Abstract
This account offers insights into the editorial process from the vantage point of an editor who worked on Sky News’ Election Night programme. The chapter captures the drama of the unfolding events as well as the considerable challenges facing a live broadcaster following a shock exit poll that contradicts the dominant narrative of the preceding weeks of campaigning. Furthermore the piece offers a detailed account of how breaking news works over the course of a historic night where claims and counter-claims had to be sourced, quickly evaluated and then aired (or not).
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Notes
- 1.
The House of Commons library has recorded Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central ’s declaration time as 23:01 and Houghton & Sunderland South ’s as 23:10. Houghton & Sunderland South still holds the record for the fastest general election night count, 42 minutes and 46 seconds, which it set in 2005.
- 2.
The odds quoted are from Sky Bet. Other bookmakers will have had slightly different prices, but none was very different.
- 3.
In 2017, the final combined vote share for the Conservatives and Labour was 82%. Records from the House of Commons Library show this was the highest two-party vote share since 1970, when the combined Labour and Conservative vote share was 89%.
- 4.
The order of target seats in this chapter is based on where it ranks in the swing required for a party to gain. It does not necessarily reflect internal party target lists.
- 5.
In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn gets 73% of the vote in Islington North , the highest since the constituency was established in 1885. The previous highest was 69.3% in 1997, also achieved by Jeremy Corbyn as a Labour candidate.
- 6.
The final total of Conservative seats in Scotland is 12, the largest number since 1983 when the party won 21 seats.
References
Cowley, P., & Kavanagh, D. (2015). Different scripts required: Election night. The British general election of 2015 (pp. 214–216). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
House of Commons. (2017). General election 2017: Results and analysis (Briefing paper CBP 7979). London: House of Commons Library.
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Glaister, I. (2019). Election Night: The View from Sky News. In: Wring, D., Mortimore, R., Atkinson, S. (eds) Political Communication in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00822-2_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00822-2_5
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