‘Media-ted’ electoral campaigns : Europeanisation and postcolonial dynamics of voters’ use of media platforms in Malta

Abstract

Media are an agent of citizenship education. The ways citizens consume media are impacted by socio-demographics, perceptions as well as past and ongoing social dynamics. The study discussed in this paper investigated if media consumption is related to citizen opinion formation, particularly during electoral campaigns; and to voting behaviour. The paper presents the findings of a quantitative study of media platforms followed by voters in Malta to source news in the run-up to the 2017 general elections and the 2019 elections of members of the European Parliament (MEP) and the local councils (LC). The study also investigated voters’ engagement with national politics in 2021, a few months before a yet-to-be announced general election. The main findings of this study are that use of television predominated (76.0% in 2017, 62.5% in 2019) - particularly among older, female and less educated cohorts. Use of online sources was prevalent among younger and more educated cohorts (p < 0.001). The study investigated values attributed to Maltese politics, consideration of party position when forming opinions, past and prospective voting trends. There was a preponderance of younger cohorts among those considering voting for a different political party (50.3% among those aged 16-25, 42.0% among those aged 26-35). Older cohorts predominated among the 83% who reported always voting for the same party. Postcolonial communications and media studies inform the paper’s analysis of Malta’s long-standing partisan duopoly; risks of polarisation and radicalisation; and recommendations on media literacy to resist sensationalised or fake news and radicalising agendas.