Sentiment Analysis of the BBC's Digital Content during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum Campaign. Issue 4 (November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Greig, Alastair
• Is Part Of: Scottish affairs. Volume 25:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 419
• Page End: 435
• Publication Date: 2016-11
• Subjects: Scottish independence -- media analysis -- sentiment analysis -- BBC -- referendum; Scotland -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 320.941105
• DOI: 10.3366/scot.2016.0150
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0966-0356

Abstract

Abstract : In Scotland, the UK's media's coverage of the Scottish independence Referendum 2014 remains controversial. This was probably most true of the coverage from the UK's public service broadcaster, the BBC. In fact, perceived bias in favour of the No campaign by the BBC resulted in several demonstrations against the organisation outside its Scottish headquarters. This paper presents empirical results of a word frequency analysis of BBC's reporting of the referendum campaign between June 2014 until the day of the referendum on the 18th September. It finds that while the BBC's digital content appears less subjective than other major news outlets, there is nevertheless evidence that suggests that the BBC's coverage, on the whole, was more favourable to the No campaign and offers an empirical explanation of why that might be the case.