Dr David Smith

I am a lecturer in Media and Communication in the School of Arts, Media and Communication. I joined the School in 2019 having completed my PhD at Loughborough University in 2015. Since 2023 I have been the PGR Tutor for Media and Communication. 

My research interests lie primarily in the fields of political communication and news media analysis. More specifically I explore these interests in relation to the politics and mediation of migration and the reporting of elections and political processes.

My doctoral research explored national newspaper coverage of issues around immigration to Britain during general election campaigns over the 25 election campaigns between 1918 and 2010. I have also been centrally involved in organising, analysing and disseminating the findings of several major content analyses of news during election campaigns and other high-profile events with colleagues at Loughborough University including the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general election campaigns and the 2016 EU referendum campaign.

Deacon, D., Smith, D., & Wring, D. (2023) Why mainstream news media still matter. Media, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241228765

Wring, D., Deacon, D., & Smith, D. (2022) Knocking Copy: How the National Press Covered the Campaign. In D. Wring, R. Mortimore., & S. Atkinson (eds.) Political Communication in Britain. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74254-6_10

Smith, D., & Matthews, J. (2021). Johnson and Journalism: Anonymous sources in senior journalists' social media feeds. In J. Mair, T. Clark, N. Fowler, R. Snoddy & R. Tait (eds.) Populism, the Pandemic and the Media. Abramis.

Smith, D., Deacon, D., & Downey, J. (2020). Inside Out: the UK Press, Brexit and Strategic Populist Ventriloquism. European Journal of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917715944

Deacon, D., Wring, D., Smith, D. & Vaccari, C. (2020) Here, there, and everywhere? Brexit and mainstream news coverage during the 2019 General Election. In J. Mair, T. Clark, N, Fowler, R. Snoddy, & R. Tait (eds.) Brexit, Boris and the Media, pp. 27-35. Bury St Edmonds: Abramis.

BSc Communication and Media Studies (First Class Honours), Loughborough University, 2010

PhD Social Sciences, Loughborough University, 2015 (‘Immigration in UK newspapers during general election campaigns 1918-2010’)

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy