Message or Medium? Campaign Learning During the 2001 British General Election

Synopsis: A central claim for the value of democratic elections is their potential for civic education. This study is designed to understand how and under what conditions people learn about public affairs from different sources of campaign information. There has long been debate in the literature about whether the medium matters, in particular whether print media are more effective than audiovisual channels for informing the public about policy issues. Questions also surround which information sources are most effective in closing the ‘knowledge gap’ by reaching the ‘know-nothings’.