Page 86 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

THE POLITICAL MEDIA

princesses with eating disorders, it is not always clear what public
interest is being served. We may in such cases be enthralled at how
the mighty are fallen, while remaining ignorant as to the less
glamorous, but more important details of how political power really
works and is exercised.
The commercialisation of the media may with some reason be
viewed by politicians as a threat to traditional loyalties and alliances.
When in 1992 the Sun, having been widely criticised for yet another
intrusion into someone’s privacy, let rumours circulate that it had
‘dirt’ on a number of senior politicians which only discretion and
political allegiance prevented it from revealing, a palpable wave of
unease swept through the professional political community. And
after the series of sex scandals which bedevilled the Conservative
Party after 1992, no one can doubt that, pro-Tory or not, the British
press will not hesitate, out of loyalty alone, to embarrass or force
out of office any government minister guilty of sleaze if there are
papers to be sold. For many politicians, this cannot be a comforting
thought.

THE ORGANISATIONAL NEED FOR NEWS

While the commercialisation of the media may have some unwelcome
conseqences for the political class, another related trend promises
considerable benefits. Part of the increased competitive pressure under
which the established broadcasters have been placed is the
consequence of the expansion of media outlets made possible by
cable, satellite and digital technologies. The expansion has included
journalism, in the form of Sky News, with its 24-hour ‘rolling’ service,
and CNN, which is slowly increasing its reach in Europe and the UK
(although it may be too US-focussed in its news agenda ever to be a
mass news provider in the British market). Partly in response to these
new providers of journalism, the BBC has expanded its journalistic
output, both on television and radio, including a 24-hour rolling
news service on Radio 5, BBC24 on television, and a rapidly
developing global television news service. All of this means that there
is an increasing demand for news material, which politicians are
exceptionally well-placed to serve.
For a news-hungry media, the political arena is the potential
source of an unending flow of stories, some of them unwelcome to
the politicians, as we have seen, but others attractive in so far as
they provide publicity and promotion for a party, government, or

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