Page 102 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

THE MEDIA AS POLITICAL ACTORS

‘little England’ themes. Ken Livingstone (before he was elected
mayor of London) has written for the Sun (one of the rare
examples, as is former communist Martin Jacques’s employment by
the Sunday Times in the 1990s) of a columnist not reflecting the
newspaper’s broad editorial stance. 4
Livingstone’s column for the Sun was a reflection of his popu-
larity, founded on the controversial image of ‘loony leftism’ which
the Sun itself played a major role in creating. It illustrates an
important feature of the press column: it can be a very popular
journalistic form. In the tabloids particularly, to quote Nimmo
and Combs, ‘punditry has become a form of entertainment, both
shaping and adjusting to popular expectations regarding how to
keep up with and understand “what’s happening” ’ (ibid., p. 41).
The credibility of such politician-columnists as Ken Livingstone,
Bernard Ingham or Norman Tebbit is founded on their status as
political ‘insiders’. They, as opposed to other politicians, are
employed as columnists because their names have audience pulling
power and because their plain-speaking, extremist viewpoints are
assumed to help circulation figures.

THE FEATURE

Another important form of political journalism is the feature
article. While not, of course, restricted to coverage of politics, the
feature article is the arena for a more detailed exploration of
political affairs than straight news allows. Features frequently
accompany news stories, expanding on issues and events which
a news story can only report in a summary fashion. Like the
columnist, the feature writer will if possible enlist the aid of
political insiders to obtain reliable material, although the feature
must stick closely to the conventions of objectivity described above.
When addressing a political theme, the feature writer must convince
the reader of his or her ‘objectivity’ as a journalist, while at the same
time pressing a personal agenda. Alternatively, the research for
a feature (the data upon which its objectivity will be founded) can
be gained by on-the-spot interviews with participants in the
events underlying a current political issue. When, for example, a
journalist wishes to draw attention to the failings of government
foreign policy towards a particular region, he or she may travel
there, record the scene and the views of its inhabitants, and fashion
a piece which condemns the government, if not always explicitly.

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