ABSTRACT
In an earlier article (McNulty et al. 2014), we showed how the issue of prisoners’ right to vote was a proxy for debates on Europe. The focus on Europe is also found in coverage of other human rights topics and with a similar blurring of the roles of different legal and institutional structures. 3
The evidence presented here, based on a study of how human rights was reported in a selection of newspapers in 2011, shows that Conservative politicians and the Conservative supporting press led and shaped the UK debate about human rights. In the chapter we examine the components of this narrative, including the focus on marginalized ‘outsider’ groups, the role of Europe and concern about the role of judges, and explore some of the implications of the dominance of such themes in the media discourse about human rights.
