Page 93 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 72

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION
to the prime minister for a private briefing may be granted only on condition
of editorial support from the journalist’s newspaper, or on the understanding
that favourable coverage will result. The important thing for a political
journalist of the press is not partisanship, however, but credibility. The Daily
Telegraph reader will expect columnists to review politics from a right-wing
perspective, but also that that they should do so knowledgeably and authori-
tatively.

THE COLUMN

The highest form of political punditry in press journalism is the column
(known in the US as the ‘op-ed’ column) situated on or close to the edit-
orial page. Here, such writers as Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian and
Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail select the issue of the moment, as they see
it, and attempt to present readers with an informed assessment. Typically,
the form includes an appeal for action at its conclusion. As Nimmo and
Combs put it, the ‘column is a stylistic dramatisation not only of the subject
or issue at hand but also of the pundit’s rightful status to speak on it
authoritatively’ (Nimmo and Combs, 1992, p. 12).
The issue selected for such treatment need not be ‘objectively’ the most
important, as judged by the media as a whole at any given time. The political
columnist, having authority, also has licence to go against the ‘pack’ referred
to in the previous chapter.
Columns are not devoted only to politics, as defined in the narrow sense
of party political affairs, but to political issues in general. Quality newspapers
will have economics columnists, social affairs columnists and columnists
dealing with ‘women’s issues’. While these categories of journalist may not
move in the same high circles of political power as Freedland, Letts and the
like, their role as political actors is the same: to make sense of complex reality
for a lay-audience. They must identify important issues, assess the arguments
involved in them and relay advice to the politicians with responsibility for
taking decisions. These columnists, too, will use politicians as sources,
confidential or otherwise, for what is written.
Some columnists are themselves former politicians or individuals who
have been closely involved in the political process, such as Margaret
Thatcher’s press secretary in the 1980s, Bernard Ingham, who went on to
work for the Daily Express. The Guardian has employed the services of Roy
Hattersley, although he writes less frequently on politics than he does on a
variety of idiosyncratic ‘little England’ themes. Ken Livingstone (before he
was elected mayor of London) has written for the Sun, one of the rare
examples (as is former communist Martin Jacques’s employment by the
Sunday Times in the 1990s) of a columnist not reflecting the newspaper’s
broad editorial stance. 4

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