Page 166 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

Between 1992 and 1997, however, it all went wrong for the
Conservatives. As noted above, a series of ‘sleaze’ scandals, and major
policy differences over European union, destroyed its capacity to
control and shape the news agenda, leaving the leadership helpless
in the face of self-inflicted, self-destructive division and in-fighting.
When the 1997 election campaign began, it was, we can see now
with hindsight, already over, with the Tories reduced to their worst
electoral showing for more than a century. Much of this collapse
was the product of poor internal communication, as candidates failed
to receive adequate leadership from the party’s central office, and
factions developed around contrasting approaches to Europe. In 1997
the Tories were as ineffectual in their internal communication and
campaign co-ordination as the Labour Party had ever been.

Information management
Finally, in this discussion of party political public relations, we turn
to the techniques and practices involved in information management
by government. By this is meant activities designed to control or
manipulate the flow of information from institutions of government
to the public sphere beyond. Steinberg defines governmental
communication as ‘those techniques which government officials
and agencies employ to keep the public informed and to disseminate
information about the activities of various departments’ (1958,
p.327). The dissemination of information is not, however, the only
purpose of governmental communication. Information is a power
resource, the astute deployment of which can play a major role in
the management of public opinion. As Denton and Woodward note,
‘information is power, and the control of information is the first
step in propaganda’ (1990, p.42). Information can be freely given
out in the pursuit of democratic government, but it can also be
suppressed, censored, leaked, and manufactured in accordance with
the more particular interests of a government and the organs of
state power. As former civil servant Clive Ponting puts it, writing
of the British government, public opinion may be regarded as
‘something to be manipulated rather than a voice that might alter
government policy’ (1989, p.189). In Britain, he notes, ‘the tradition
is that government is a matter for insiders and not something that
need concern the general public. Decisions are taken in secret by a
small group of ministers and senior servants and then the effort is
made to sell those policies to the public through the government
propaganda machine’ (Ibid., p. 177). Governmental communication

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