Voters and the Media. Assessment of Media Activities During the Polish Parliamentary Election Campaign of 2023

Abstract

It is a truism to say that the media are the primary source of information on politics. This is confirmed by numerous quantitative studies, which clearly show that although users’ preferences regarding the types of media that meet their needs for orientation in political issues are changing, their dominant position is not eroding. However, media recipients are relatively rarely asked about their assessment of the quantity and quality of information prepared and distributed by the media and through them.
An election campaign is usually a time of intensified communication between politicians and voters, in which the media play not only a reporting role, but also an active role, and, as can be assumed, the needs of political orientation of voters who declare active participation in the electoral process also increase. The subject of this article will be the presentation of the results of a study that concerned the assessment of the media’s performance during the 2023 parliamentary election campaign and their importance for making electoral decisions. The study was conducted as a survey, on a representative random sample.