Page 77 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

week of the [1992] campaign’ (1992, p.180). They point out, however,
that the pro-Tory bias in 1992 was no less extreme than in 1987 or
1983, when the Labour Party did considerably worse at the polls.
These observers doubt that the press had a decisive impact on the
campaign, which was won by the Conservatives on an unexpected
(and largely undetected by opinion polls) ‘late swing’. On the other
hand, the tabloids’ relentless and vicious campaign of personal and
political abuse against Labour leaders and their policies, exemplified
by the Sun’s ‘Nightmare on Kinnock Street’ headline, was accredited
with the Conservatives’ victory by leading member Lord McAlpine. 4
The Sun, indeed, congratulated itself and its readers after polling
day on a job well done.
Political analyst Bill Miller has suggested that late swings to the
Tories in 1987 were most apparent amongst working class Sun
readers of the type who reside in marginal seats such as Basildon.
Here in 1992, where Sun readers are said to be found in their greatest
numbers, the swing to the Tories was the largest in the country.
Miller notes of the 1987 election that working class readers of the
Tory-supporting tabloids shifted in larger numbers to the
Conservatives than other groups of voters (1991). As this edition
went to press convincing evidence of the impact of the newly pro-
Labour press on voting behaviour was not available. It is not clear,
for example, if Labour’s strong vote on May 1,1997 was a
consequence of press support and the impact of that on voters’
intentions, or if press support for Labour was a consequence of
proprietors’ perceptions that the political environment in Britain
had changed—that the Tory era was over, at least for the present,
and that readers wanted their newspapers to reflect this shift in
their editorial allegiances. In short, did the press follow the people,
or the people follow the press in 1997?
If this question cannot be conclusively answered, the outcome of
the 1997 campaign did lend support to former journalist, and now
Labour MP, Martin Linton’s claim that it is impossible for any party
to win a British general election without a majority of the press (as
measured in share of circulation) behind it. In 1992, with only 27
5
per cent of circulation in its support, Labour lost. In 1997, with
considerably more than 50 per cent, it won. This fact does not resolve
the ‘chicken and egg’ problem, of course—which came first, press
support or electoral popularity? But it does mean that British political
parties will pay even more attention to wooing the press in the future
than they have tended to do in the past. The days (not long gone)
when the Labour Party, angered by the 1986 Wapping industrial

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