Page 143 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 122

COMMUNICATING POLITICS
(volatile) public opinion, political consultants, Nimmo argues, in effect
filled the space occupied elsewhere by party political machines. From
Campaigns Inc. developed what Nimmo calls a nationwide ‘service indus-
try’ (1970, p. 39), facilitating political communication between parties,
candidates and their publics; designing and producing publicity and propa-
ganda material; raising funds; advising on policy and presentation, and
polling public opinion – becoming, in short, ‘the stage managers and the
creative writers of living-theatre politics’ (Sabato, 1981, p. 111).
By the 1970s there were hundreds of full-time political consultants in the
US, and their numbers were growing in Britain and other democratic
countries. In Britain in the 1980s the names of Peter Mandelson, Tim Bell,
the Saatchi brothers, and Harvey Thomas became inseparable from the
political process. The remainder of this chapter examines the means and
methods by which political parties, at times of election and in the intervals
between them, with the help of their political consultants, seek to manage
the media in such ways as to maximise favourable coverage and to minimise
that which is damaging to the organisations’ interests.
The discussion will be organised around four types of political public
relations activity.

• First, we address forms of media management – those activities designed
to tap into the needs and demands of the modern media and thus maxi-
mise politicians’ access to, and exposure in, free media. These activities
chiefly comprise the manufacture of medialities – media-friendly events
which will tend to attract the attention of media gate-keepers, all other
things being equal, and to keep public awareness of the party high. The
objective of this activity is, of course, not simply to preserve a party’s
visibility but also to have its definition of political problems and
solutions covered. In this sense, we may also think of it as issues
management.
• Second, we examine the practice of image-management in political public
relations: on the one hand, the personal image of the individual politi-
cian, and how it can be moulded and shaped to suit organisational goals;
and on the other, the image of the political organisation. The latter
activity may also be described as political marketing, and will frequently
incorporate the advertising techniques described in the previous chapter.
But the marketing of political identity and image extends far beyond the
placement of paid messages in the media: it includes such matters as the
design of a corporate logo (a party’s symbol); the language used during
political interviews and in manifestos; and the general work of a party
when it campaigns in the public sphere.
• The success or otherwise of the aforementioned categories of activity
depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of a third: the internal
communications of the organisation. This includes setting up channels

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