Page 233 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

NOTES

6 For a recent discussion of the implications of these trends for the
democratic process see McNair, 1998a.
7 The American political scientist Roderick Hart, for example, in his
discussion of contemporary US presidential speech-making, argues that
‘the mass media have caused presidents to seek security in discourse, not
challenge, and have made the perception of assent, not assent itself, the
valued commodity. What used to be a broad, bold line between argument
and entertainment, between speech-making and theatre, now has no
substance at all’ (1987, p.152).
8 The political cartoon created by American artist Garry Trudeau.
9 The satirical puppet show produced by Central Television for the ITV
network.

4 THE POLITICAL MEDIA
1 For a detailed discussion of the current state of the British journalistic
media, press and broadcasting, national and regional, see McNair, 1999,
especially Chapters 5–9. See also Watts, 1997.
2 Woolacott, M., ‘When Invisibility Means Death’, Guardian, April 27,
1996.
3 Robert Worcester’s study of the 1992 election indicates that, at the time,
only 32 per cent of the Star’s readers supported the Conservatives, as
opposed to 53 per cent who supported Labour (1994, p.25).
4 Lord McAlpine stated his view that ‘the heroes of this campaign were Sir
David English, Sir Nicholas Lloyd, Kelvin MacKenzie and the other
editors of the grander Tory press. Never in the past nine elections have
they come out so strongly in favour of the Conservatives. Never has
their attack on the Labour Party been so comprehensive… This was
how the election was won’ (quoted in Butler and Kavanagh, 1992, p.208).
5 Linton, M., ‘Sun-powered Polities’, Guardian, October 30, 1995.
6 In which a senior British police officer commissioned to investigate ‘shoot
to kill’ allegations against the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern
Ireland claimed to have been the victim of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign by
the security services to discredit him.
7 The Future of the BBC: Serving the Nation, Competing Worldwide,
London, HMSO, 1994.
8 For a discussion of ‘soundbite’ news see Hallin, 1997.

5 THE MEDIA AS POLITICAL ACTORS
1 James Curran and his colleagues at Goldsmith’s College, London, detailed
examples of press coverage of the ‘Loony Left’ in their documentary
Loony Tunes (BBC2, 1988).
2 Sebastian, T, ‘Dialogue with the Kremlin’, Sunday Times, February 2,
1992.
3 The Sun, October 28, 1993.
4 Martin Jacques was throughout the 1980s a leading figure in the British
Communist Party, and editor of its theoretical journal, Marxism Today.
5 In October 1998, the Parliamentary Channel was taken over by the BBC.

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