Not yet an independent Scotland

Analysis of media coverage of the Scottish Referendum

Pretoria, 19 September 2014. The Scottish referendum to decide whether to be independent from the United Kingdom ignited fierce debate and garnered significant media attention throughout 2014. Research by Media Tenor has found that Alex Salmond’s prominence in the media may have driven away some potential yes voters. Salmond was the only voice of the Yes campaign who garnered significant coverage while the Better Together campaign offered a variety if voices from different political parties in defence of the union.

Some observers have pointed out that voters may have felt that the SNP’s policies were not what they wanted out of independence, in a way alienating voters who might have voted yes if the campaign had not been so dependent on one party and one leader.

Additional research shows that the Scottish campaign for independence was not even the most prominent in the global media in 2014, it was in fact the Crimean departure from the Ukraine that garnered the most coverage. Media Tenor also found that Switzerland was the most covered country on the topic of referenda, after hosting seven plebiscites in 2014, none of which concerned an independence movement.

Media Tenor Research Manager, Matthew Wate, comments “National identity is profoundly complex and the media reflect the intensity of debate on these issues. In the case of Scotland we see that a chorus of voices was more attractive than one domineering character”.

This report is based on the analysis of 115,940 reports gathered from 23 global TV news programs. The average inter-coder reliability in the first quarter of 2014 was 87,37%. For more information, please contact Matthew Wate on +27 12 368 7760; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..