Page 111 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION

specialist pundits are ‘qualified’ to speak on the issues, making sense
of them for the layperson. Like the educated elites of the early
public sphere (Habermas, 1989) they are called upon to share with
us, the people, their wisdom and learning. Their views are taken
seriously precisely because they have been defined as expert. I have
written elsewhere about patterns of access to television news on the
subject of East–West relations (McNair, 1988), noting there that
these experts – or ‘primary definers’, as Stuart Hall has called them
(Hall et al., 1978) – are not necessarily especially knowledgeable.
The point from the journalists’ perspective, is that they are seen
to be expert, and can thus help to confirm the authority and
credibility of the news or current affairs programmes to which they
contribute.
Expert pundits are used with particular frequency in coverage of
economic policy (usually recruited from City finance and banking
houses), obscure or faraway places, and military policy, where
retired generals and admirals are regular contributors.
Retired politicians, for the same reasons as academics and other
experts, are employed as pundits to give an insider’s view on current
issues. Nimmo and Combs write of the ‘pundit-sage’ (1992, p. 67),
referring to those elder statesmen (and occasionally women) who
pontificate with the authority of village elders on the current
generation of leaders. In America, such a sage is Henry Kissinger.
In Britain, Denis Healey and Edward Heath play the role, as do
Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
We should also note here the role of the opinion pollster, usually
called upon in person only during election campaigns, although
opinion polls are a constant element of press and broadcast
coverage of politics. The opinion pollsters are authorised to tell us
what the public thinks, and give their views on how to interpret
those thoughts.

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