Page 100 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

THE MEDIA AS POLITICAL ACTORS

effectively, as Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi have shown,
the longer-term financial (and in the latter case, political) rewards
can be enormous.

THE JOURNALIST AS PUNDIT

Newspaper editorials, while they are unmistakably subjective
expressions of opinion, are rarely signed by a particular editor or
journalist. Authored political journalism, on the other hand, will
be contained in columns, features articles and a variety of shorter
formats such as diaries and cartoons, some of which have a
satirical function. We are now moving into the realm of the
political ‘pundit’, a term derived from Sanskrit which dates from
the early nineteenth century and survives in modern India to refer
to a ‘learned person or teacher who is not only an authority but also
a renowned political figure’ (Nimmo and Combs, 1992, p. 6).
Since Walter Lippmann legitimised the profession of journalism
in the early twentieth century, what Nimmo and Combs refer to as
a ‘priestly establishment’ has evolved. This establishment of pundits
they define as ‘a loose collectivity of journalists, analysts, policy
experts, and other specialists who voice their special knowledge in
public forums’ (ibid., p. 24). The journalist-pundit is someone who
is accepted by a newspaper reader as an authority on political
affairs. Such a person becomes ‘a source of opinion-formation and
opinion-articulation, agenda-setting and agenda-evaluation’ (ibid.,
p. 8). The journalist-pundit is a wise, knowing observer of and
commentator on the political scene, making sense of its complexities
for the rest of us.
To achieve such status the pundit must also be accepted by the
political class, so that he or she can move among them, gather
information – often in confidence – and make reliable judgments.
Thus, the journalist-pundit is part of the political world, moving in
it with ease, but distanced from the political fray. It remains the case
that political journalists will usually reflect the partisanship of the
newspapers which employ them. Indeed, a pundit’s access to
the prime minister for a private briefing may be granted only on
condition of editorial support from the journalist’s newspaper, or
on the understanding that favourable coverage will result. The
important thing for a political journalist of the press is not
partisanship, however, but credibility. The Daily Telegraph reader
will expect columnists to review politics from a right-wing

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