Page 85 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 64

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION
and conferences, whereas the rest may be traced back to public
events, journalistic investigations, or non-public events to which
journalists were invited. . . . [H]ence, the shaping of reality as
presented by the news media may thus, on the basis of empirical
evidence, be attributed primarily to this sector, and not the
autonomous activities of journalists.
(Baerns, 1987, p. 101)

Journalist Nick Davies has argued that some 80 per cent of UK national
newspapers’ domestic news content is derived from public relations releases
(2008), although this is disputed (as one might expect) by the editors of those
titles.
While some observers complain about what they see as the media’s
uncritical, non-discriminating use of public relations material (Bagdikian,
1984; Michie, 1998), for the political actor in such circumstances there is
much to be gained by learning how the media work – their news values,
professional practices and routines – and using this knowledge to present
journalists with information in a way most likely to be accepted and turned
into news. As Tiffen notes, news production ‘generates patterns of
[journalistic] responsiveness which political leaders [and political actors in
general] can exploit’ (1989, p. 74).
Skilled politicians have been manipulating the media in this fashion for
decades, as Daniel Boorstin’s 1962 discussion of the ‘pseudo-event’ makes
clear, but there are undoubtedly greater opportunities to do so in an era
when the news space to be filled has expanded so dramatically. The astute
politician will know, for example, that in a situation where media organ-
isations have finite resources of time and money, where deadlines are tight
and exclusives increasingly important, there is much to be gained by ensuring
the journalists’ ease of supply, providing, as Schlesinger and Tumber put it,
an ‘information subsidy’ (1994).
A media event which is timed to meet the deadlines for first editions or
prime-time news bulletins will have more likelihood of being reported than
one which is not. An event which provides opportunities for interesting
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pictures and, in the case of broadcasting, sounds (‘soundbites’), will be more
attractive to the news organisation under pressure than one which does not.
Issues which can be neatly packaged and told in relatively simple, dramatic
terms will receive more coverage than those which are complex and
intractable.
The process of media production, then, is one which can be studied,
understood and manipulated by those who wish to gain access – on
favourable terms, of course. It so happens that those political actors with the
greatest resource base from which to pursue such a strategy are those located
in established institutions of power, such as governmental and state organ-
isations. They have the most money with which to employ the best news

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