Page 146 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

activity, and dealing with feedback. As we shall see, some of the
great failures of party political communication in recent years can
be attributed to inadequate internal public relations. Just as modern
corporations now routinely support in-house public relations
departments for the purpose of maximising organisational efficiency,
so must political parties develop structures of effective internal
communication.
Lastly, but by no means of least importance in the study of political
communication, are the activities of information management. We
distinguish this category from media management as defined above
in so far as it tends to involve open and covert methods of information
manipulation by political actors in positions of power. Information
is a powerful political weapon, and its selective dissemination,
restriction, and/or distortion by governments is an important element
in public opinion management. Organisations which are not in power
may still use information to attack opponents, but this form of public
relations work is inevitably most important for a governing
organisation, which has all the information management resources
of the state at its disposal, and which may use them to exert
considerable influence on the lives of citizens.

Media management
The term ‘media management’ does not, in this context, refer to
those engaged in the professional work of managing media
organisations, but to the wide variety of practices whereby political
actors may seek to control, manipulate, or influence media
organisations in ways which correspond to their political objectives.
To use such a term conveys, probably accurately, the politicians’ view
that the media are valuable, but potentially unruly allies in the political
process: essential for public exposure but unpredictable and with a
tendency to display independence. As we saw in Chapter 4, even the
most loyal of a party’s friends in the media (such as the British ‘Tory’
press before it changed its loyalties in the era of New Labour) can
embarrass and put unwelcome pressure on it. The relationship of
mutual interdependence between political actors and media
organisations described earlier does not preclude severe criticism of
the former by the latter, nor the more routine monitoring of political
power implied by the ‘Fourth Estate’ watchdog role.
In this context media management comprises activities designed
to maintain a positive politician—media relationship, acknowledging
the needs which each has of the other, while exploiting the institutional

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