Page 103 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 82

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION
elders on the current generation of leaders. In America, such a sage is Henry
Kissinger. In Britain, Denis Healey and the late Edward Heath played the role,
as do John Major, Tony Blair and their successors in subsequent governments.
We should also note here the role of the opinion pollster, usually called
upon in person only during election campaigns, although opinion polls are
a constant element of press and broadcast coverage of politics. The opinion
pollsters are authorised to tell us what the public thinks, and give their views
on how to interpret those thoughts.

Further reading
For a detailed discussion of the development of commentary columns,
political access programming and other forms of political journalism,
see Journalism and Democracy (McNair, 2000). Barnett and Gaber’s
Westminster Tales (2001) presents a critique of contemporary political
journalism in the UK. Kuhn and Neveu’s edited collection of essays on
Political Journalism (2002) provide an international comparative
perspective on political journalism.

CONCLUSION TO PART I

In the first part of this book we have now done five things.

• First, the normative role of the media in liberal democratic politics was
defined.
• Second, the media environment within which contemporary politics, and
political journalism in particular, must be pursued has been described.
• Third, we have outlined the media effects debate, as it relates to political
communication.
• We then looked at those determinants of the media production process
which shape the extent to which politics is covered and how it is covered.
• And finally, a description was given of the many forms in which media
professionals talk about politics or provide platforms and spaces for
others to do so.

Throughout the preceding chapters, we have stressed the importance for
those involved in politics of knowing and understanding how the media
works. Part II will consider how and with what degree of success political
actors of various kinds have applied this knowledge to the construction and
presentation of effective political communication.

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