Page 84 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 63

THE POLITICAL MEDIA
privacy, let rumours circulate that it had ‘dirt’ on a number of senior politi-
cians which only discretion and political allegiance prevented it from revealing,
a palpable wave of unease swept through the professional political community.
And after the series of sex scandals which bedevilled the Conservative Party
after 1992, no one can doubt that, regardless of political allegiance, the British
press will not hesitate, out of loyalty alone, to embarrass or force out of office
any government minister guilty of sleaze if there are papers to be sold. For
many politicians, this cannot be a comforting thought.

THE ORGANISATIONAL NEED FOR NEWS

While the commercialisation of the media may have some unwelcome con-
sequences for the political class, another related trend promises considerable
benefits. Part of the increased competitive pressure under which the
established broadcasters have been placed is the consequence of the expan-
sion of media outlets made possible by cable, satellite and digital tech-
nologies. The expansion has included journalism, in the form of Sky News,
with its 24-hour ‘rolling’ service, and CNN, which is slowly increasing its
reach in Europe and the UK (although it may be too US-focused in its news
agenda ever to be a mass news provider in the British market). Partly in
response to these new providers of journalism, the BBC has expanded its
journalistic output, both on television and radio, including a 24-hour rolling
news service on Radio 5, BBC News 24 on television, and a rapidly
developing global television news service. At the same time, as Chapter 1
noted, there has been a rapid and dramatic expansion in online journalism,
comprising websites operated by major news organisations such as the BBC
and the Guardian, many net-only news services, and the millions of individ-
ual bloggers and ‘citizen journalists’ (McNair, 2006). All of this means that
there is an increasing demand for news material, which politicians are
exceptionally well-placed to serve.
For a news-hungry media, the political arena is the potential source of an
unending flow of stories, some of them unwelcome to the politicians, as we
have seen, but others attractive in so far as they provide publicity and pro-
motion for a party, government or leader. This source becomes more
important as the demand for news increases. Thus develops a relationship of
mutual interdependence between politicians and journalists, in which each
can benefit the other (Blumler and Gurevitch, 1981). Rodney Tiffen observes
that ‘news is a parasitic institution. It is dependent on the information-
generating activities of other institutions’ (1989, p. 51). One researcher
writes of coverage of political affairs in Germany that

approximately two out of every three [news] items are, on the basis
of their respective primary sources . . . the outcome of press releases

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