Page 72 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

THE POLITICAL MEDIA

Until recently, tabloid journalism was associated with the press.
Now, of course, it occupies an increasing proportion of British
television output, in the form of such programmes as Lights, Camera,
Action and True Crimes (in America, ‘tabloid TV’ is already well-
established). Even ‘serious’ current affairs programmes, such as
Panorama and World in Action, have been accused of simplifying
and sensationalising complex events, concentrating overwhelmingly
on the dramatic consequences of the social processes investigated,
rather than on their causes and possible resolutions. Such journalism,
it is argued by critics, is fundamentally apolitical. For Josef Gripsund,
it encourages ‘alienation, silence and non-participation’ in the political
process (1992, p.94), and is ‘part of a tendency to distract the public
from matters of principle by offering voyeuristic pseudo-insights into
individual matters’. Panorama interviews with the late Princess of
Wales in 1996, and convicted child-killer Louise Woodward in 1998,
exemplify this alleged voyeurism. In the first case, the whole world
watched as Diana revealed her marital unhappiness and (as she
eloquently claimed in the interview) her mistreatment at the hands
of the Windsors. In the Louise Woodward interview, investigative
journalism into the rights and wrongs of her conviction in an
American court was avoided in favour of giving her the opportunity
to declare her innocence and victimhood. In both cases, the critics
would maintain, personalities were elevated over issues, and the
audience encouraged to peep into other’s private torments, to the
overall detriment of public debate.
This rather pessimistic account of the media’s role in degrading
and undermining democratic political culture is rejected by others,
such as John Fiske, who argue that popular journalism is frequently
subversive, even if it does not intend to be. We will examine the
political bias of the tabloids shortly. Here we note Fiske’s argument
that even conservative (whether with a capital ‘C’ or not) media
have, as a result of their commercial position, a deep interest in
maximising audiences. To do so often involves drawing them in with
stories which are by no means pro-establishment, such as the
aforementioned exposure of David Mellor’s extra-marital affair. More
recent and equally ‘threatening’ stories, from the point of view of
the British ruling elite, included the wave of sex scandals, ‘sleaze’,
which engulfed the Conservative Party at the beginning of 1994; the
revelations of the Matrix-Churchill and cash-for-questions affairs,
and the intense, ongoing media speculation around John Major’s
qualities (or lack of them) as Conservative prime minister which
preceded his electoral defeat.

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