Page 166 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

monitoring and deconstruction of the political process, including
the behind-the-scenes efforts of the lobbyists (see below), are
arguably the citizens’ best defence against the increasingly sophisti-
cated efforts of the politicians and their media advisers to create
favourable media images of their clients.
Finally, under the category of media management, we turn to the
news conference, in which political actors make public statements
before audiences of journalists, which are then transmitted by print
and broadcast media to the wider citizenry. News conferences
present politicians with opportunities to set media agendas and thus
influence public debate during election campaigns, as in the routine
pursuit of politics between elections. Since Pierre Salinger first
persuaded John Kennedy to give live television news conferences
in the early 1960s they have become a presidential institution in
the US. Trading, once again, on the inherent newsworthiness of
presidential utterances and of reportable soundbites and pictures,
presidents seek to impose their reading of events on the political
environment by having it reported at the top of the main news
bulletins. Hart’s book-length study of presidential rhetoric notes
that

the presidency has been transferred from a formal, print-
oriented world into an electronic environment specialising
in the spoken word and rewarding casual, interpersonally
adept politicians. . . . Presidents and their staff [have]
become expert in [the sociology of persuasion], and much
of their time is devoted to discovering the best social super-
structure for insuring that a given rhetorical event will
proceed smoothly and persuasively.
(1987, p. 61)

In Britain during election campaigns each party begins its day
with a news conference, setting out its ‘theme’ of the day and the
issues on which it hopes to compete with opponents. Thus, in 1997
Labour had a ‘health’ day, the Tories a ‘tax’ day and the Liberal
Democrats a ‘proportional representation’ day. By setting out the
issues in this way early in the campaign day, each party hoped to
dominate the media agenda with coverage which would highlight
(and favour) its policies, while casting a poor light on those of the
opposition.
In general, news conferences are designed with a view to
maximising coverage. Hence, they will be put on in time to be

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