SEEKING UNMEDIATED POLITICAL INFORMATION IN A MEDIATED ENVIRONMENT: The uses and gratifications of political parties' e-newsletters

Figures & data

Table 1  ‘News from Conservative.com’ subscriber's self-identified voting behaviour

	number	percentage of sample
members	179	47
loyal supporters	120	31
mild supporters	53	14
opponents	15	4
floating voters	14	4

Table 2  ‘Liberal Democrat eNews’ subscriber's self-identified voting behaviour

	number	percentage of sample
members	376	61
loyal supporters	85	14
mild supporters	90	14
opponents	13	2
floating voters	54	9

Table 3  Age of subscribers

age	‘News from Conservatives.com’ (%)	‘Liberal Democrats eNews’ (%)
15–24	16	19
25–34	17	17
35–44	16	18
45–54	21	18
55–64	21	17
65 +	9	10

Table 4  Occupation of subscribers

occupation	‘News from Conservatives.com’ (%)	‘Liberal Democrats eNews’ (%)
professional	27	33
senior manager	6	5
manager	7	8
supervisor	5	1
clerical	7	8
skilled manual	1	12
semi/unskilled manual	3	2
self-employed	8	6
student	12	17
unwaged	3	5
retired	12	12
Note: The remaining respondents did not state their occupation.

Table 5  Importance of communication channels in providing political information

channel	‘News from Conservatives.com’: % rated as important (ranking in parentheses)	‘Liberal Democrat eNews’: % rated as important (ranking in parentheses)
national newspapers	72 (1)	60 (2)
national television	66 (2)	63 (1)
national radio	60 (3)	55 (3)
party websites	58 (4)	46 (4)
face-to-face conversations with politicians	51 (5)	42 (6)
news organizations' websites	46 (6)	43 (5)
e-newsletters	43 (7)	36 (8)
party leaflets	37 (8)	39 (7)
public meetings	34 (9)	29 (10)
regional television	28 (10)	30 (9)
individual MPs' websites	24 (11)	29 (10)
friends and family	24 (12)	21 (13)
local newspapers	16 (13)	26 (12)
local radio	15 (14)	18 (14)

Table 6  Why subscribe to a party e-newsletter?

reason	percentage of ‘News from Conservatives.com’ respondents (ranking in parentheses)	percentage of Lib Dem eNews respondents (ranking in parentheses)
informed of party activities	69 (2)	68 (3)
informed of party policy	87 (1)	81 (1)
informed of party events	36 (9)	34 (8)
informed of current issues	67 (3)	70 (2)
informed about party personalities	40 (8)	24 (10)
receive press releases	57 (5)	51 (5)
receive speeches	43 (7)	36 (7)
received unmediated information	64 (4)	54 (4)
to inform political ideas	46 (6)	45 (6)
to decide how to vote	17 (13)	14 (12)
for campaigning	26 (11)	24 (9)
to pass on to party colleagues	12 (14)	11 (13)
to gain information on opponents	22 (12)	14 (11)
to offer my opinions	29 (10)	9 (14)

Table 7  E-newsletter use

use	percentage of ‘News from Conservatives.com’ respondents	percentage from ‘Liberal Democrats eNews’ respondents
forward to friends	23	20
use in discussions on politics	60	45
to inform my political views	65	62
for my job	9	11
for research	12	16
for news	10	17
for campaigning	23	24
for pressure group work	8	9

Table 8  Associations between subscriber's uses and gratifications (‘News from Conservatives.com’)

use	gratification
informed of party policy	20% with using the content to inform their political views
informed on current issues	19% with using the content in political discussion
to receive press releases	17% with forwarding them to friends
	18% with using the content in discussions
	18% with using the content for research
	18% with using the content for news stories
	18% with using the content for campaigning
to receive speeches	26% with using them in discussion
receive unmediated communication	22% with using the material in discussions
inform their political views	33% with using content to inform political views
	23% with using the material in discussion
for campaigning	62% with using content for campaigning
	36% with using content for pressure group campaigning
	20% with using content for their job
	20% with using content for research
to pass on to colleagues	34% with using content for campaigning
	29% with using content in pressure group campaigning
	28% with forwarding to friends
	21% with using content in discussion
to offer my opinions	18% with using content in discussions
	17% with passing content on to friends

Table 9  Association between subscriber's uses and gratifications (Liberal Democrat eNews)

use	gratification
informed of party policy	18% to persuade others
informed on current issues	18% to persuade others
informed about party personalities	24% with using content for pressure group
to receive press releases	19% with forwarding them to friends
	20% with using the content in discussions
	20% persuade
	29% with using the content for campaigning
to receive speeches	19% with using the content in discussions
	23% persuade
	21% with using the content for campaigning
receive unmediated communication	18% with using the content in discussion
	19% with using the content for news stories
to inform their political views	27% with using content to inform political views
	19% persuade
for campaigning	29% with forwarding them to friends
	34% persuade
	31% with using content for news stories
	70% with using the content for campaigning
to pass on to colleagues	41% with forwarding the content to friends
	18% with using the content in discussions
	23% persuade
	28% with using the content for news stories
	36% with using content for campaigning
to offer my opinions	21% with forwarding them to friends
	20% with using the content in discussions
	20% persuade
	21% with using the content for news stories
Note: the data in tables 8 and 9 show the percentage of association between the ‘what I hoped to gain’ variable and the ‘how I generally use’ variables. They should not be read as percentages of respondents.

Table 10  Uses and gratification, differences between party activists and non-activists

uses	activists' gratification (percentage of association)	non-activists' gratification (percentage of association)
information seeking
to gain information on party policy	93.7	86.6
to gain information about party events	52.4	32.4
to gain information about party personalities/personnel	46	39.8
to receive party press releases	74.6	52.8
to receive unmediated information about the party	69.8	64.6
personal
to inform my political views	55.6	44.9
to inform my vote choice	11.1	64
to gain a clearer view of party policy	58.7	49.4
social interaction
to pass on information to friends and colleagues	34.9	4.7
to feed back views to the party	73	42.1