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    • Celebrities >
      • Robin Williams and suicide reporting
      • George Clooney v Daily Mail, round 3
      • Are we playing fair with celebrities?
      • L'Wren Scott's death and Mick Jagger's grief
      • Jill Dando
      • Alain de Botton and Philip Seymour Hoffman
      • Wendi Deng and Rebekah Wade love letters
      • Elizabeth Hurley
      • Gwyneth Paltrow
      • William Roache
    • Crime >
      • The release of Harry Roberts
      • Alan Henning and Alice Gross
      • Dave Lee Travis and Operation Yewtree
      • Rotherham child sex exploitation
      • Operation Tuleta
      • Rolf Harris and Andy Coulson sentencing
      • Maxine Carr's wedding
      • Ann Maguire stabbing
      • Stephen Lawrence and police corruption: time to sit up and take notice
      • The Mirror and Jill Dando
      • William Roache acquitted
      • Rape cases never have a happy ending
      • Lee Rigby and the law of contempt
      • Michael Le Vell: don't shoot the messenger
      • Madeleine McCann: missing an opportunity
      • Maria the 'Greek Madeleine'
    • Foreign Affairs >
      • David Haines and Isis propaganda
      • The murder of Steven Sotloff
      • James Foley murdered
      • Nigeria's abducted girls and massacre
      • Kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls
      • Al Jazeera on trial: why should we care about journalists?
      • Al Jazeera on trial: the final session
      • Al Jazeera on trial: Abdullah Elshamy
      • Al Jazeera on trial: Peter Greste
      • Al Jazeera on trial: the court hearings
      • Peter Greste sent back to jail as Al-Jazeera journalists' trial is adjourned
      • Al-Jazeera journalists refused bail in Egypt
      • Frontline reporting
      • Putin, the Man of Destiny, and dreams of a Eurasian empire
      • Putin wants more than Crimea, he wants half of Ukraine
      • Ukraine revolution and the threat to the West
      • Obama's selfie
      • Typhoon Haiyan
    • Gender Issues >
      • It takes all sorts to make a family
      • This is what a flawed feminist campaign looks like
      • A level results day: bring on the token boys
      • Kellie Maloney faces the world
      • Cheerleading
      • Pregnant soldiers
      • Women in trouble for getting ahead
      • Doris Lessing, Helen Mirren and silly sexist tokenism
      • Bank notes campaign
    • Health and Beauty >
      • Ebola
      • Ashya King and the force of authority
      • Robin Williams and suicide reporting
      • Sun boobs with page 3 breast cancer campaign
      • Stephen's story: did the Press help his cause or take over his life?
      • Anorexia, bulimia and high-achieving students
      • Colchester cancer scandal
      • New year diets
      • Food for thought: will red meat kill you?
    • Obituary >
      • Robin Williams and suicide reporting
      • Chapman Pincher
      • Rik Mayall and the trouble with death
      • Tony Benn: why we shouldn't speak ill of the dead
      • Thatcher and Crow: speaking ill of the dead
      • Bob Crow wins last media battle
      • Fred Sanger
      • Nelson Mandela
      • Doris Lessing
    • Politics >
      • Poppymania
      • Cameron's tax cut promise
      • Brooks Newmark sting
      • Scottish referendum >
        • Scottish referendum: the final editions
        • Scottish referendum miscellany
        • The Queen speaks
      • Politicians need their holidays too
      • Cameron's reshuffle: bring on the women
      • Food banks
      • The European elections audit >
        • Election audit: the last wordle
        • Election audit: Daily Mail
        • Election audit: The Times
        • Election audit: Daily Express
        • Election audit: Daily Mirror
        • Election audit: The Independent
        • Election audit: Guardian
        • Election audit: Daily Telegraph
        • Election audit: The Sun
      • Maria Miller
      • The blue-rinse bingo Budget
      • Harman, Hewitt and the paedophiles
      • Hewitt apologises and the Sun picks up the cudgels
      • Mail v Labour trio, day 6: Harman capitulates and the bully wins
      • David Miranda detention matters to us all
      • Education >
        • A level results day: bring on the token boys
      • Immigration >
        • A year of xenophobia
        • The Express and immigration
      • The Royal Family >
        • Prince Charles and the floods
        • Prince George
      • Sport >
        • Cheerleading
        • Kelly Gallagher beats the world
        • Why is football more important than all the news?
        • Jenny Jones struggles against Kate and ManU
      • The weather >
        • Smog
  • Journalists in court
  • Phone hacking
  • The Brooks-Coulson trial
    • Hacking trial: sentences
    • Hacking trial: commentary
    • Hacking trial: background
    • Hacking trial: reportage and comment
    • Hacking trial: press coverage
    • Hacking trial: verdict and reaction
    • Hacking trial: sentencing hearing
    • Hacking trial: mitigation
    • Hacking trial: Rebekah speaks
    • Hacking trial: mainstream Press
    • Hacking trial: periodicals
    • Hacking trial: Guardian
    • Hacking trial: Independent
    • Hacking trial: The Times
    • Hacking trial: Daily Telegraph
    • Hacking trial: The whitetops
    • Hacking trial: The redtops
    • Hacking trial: evidence
  • Nationals
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    • Independent
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  • OpEd
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    • OpEd: 19-12-14 North Korea
    • OpEd: 18-12-14 British politics
    • OpEd: 17-12-14 UK politics
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    • OpEd: CIA torture 15-12-14
    • OpEd: UK politics 12-12-14
    • OpEd: CIA torture 11-12-14
    • OpEd: CIA torture 10-12-14
    • OpEd: British politics 09-12-14
    • OpEd: British politics 08-12-14
    • OpEd: Autumn Statement 05-12-14
    • OpEd: Autumn Statement 04-12-14
    • OpEd: Autumn Statement 03-12-14
    • OpEd: Gordon Brown 02-12-14
    • OpEd: Black Friday 01-12-14
    • OpEd: Scottish finance 28-11-14
    • OpEd: European politics 27-11-14
    • OpEd: David Mellor 26-11-14
    • OpEd: Lewis Hamilton 25-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 24-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 21-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 20-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 19-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 18-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 17-11-14
    • OpEd: Labour 14-11-14
    • OpEd: forex scandal 13-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 12-11-14
    • OpEd: the Labour Party 11-11-14
    • OpEd: Ed Miliband 10-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 07-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 06-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 05-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 04-11-14
    • OpEd: space tourism 03-11-14
    • OpEd: British politics 31-10-14
    • OpEd: immigration 30-10-14
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    • OpEd: British politics 28-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 27-10-14
    • OpEd: NHS 24-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 23-10-14
    • OpEd: Ukip 22-10-14
    • OpEd: Britain and EU 21-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 20-10-14
    • OpEd: Lord Freud 17-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 16-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 15-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 14-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 13-10-14
    • OpEd: Isis and UK politics 10-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 09-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 08-09-14
    • OpEd: LibDem conference 07-10-14
    • OpEd: British politics 06-10-14
    • OpEd: party conferences 03-10-14
    • OpEd: Cameron's speech 02-10-14
    • OpEd: Conservative conference 01-10-14
    • OpEd: Conservative conference 30-09-14
    • OpEd: Conservative conference 29-09-14
    • OpEd: War on Isis 26-09-14
    • OpEd: Labour conference 25-09-14
    • OpEd: Miliband's speech 24-09-14
    • OpEd: Labour conference 23-09-14
    • OpEd: Referendum fallout 22-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 19-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 18-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 17-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 16-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 15-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 12-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 11-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 10-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 09-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 08-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish referendum 05-09-14
    • OpEd: Nato and Isis threat 04-09-14
    • OpEd: Scottish independence 03-09-14
    • OpEd: Nude photographs 02-09-14
    • OpEd: British politics 01-09-14
    • OpEd: Ukip defection 29-08-14
    • OpEd: Rotherham sex abuse 28-08-14
    • OpEd: Islamic militants 27-08-14
    • OpEd: Middle East 26-08-14
    • OpEd: James Foley 22-08-14
    • OpEd: James Foley 21-08-14
    • OpEd: British politics 20-08-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 19-08-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 18-08-14
    • OpEd: A levels 15-08-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 14-08-14
    • OpEd: Robin Williams 13-08-14
    • OpEdL Iraq 12-08-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 11-08-14
    • OpEd: Boris Johnson 08-08-14
    • OpEd: Boris Johnson 07-08-14
    • OpEd: Warsi resignation 06-08-14
    • OpEd: First World War centenary 05-08-14
    • OpEd: Gaza 04-08-14
    • OpEd: British politics 01-08-14
    • OpEd: Gaza 31-07-14
    • OpEd: British politics 30-07-14
    • OpEd: British politics 29-07-14
    • OpEd: Gaza 28-07-14
    • OpEd: Gaza 25-07-14
    • OpEd: EU and Russia 24-07-14
    • OpEd: Flight MH17 23-07-14
    • OpEd: Flight MH17 22-07-14
    • OpEd: Flight MH17 21-07-14
    • oped: Gaza 18-07-14
    • OpEd: Cameron's reshuffle 17-07-14
    • OpEd: Cameron's reshuffle 16-07-14
    • OpEd: Cameron's reshuffle 15-07-14
    • OpEd: British politics 14-07-2014
    • OpEd: public sector strikes 11-07-14
    • OpEd: public sector strikes 10-07-14
    • OpEd: sex abuse 09-07-14
    • OpEd Sex abuse 08-07-14
    • OpEd: Westminster child abuse 07-07-2014
    • OpEd: Middle East 04-07-14
    • OpEd: Ed Miliband 03-07-14
    • OpEd British politics: 02-07-14
    • OpEd: edeucation 01-07-14
    • OpEd: Britain and Europe 30-06-14
    • OpEd: Britain and Europe 27-06-14
    • OpEd: Luis Suárez 26-06-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 25-06-14
    • OpEd: British politics 24-06-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 23-06-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 20-06-14
    • OpEd: British politics, 19-06-14
    • OpEd: British politics, 18-06-2014
    • OpEd: Iraq 17-06-14
    • OpEd: Tony Blair 16-06-14
    • OpEd: Iraq 13-06-14
    • OpEd: Oxfam, baby buggies, World Cup 12-06-14
    • OpEd: education and British values 11-06-14
    • OpEd: extremist education 10-06-14
    • OpEd: May v Gove 09-06-14
  • The columnists
  • Regionals
    • Regional Press Awards 2013
    • Local newspaper week
    • Local papers matter
    • Reading Chronicle and football hooliganism
    • Time for change
    • Monty's vision
    • The Full Monty: the Local World vision put into practice
    • The Pirates of Parkham
    • Colchester cancer scandal
  • Backnumbers
    • Weekend papers Dec 27-28
    • Front pages Dec 22-26, 2014
    • Weekend papers Dec 20-21
    • Front pages Dec 15-19
    • Weekend front pages Dec 13-14
    • Front pages Dec 8-12
    • Weekend papers Dec 6-7
    • Front pages Dec 1-5
    • Weekend papers Nov 29-30
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    • Front pages Oct 27-31
    • Weekend papers Oct 25-26, 2014
    • Front pages Oct 20-24
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    • Front pages Oct 12-17
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    • Front pages Sept 28-Oct 4
    • front pages Sept 21-27
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    • front pages Sept 7-13 2014
    • front pages Aug 31-Sep 6
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    • Nationals May 25-31
    • Front pages May 18-24 >
      • Press review: 24-05-14
      • Press review: 21-05-14
      • Press review: 20-05-14
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      • Press review 15-05-14
      • Press review 14-05-14
      • Press review 13-05-14
      • Press review 12-05-14
    • front pages May 4-10, 2014 >
      • The review 09-05-14
      • The review 08-05-2014
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The European elections audit

How the nationals covered the European and local campaigns from May 12-26

The Independent: front pages

Independent front pages
Independent front pages
The elections featured on the Indie's front page six times, though the Tory donations story was more about a general election war chest than the local and European campaigns. Similarly, the figures about Romanians and Bulgarians were not specifically tied to the polls, but rival candidates used them as a stick to beat Ukip.
David Miliband's speech about the minimum wage made the splash on May 19, but this was a general election story and while it was delivered during the European campaign, there was no reference to the imminent vote.

Inside pages

Independent inside pages
In common with most other papers, the Independent's inside coverage was strongly focused on Ukip. There was some attempt to look at wider issues of Europe: two-thirds of a page was devoted to the choice of the next president of the European Commission, a global survey showed that as a nation we were Euro-friendly and there was some consideration of the future of the Conservatives' alliances at Strasbourg. 
Coverage of the local elections was no less  sparse than in other papers, but there were tantalising titbits, such as the faulty graph in a Tory leaflet distributed in Derby. 
On policy related to Europe or local councils the coverage was thin. Instead there was a retrospective on the fortunes of Nick Griffin and the BNP and an interview with some Romanian neighbours after Farage's LBC fiasco.  There were vast across-the-gutter pictures of Cameron in Newcastle and Essex, but no copy to go with either. SubScribe has given the Indie the benefit of the doubt and included them in the audit, although the suspicion is that he was not in either place to talk about EU energy policy or dustbins.
The photo count on the front and inside news pages was five of Farage, four of Farage, one of Miliband and one of Clegg. There were also three photographs of Cameron and Boris Johnson campaigning for the Newark by-election. Coverage of the Greens was limited to the top righthand corner of a spread on polling day. 

The opinion pages

Independent cartoons
Independent comment
Independent  cartoons
The Indie's commentators had far less to say about the elections and related topics than the other quality papers, with each of its big-name writers (who include Nigel Farage) turning to the subject only once in the final fortnight.
The paper did, however, carry four leaders with the final one on the eve of the poll urging voters to back candidates willing to engage in Europe - almost the same line as that taken by the Guardian.
The cartoonists Dave Brown and Brian Adcock were inspired to pick up their pencils half a dozen times.

The wordle*

Independent wordle
*based on headline words

SubScribe logo
The European elections audit
How the Press
covered the campaign and the aftermath
Plus the papers' detailed breakdown
The Telegraph in detail
The Guardian in detail

Picture
I am not going to vote in next week's elections...I have little idea who the candidates are. Only the Conservative party has communicated with me thus far...to discover just the bare names of the Labour Liberal Democrat and Ukip candidates, I would have to do a search of the internet. I detect here the habitual arrogance of professional politicians. They assume we would cast our ballots without even wanting to know what sort of people we are being asked to support.  The Conservative pamphlet is an example of using one election to fight another. The front sheet is dominated by a picture of David Cameron, who isn't standing next Thursday
- Andreas Whittam Smith,  
 May 15
Picture
With all this chaos looming over us, we need an outsider, an anti-establishment figure who's prepared to stand apart from the self-serving hierarchy that's in charge. This explains the rise of Nigel Farage, as there's no one more anti-establishment than a posh ex-stockbroker from rural Kent
- Mark Steel
May 16

Picture
Farage is the nice bloke who has never been an MP, let alone a ruler. He alone is uncontaminated by power. He enjoys adulation similar to that conferred on Nick Clegg at the last general election but is even less constrained than Clegg was then. Farage happily disowns his party's policies, candidates and the rest if they are inconvenient to him. He is a leader unconstrained by politics - a dream scenario
- Steve Richards
May 21
Picture
The Parliament is more powerful than most national legislatures. A vote for a candidate who promises properly to engage with it is a vote that recognises the inter-connected nature of progressive European society. That said, for many voters, the council election will have a more observable effect on day-to-day life. the temptation to use a vote to strike out at the Coalition or Labour's recent record should be resisted and the focus kept local. The time for a referendum on Messrs Cameron, Miliband and co awaits in 2015
- Leading article
May 21
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