Reporting the 2026 UK Elections, with Wales in Focus: TV, Online and Social Media Coverage of the Senedd
Professor Stephen Cushion, Dr Keighley Perkins & Dr Maxwell Modell
School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University
An AHRC-funded project
Executive Summary
UK-wide TV news gave limited attention to May’s elections in Wales, Scotland and England, often treating them as second-order contests. Between 2 March and 6 May, BBC News at Ten reported 28 election items, ITV News at Ten carried 10, and Channel 4 News carried 34.
All network broadcasters broadly balanced the competing perspectives of the major political parties across England, Scotland and Wales.
In UK-wide TV news, 56% of (14/25) items with a substantial focus on the Holyrood election referenced Scottish independence, and 43.5% (10/23) of items with a substantial focus on the Senedd election referenced Welsh independence.
While independence is a significant issue, its prominence narrowed the space for discussion on UK news of devolved issues in areas like health and education.
In Senedd election coverage, broadcasters balanced the perspectives of the six main parties, particularly on TV news and Instagram, but this breadth did not always translate into scrutiny.
Scrutiny was limited in day-to-day coverage of policy and campaigning in coverage of the Welsh elections. In TV news items covering party policy, political claims or featuring interviews with candidates: 49% featured no scrutiny, 29% featured substantial scrutiny, and 22% featured brief scrutiny. Or, put more bluntly, over 70% of claims by politicians on TV news received no or limited scrutiny.
Scrutiny was stronger in formats focused on one party, such as one-to-one interviews and manifesto launch coverage, than in items attempting to cover all six parties.
TV news allocated broadly similar levels of substantial coverage to Plaid Cymru, Labour, Reform UK and the Conservatives, with slightly less for the Liberal Democrats and Greens. Instagram followed a similar pattern, while online news was more concentrated around Plaid Cymru, Reform UK and Labour.
Health, the NHS and social care was the leading policy issue in the Senedd election across TV news, online news and Instagram. Economy and taxation, devolution and independence, and immigration and asylum also featured regularly, though less prominently.
A substantial proportion of online and social media coverage did not focus on policy. In online news, 43% of articles contained no specific policy issue, while 45% of Instagram posts also had no policy focus. Coverage was instead focused on campaign events, leaders, party competition or electoral process rather than substantive policy debate.
When immigration and asylum was discussed, broadcasters usually identified it as a reserved issue. This suggests that, in many cases, coverage provided audiences with useful constitutional context about which powers sit with Westminster rather than the Senedd.
Polling became more prominent as the campaign progressed, especially in the final week. On TV news, polling appeared in 27% of items overall, rising to 45% in the final week. Polling was also present in digital media coverage, though less dominant, appearing in 24% of online articles and 14% of Instagram posts.
The ITV Wales Cymru/YouGov poll dominated polling coverage, while seat projections remained limited but became more visible near polling day. Seat projections appeared six times on TV news, and in 16% of online articles and 8% of Instagram posts, with most appearing in the final week.
Vox pops were prominent on Welsh TV news but far less common online. Over a quarter of TV news items in Welsh bulletins featured vox pops (26%), compared with 12% of online articles and 14% of Instagram posts.
Vox pops captured public mood but offered limited depth. They highlighted voters’ concerns, particularly around health and social care, as well as recurring apathy and scepticism towards politics. However, their short format meant they were better at capturing snapshots of opinion than explaining why voters held those views.
Since over a quarter of TV news items about the Senedd election featured vox pops (164 in total), the public featured far more than the perspectives of political candidates.
Broadcasters used digital platforms not only to report the campaign, but also to explain it. There were 39 explainers produced across broadcasters about the electoral system, devolved powers and practical voting information. Meanwhile one-to-one interviews helped make Welsh party leaders more visible and accessible, combining in-depth interrogation of the parties’ positions with more personal questions about their backgrounds and interests.
Context
On Thursday 7 May 2026, voters in Wales went to the polls to elect members of a newly expanded Senedd. This marked an important moment in the development of devolved democracy. The election was the first to take place following the expansion of the Senedd from 60 to 96 members and the introduction of a new closed-list proportional voting system. These changes meant that broadcasters faced a significant challenge: not only reporting the campaign but also explaining how the election worked, what powers were at stake and how voters’ choices would translate into representation. On a UK level, the Senedd elections took place at the same time as the Scottish and English local elections. This meant it had to compete for attention in UK-wide media coverage, which many people in Wales still rely on to understand politics and public affairs.
This report examines how May’s 2026 elections were reported across in the English, Scottish and Welsh elections on UK-wide news as well as how the Senedd election was covered by media in Wales. It focuses on the extent to which the major UK broadcasters covered the election, the balance and impartiality of the main parties, the issues dominating coverage, the degree to which party political claims were scrutinised, as well as how public opinion was represented through polling data and vox pops.
We began by tracking how often, and in what ways, the national elections in Wales and Scotland, alongside the local elections in England, were reported on UK-wide TV news between 2 March, the date the first party manifesto was launched and 6 May, the final day of campaigning. This allowed us to assess not only how the Senedd election was covered during the official campaign period but also how visible it was within wider UK-wide election reporting.
Our analysis then assessed in more detail TV news coverage across both UK-wide and broadcasters in Wales between 8 April and 6 May. This included flagship UK bulletins – the BBC News at Ten, ITV News at Ten and Channel 4 News – as well as the key evening bulletins in Wales, BBC Wales Today and ITV Wales at Six. In total, we examined 137 TV news items and 472 party references.
It is important to acknowledge the limitations of this aspect of our study. We did not have the resources to examine of all network TV news programming, such as ITV News at 6.30pm – a dedicated hour of news coverage – as well as the BBC’s News at Six. Both bulletins could have made important contributions to coverage of the elections across the UK. In addition, we were not able to examine regional TV news programming across England or national coverage in Scotland. However, we have included in-depth analysis of BBC and ITV TV news produced in Wales.
Alongside broadcast coverage, we examined broadcasters’ digital election coverage across online news and social media. This included online articles from BBC Wales, ITV Wales, S4C and Sky News as well as Instagram content produced by these outlets during the campaign. In total, we analysed 236 digital items, comprising 150 online articles and 86 Instagram posts. Across these items, we identified 740 party references, including 555 references in online articles and 185 references in Instagram posts.
This mixed-platform analysis allows us to compare how the election was reported across traditional broadcast news, online news and social media. This is important because election coverage is no longer encountered only through scheduled television bulletins. Voters increasingly access, or come across, political information through websites, social media feeds, short-form videos and platform recommendations. As a result, the format and framing of coverage can shape what audiences are likely to understand about the campaign, the parties and the choices available to them.
With the exception of Channel 4 News, the report found that UK-wide TV news gave limited attention to May’s elections in Wales, Scotland and England, often treating them as secondary contests. When the Senedd election was covered on UK-wide bulletins, scrutiny was limited.
Broadcasters generally gave the six main parties relatively balanced visibility, particularly on TV news and Instagram. However, the breadth of coverage limited sustained scrutiny of party claims, policies or campaign messages. Across platforms, a substantial amount of coverage focused on campaign events, party competition, public opinion and electoral process rather than detailed policy debate.
Health, the NHS and social care was the leading policy issue across TV news, online news and Instagram, while economy and taxation, devolution and independence, and immigration and asylum also featured regularly. When immigration and asylum was discussed, broadcasters often identified it as a reserved issue, providing useful constitutional context for audiences. However, a large share of digital coverage did not focus on policy at all, suggesting that online and social media reporting frequently centred on campaign dynamics, leaders or electoral process.
Polling and seat projections became increasingly prominent as polling day approached, contributing to a stronger focus on party momentum, likely outcomes and electoral viability. Vox pops also played an important role, especially on Welsh TV news, where they provided snapshots of public concern and political mood. However, their short format limited the extent to which broadcasters could explore the deeper reasons behind voters’ views.
The report highlights the importance of Wales-specific broadcasting. Since UK-wide TV news found it challenging to provide extensive coverage of the election campaigns in Wales, Scotland and England, broadcasters in Wales played a vital role in informing people about the Senedd elections.
Overall, the findings show that broadcasters played an important role in making the Senedd election visible and accessible to audiences. They used a range of formats, including explainers, interviews, polling coverage and vox pops, to report the campaign and engage voters. However, the analysis also identifies clear challenges. Future coverage needs to ensure that efforts to represent a broad range of parties, report public opinion and adapt election coverage for digital audiences are matched by clear explanation, consistent scrutiny and substantive engagement with policy debates in day-to-day reporting.
Limited coverage of May elections on UK-wide TV news
UK-wide TV news coverage of the national elections in Scotland and Wales, and local elections in England was limited and treated as second-order contests. Between March 2, the date of the first manifesto launch, and May 6, the end of the campaign period, there were 28 election items on BBC News at Ten, 10 on ITV News at Ten, and 34 on Channel 4 News (7pm).
When they were reported, coverage often framed the elections as a horse race rather than focusing on substantive policy analysis or scrutiny. As election rules require broadcasters to broadly provide roughly equivalent coverage of parties during the campaign (which included 17 parties or national party variants across three contests) this limited how far they could interrogate specific policies in depth.
Of the nine UK-wide items focused on the Senedd Election during the official campaign period (08 April – 06 May) that included covering policy debates or featured candidate interviews, five claims had no scrutiny, two provided some brief scrutiny while two featured substantial scrutiny.
When policy was covered, the issue of independence was the dominant frame in items about the Scottish and Welsh elections.
56% of (14/25) items with a substantial focus on the Holyrood election referenced Scottish independence, and 44% (10/23) of items with a substantial focus on the Senedd election referenced Welsh independence.
Devolution and independence was also the most prominent policy issues in news items in both Holyrood and Senedd election coverage, above health and social care.
While independence is a significant issue, its prominence can narrow the space for discussion of other policy areas over which devolved governments are responsible.
How impartial was coverage of the Senedd election campaign?
Broadcast
TV news broadly allocated similar levels of coverage to all six major parties – with slightly more coverage for the four larger parties – Plaid Cymru (49 substantial references), Labour (49 substantial references), Reform UK (48 substantial references), and the Conservatives (46 substantial references) – and slightly less coverage for the two smaller parties – Liberal Democrats (39 substantial references) and Greens (36 substantial references). But in prioritising the breadth of party‑political perspectives, coverage did not consistently interrogate the depth or credibility of competing claims.
Scrutiny was limited in day-to-day coverage of policy and campaigning. In TV news items covering party policy or featuring interviews with candidates: 48.7% featured no scrutiny, 28.9% featured substantial scrutiny, and 22.4% featured brief scrutiny.
Scrutiny was much more substantial in items that focused on just one party, such as one-on-one interviews and manifesto launch coverage, than in items that attempted to cover all six parties.
Digital media content
Our analysis found a similar pattern on Instagram where the six main political parties were discussed in broadly comparable levels of depth: Plaid Cymru received 18 substantial references, Reform UK 16, Labour and the Liberal Democrats 15 each, the Greens 14, and the Conservatives 13. As with TV news, broadcasters’ Instagram coverage tended to prioritise the breadth of party-political perspectives over in-depth scrutiny or detailed interrogation of party claims.
However, this pattern was less even in online news. Plaid Cymru (70 references), Reform UK (66 references) and Labour (59 references) received more coverage than the Conservatives (49 references), the Liberal Democrats (43 references) and the Greens (40 references).
As with TV news, scrutiny in digital media content was limited. In online news items covering party policy or featuring candidate interviews, 44% included no scrutiny compared with 27% that featured substantial scrutiny and 29% that included brief scrutiny. On Instagram, scrutiny was more evenly distributed: 33% of posts featured substantial scrutiny, 33% included brief scrutiny, and 35% contained no scrutiny.
As with television news, social media coverage gave relatively balanced visibility to the main parties while online news coverage was more concentrated around the parties most central to the campaign narrative. However, across both formats, the breadth of party perspectives did not always translate into sustained interrogation of party claims, policies or campaign messages.
What issues dominated the campaign?
Broadcast
Three topics dominated election coverage: health and social care (21), economy and taxation (14), and devolution and independence (12).
In almost all news items about immigration and asylum, broadcasters made a concerted effort to highlight these policies under the control of UK government rather than the Welsh government at the Senedd.
Digital media content
A large proportion of digital media election coverage did not focus on a specific policy issue. In online news, 64 of the 150 (43%) articles analysed contained no policy issue. A similar pattern was present on Instagram where 39 of 86 posts (45%) contained no policy issues.
Where policy issues were discussed, health, the NHS and social care was the most prominent topic across both formats. It appeared in 22 online articles (15%) and 12 Instagram posts (14%). This broadly reflected the pattern found in TV news where health and social care was also the most frequently discussed policy issue.
In online news, health, the NHS and social care was followed by “Other” policy issues, a category used where multiple policy issues were discussed in the same item to the same degree. This accounted for 14 items (9%), followed by the economy & taxation (12 items, 8%), devolution & independence (9 items, 6%), and immigration & asylum (7 items, 5%). Other policy areas appeared less frequently, including transport (5 items, 3%), housing and education (3 items each, 2%), and welfare, defence, energy, farming, foreign policy, minority groups, sports, media & culture, and environment & climate change, each appearing only occasionally.
On Instagram, the pattern was similar but more compressed. Health, the NHS & social care again appeared most frequently (12 items, 14%) followed by the economy & taxation, and immigration & asylum (7 items each, 8%), devolution & independence (5 items, 6%) and both “Other” and transport (4 items each, 5%). Housing and education appeared in three posts each while defence, military and security, and crime, policing, law and order appeared only once.
When immigration and asylum was referenced in Senedd coverage, it was more likely than not to be identified as a reserved issue. This was made clear in 5 out of 7 online articles and 5 of the 7 Instagram posts that referred to immigration and asylum. This suggests that, when broadcasters discussed a policy area outside the Senedd’s powers, they often provided some constitutional context for audiences.
Taken together, the digital media findings closely mirror the broadcast analysis. Health and social care was the leading policy issues across TV news, online news and Instagram while economy and taxation, devolution & independence, and immigration and asylum also featured regularly. At the same time, a substantial share of digital media coverage did not focus on policy at all, with online and social media reporting instead centred on campaign events, party competition, leaders or electoral processes rather than substantive policy debate.
Reporting public opinion and polling
Polling
Broadcast
Over one in four items on TV news referenced public opinion polling. This was even more exaggerated in UK TV news, where over half of the items referenced polling data.
The focus on polls increased as the campaign went on, culminating in just under half of items in the final week of the campaign referencing polling.
The sourcing of opinion polling was usually not stated, but when a poll was sourced, overwhelmingly it was the YouGov ITV Wales Cymru polls. This varied by broadcaster, with ITV Wales more likely to reference the polling it commissioned, and all other broadcasters less likely to state the source of the polling they referenced.
Seat projections featured 6 times during the campaign. These mostly featured on ITV Wales at Six (4) and were linked to the reporting of their commissioned YouGov polls.
Digital media content
In online news, public opinion polling appeared in just under one quarter of articles with 24% of items referencing polls (36/148). Polling was less common on social media, appearing in 14% of Instagram posts (12/86).
In online news, polling visibility remained relatively stable across the campaign. Seven items referenced polls in Week 1, rising to 11 in Week 2, before remaining steady across Weeks 3 and 4 with nine items each. On social media, polling was more concentrated later in the campaign. It appeared in two posts in Week 1 and one in Week 2 before rising to four posts in Week 3 and six posts in Week 4.
Across both online news and social media, the ITV Wales Cymru/YouGov poll was the most frequently referenced polling source. It appeared in 14 online news articles and seven Instagram posts, far exceeding any other poll. Other polls appeared only occasionally, while some polling references did not specify the organisation behind them.
Seat projections also received limited coverage across digital media formats. In online news, 16% of articles included seat projections (24/148) with these becoming more common in the final week of the campaign when they featured in 10 online items. On social media, seat projections appeared in 8% of Instagram posts overall (7/86), four of which were published in the final week.
The digital media findings broadly mirror the broadcast analysis. Polling and seat projections were not dominant features of online or social media coverage but both became more visible as polling day approached. As with TV news, this suggests that coverage increasingly shifted towards questions of party momentum, likely outcomes and electoral viability in the later stages of the campaign.
Vox pops
Broadcast
Large chunks of airtime were dedicated to vox pops. 26.3% of Welsh TV news items about the election featured vox pops. In total, there were 164 individual vox pops - far more than there were interviews with candidates. This matters because while there is certainly a place for vox pops in election coverage to real insights into ordinary people’s real-life concerns and anxieties, on this scale, they took up valuable airtime at the expense of policy coverage, scrutiny of political claims and explanation of the workings of the Welsh political system.
Vox pops mostly focused on voters expressing concern about policy areas that would shape their vote, rather than stating which party they were most likely to vote for.
Overwhelming health and social care (26) was the most important issue to voters in vox pops. Followed by the environment and climate (14), transport (13), economy and taxation (10), employment (10) and housing (10). Notably, despite devolution and independence being major campaign policy for some parties and among the most prominent issues in news coverage of the elections, not one voter expressed concerns about this policy area in a vox pop. Similarly, childcare, the flagship policy offering of Plaid Cymru, and a significant policy area for the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, was low on the list of voters’ priorities, with just 2 mentions.
When asked which party they planned to vote for in the election, vox pops about indecision and apathy were high. The largest share were undecided voters (15). Of those with a clear voting preference, not voting (11) was the most common sentiment. Given that turnout at the election was 52%, the highest ever in a devolved Welsh election, vox pops did not appear to accurately capture the level of interest and engagement with the campaign.
Support for the parties in vox pops largely reflected both opinion polling during the election campaign and the final election result – with Plaid Cymru (7) and Reform UK (6) out in the lead, followed by Labour (4), the Conservatives (3), the Greens (3) and the Liberal Democrats (2).
While sentiments expressed towards different political parties in vox pops was relatively low, they do signal a media narrative more widely explored in coverage.
Negative sentiment towards the incumbent Welsh Labour government dominated party political vox pops. This validated and reiterated the dominant narrative of the need for a change in government in Wales, which was being reflected in opinion poll data, editorials and wider commentary. It had also been set in the Caerphilly by-election in October 2025, where Labour lost a previously safe seat to Plaid Cymru, and finished a distant third behind Reform.
The only other party to be subject to substantial negative sentiment was Reform UK – reflecting the polarising nature of the populist party.
Digital Media Content
Vox pops were far less prominent in digital media content than on TV news. They appeared in 12% of online news articles (18 items) and 14% of Instagram posts (12 items).
Where vox pops did appear, they did not always focus on specific policy issues. In around a third of online articles featuring vox pops (six items, 33%) and just over two fifths of Instagram posts (five items, 42%), no policy issue was discussed. Instead, these items often focused on voters’ personal experiences of the campaign, their ability to engage with the election or their understanding of the Senedd and its voting system.
When policy issues were raised, they tended to cluster around a small number of topics. Economy and taxation was the most common issue across both formats, appearing in four online articles (22%) and three Instagram posts (25%). Immigration and asylum appeared in two online articles (11%) while health, the NHS and social care appeared in two Instagram posts (17%).
As with TV news, disengagement and political apathy were recurring themes. Some participants expressed a general dislike of politics of scepticism towards politicians, including the view that political promises were often “empty”. As with broadcast vox pops, these short formats were better suited to capturing snapshots of public opinion than exploring in depth why voters felt this way.
The digital media findings suggest that vox pops played a smaller but still revealing role in online and Instagram coverage. Rather than taking up large amounts of space, they were used selectively to illustrate public mood and personal experience. However, their brevity meant they remained a relatively blunt tool: useful for showing how some voters talked about the election but less able to explain the deeper reasons behind their views.
Social media strategy
As the Senedd election campaign progressed, broadcasters used digital platforms not only to report on campaign events but also to explain the electoral process, introduce political leaders and make the election more accessible to audiences.
Our findings suggest that broadcasters increasingly used digital formats designed to inform and engage audiences who may be more likely to encounter election coverage online than through traditional television news. These included explainers about the electoral system, devolved powers and voting processes as well as informal one-to-one interviews with party leaders.
Before examining the specific strategies used, we first considered the extent to which broadcasters cross-posted election content across their online news sites and Instagram accounts. This allowed us to assess whether Instagram was being used primarily to reproduce existing online material or whether broadcasters were adapting election coverage for different digital platforms. This analysis was only possible for the three broadcasters in the sample that produced both online news and Instagram content. The BBC showed the highest level of cross-posting, with 41% of its election content appearing across both formats (24 of 59 items). Sky News also showed some overlap, with 31% of its content cross-posted (2 of 7 items), while ITV cross-posted a much smaller proportion of its content (10%, 2 of 10 items). This suggests that broadcasters varied in how far they treated Instagram as a distinct space for election coverage, although Sky’s smaller sample size means its figures should be interpreted cautiously.
Explainers
Broadcasters used explainers to help audiences understand the Senedd election, including how the electoral system worked, how it had changed and which policy areas were controlled by the Senedd or Westminster.
There were 19 explainers across the five broadcasters. The BBC produced the highest number with explainers making up 37% of its election coverage. ITV’s explainers accounted for 13% of its coverage followed by S4C at 10% and Sky News at 3%.
The majority of explainers focused on the election process, providing audiences with information about how the campaign worked, what to expect on polling day, and how to participate in the election. A smaller but still notable group of explainers focused on policy issues, particularly immigration and independence. This was significant given our February 2026 representative survey of the Welsh public, which found that many people were unclear about which policy areas are controlled by the Senedd and which remain the responsibility of Westminster.
Other explainers focused on the election process itself. These included items on key campaign dates, changes to the Senedd and voting system, and what happens after votes are counted. This was especially important in the context of the 2026 election, which was the first to take place after the expansion of the Senedd from 60 to 96 members.
Broadcasters also used creative formats to explain the new voting system, including one example that used cake to illustrate how the system works. Such explainers are valuable given the low levels of public understanding of the new closed-list proportional system. In our survey, only 7% of respondents correctly identified the new voting system while 58% said they did not know.
Some explainers also focused on practical aspects of participation, including how to register to vote and key deadlines for doing so. These items provided audiences with information needed to take part in the election, rather than simply understand it. Less frequently, broadcasters produced explainers outlining what the Senedd does or listing which candidates were standing in each constituency.
One-to-one interviews
Alongside explainers, broadcasters used digital formats to introduce audiences to leaders of Wales’ six main political parties. This matters because parties are increasingly represented through their leaders but in a devolved context this can be complicated by the presence of both UK-wide and Welsh leadership figures.
In total, there were 18 one-to-one interviews, produced by the BBC and ITV with the BBC accounting for 11 items and seven for ITV. Overall, one-to-one interviews made up 8% of the BBC’s election coverage in our sample and 13% of ITV’s reporting.
These interviews added a more personal dimension to election coverage. Formats such as the BBC’s Quickfire Questions and ITV’s Chippy Chats moved between lighter prompts, such as what song leaders had on repeat, and more political questions, such as which policy idea they were most excited about. In doing so, broadcasters presented leaders not only as party representatives but also as individuals.
ITV’s Chippy Chats offered a particular informal style of political interview, combining policy discussion with personal anecdotes. This format is important in light of our survey findings which identified relatively low public awareness of Welsh party leaders compared with UK-level figures. These interviews, therefore, served two functions. First, they gave audiences some insight into what party leaders stood for politically. Second, they increased the visibility and recognisability of Welsh political leaders in a campaign where public awareness of those leaders remained uneven.
Taken together, these findings suggest that broadcasters used digital platforms in distinct but complementary ways during the Senedd election campaign. Explainers helped clarify the electoral system, devolved power and practical voting information while one-to-one interviews made Welsh party leaders more visible and accessible to audiences.
As more voters encounter political information online, often passively through social media feeds, recommendations and short-form content, the format and framing of that coverage becomes increasingly important. Digital election content does not simply report the campaign; it can shape how audiences understand the political system, the parties and the choices available to them.
However, the volume and focus of this content varied considerably by broadcaster. While some made extensive use of explainers and informal interview formats, others used these approaches more sparingly.