Page 168 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

the best possible coverage in any given circumstances. Spokes-
persons, on the other hand, literally speak for the politician in
public. In the US the presidential spokesman or woman has a key
role in maintaining daily contact between the president, the media
and the public. Where the president may give a news conference
weekly, monthly, or less frequently, the spokesperson provides a
constant flow of soundbites which are assumed to be authoritative.
When George Stepanopolous or Dee Dee Myers spoke to US
journalists about Clinton administration policy, the journalists
knew they were receiving the presidential perspective on events.
Even when presidents and other political figures make personal
appearances at a news conference, rally or other event, the words
they speak are usually not their own but those of a speech-writer
who will attempt to present the desired message in a media-friendly
form, with sufficiently snappy soundbites.

Image management
The supply by politicians of structured news events for the purposes
of maximising favourable media coverage is accompanied by a
heightened concern with image: the personal image of political
actors on the one hand and the corporate image of the party on the
other. In the area of personal image, modern politicians are judged
not only by what they say and do, but how they say and do it. In
short, political style now counts for almost as much as substance.
One could argue that this has always been an important factor
in political success, and that leaders from George Washington
onwards have consciously presented ‘images’ to their constituencies.
As with so much that is part of political communication, however,
it is in the post-Second World War period, in the course of which
television has become the predominant mass medium, that con-
siderations of style have emerged as central to the political process.
Brendan Bruce argues that in modern Britain, where the policies
of the competing parties have gradually become more alike, image
has taken on added importance as a distinguishing feature. ‘When
the parties’ ideological centres of gravity are converging rather than
diverging, personality is likely to become a more important way for
the voter to determine credibility’ (1992, p. 95).
In Michael Cockerell’s view, the first British Prime Minister
successfully to project a TV image was Harold Macmillan, who
pioneered the use of the tele-prompter, thus enabling him to address
audiences with a naturalness of style which his predecessors like

147