Page 151 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 130

COMMUNICATING POLITICS
moments of ‘reality intrusion’, nevertheless, Labour, like the Conservatives
and the Liberal Democrats, had by the 1990s been persuaded of the need to
apply the principles of pseudo-eventing to its public gatherings and become
increasingly adept at applying them. At the final Labour conferences of
Gordon Brown’s short-lived premiership (2007–10) his wife Sarah was
brought on stage to eulogise her husband, and help soften his image as ‘Iron
Broon’. The tactic was successful, if only in demonstrating that the worka-
holic, driven Brown did in fact have a family life, and the love of a strong,
independent woman. Not all attempts at stage managing party conferences
have been as successful, however.
During the 1992 election campaign, such was the manufactured quality of
the major Labour rally that its construction became a news story in itself,
backfiring on the party’s efforts to present itself as modern and media-literate.
The Sheffield rally of 4 April 1992 has passed into British political mythology
as an example of the point at which the construction of pseudo-events for
media consumption crosses the line from acceptable public relations activity
to cynical manipulation. Credited by some commentators as contributing
substantially to the ‘late swing’ which is said to have deprived Labour of
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victory, the event is a further example of the politicians’ difficulty in
controlling ‘free media’. Designed to portray an image of the party a few days
before the election as supremely confident in itself and its leader, Neil
Kinnock, the Sheffield rally was instead interpreted by the (mostly Tory)
media as demonstrating arrogance. Kinnock’s evangelistic style at the rally
seemed stilted and embarrassing, the media suggested, rather than, as had
been intended, relaxed and youthful. The exact role of the Sheffield rally in
Labour’s 1992 defeat cannot be known with precision, but there is certainly
force in the argument that it provoked in many members of the audience a
sense of unease. The presumption of victory which underpinned the event was
premature, and an indicator of complacency. The event gave off what were,
for Labour, unwelcome connotations.
Pseudo-events can also be organised on a much smaller scale than the full
conference or rally. An essential part of modern political campaigning is the
setting up of ‘photo-opportunities’ (with accompanying soundbites). In the
1979 election campaign Margaret Thatcher spent a considerable portion of
her time touring factories, donning white coats and, in the most famous
example, holding a calf at an agricultural enterprise. For the journalists
covering the campaign these events provided excellent news material, if not
information about the Conservatives’ political programme. Their need for
broadcastable material was satisfied, as was the aspiring Prime Minister’s
hunger for exposure and publicity.
Since Harold Macmillan’s official visit to Moscow in 1959, incumbent
politicians have used their status to create images of statesmanship and
global power (Foote, 1991). As we saw in the previous chapter, the coverage
generated by such photo-opportunities frequently resurfaces in political

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