Who speaks in a referendum? Scotland’s Indyref TV news coverage

Abstract

The 2014 Scottish independence referendum will be remembered as a key moment in the history of Scotland in the United Kingdom, but also as the vote that engaged the electorate like no other before or since: 84.6% of registered voters turned out on the day, which is the highest recorded participation in any referendum or election in the UK. At the time, some expressed hopes that this would mark a turning point in a long-standing trend ofvoter apathy, which is by no means unique to Scotland or the UK. Yet so far, no other electoral contest has captured people’s interest to the same extent, while the same level of turnout was not replicated in subsequent Westminster or Holyrood elections, nor in the2016 EU referendum.