Page 168 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

traditional remit. Much of the material produced was, however,
clearly promotional in function—advertising designed to sell the
ideologically grounded policy of a particular party and government.
In 1988 the head of the COI, himself concerned about the
undermining of his agency’s neutrality, demanded a public inquiry,
which was not granted (Harris, 1991).
Other ostensibly neutral state agencies, such as the Government
Information Service, have developed an equally ambiguous
relationship to the political process. The GIS was established in the
1950s ‘to give prompt and accurate information and give it objectively
about government activities and government policy. It is quite
definitely not the job of the Government Information Service to try
to boost the government and try to persuade the press to’ (Lord
Swinton, quoted in Harris, 1991, p.113). Current guidelines state
that the publicity work of the GIS should be ‘relevant’ to the activities
and responsibilities of the government, and that it should be ‘objective
and explanatory, not tendentious or polemical’, and ‘should not be
party political’ (quoted in Ingham, 1991, p.368). That the GIS was
accused of flouting these guidelines in recent years is largely the
responsibility of Margaret Thatcher and her mould-breaking press
secretary, Bernard Ingham. Tony Blair’s Labour government has been
just as controversial, however, subjecting the service to radical
overhaul (including modifying its name to the Government
Information and Communication Service [GICS]). Many of the
changes can be defended as sensible responses to changes in the media
environment, which no government, of whatever hue, could have
avoided. Others, such as the increased role of ‘special advisers’
appointed from outside the civil service, and the downgraded status
of traditional mandarins, have been greeted with cries of
‘politicisation’, and many resignations. In this respect, however,
Labour is merely following the precedent established by the Tories,
even if the speed of their reforms surprised many.

Prime ministerial public relations
All prime ministers, noted a former political reporter of the Sunday
Times, seek to ‘dominate the press, radio and television as the vital
precondition to their domination of Parliament, parties and public
opinion. They [desire] to control and exploit the media as an arm of
government’ (James Margach, quoted in Cockerell et al., 1984, p.8).
The main means by which this domination can be secured is through
the figure of the chief press secretary.

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