18/04/2026

After the first official week of the Senedd election campaign, a new analysis suggests that while broadcasters are reporting party activity, they are offering limited scrutiny of the pledges and promises being made wp.me/p8Mk4U-1jt7

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