Page 70 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

THE POLITICAL MEDIA

to pursue its operations has always been viewed as central to the
democratic process. Governments, while frequently falling out with
elements of the press, have been constrained from imposing legal
regulation that could be interpreted as ‘political censorship’.
Restrictions on the freedom of the press have been limited to
issues of ‘national security’, such as the reportage of official secrets,
and certain ethical infringements, such as libel. The areas of
reportage subject to constraints are a matter of ongoing debate, and
as this book went to press, the introduction of new restrictions
designed to protect individual privacy was still very much on the
agenda in Britain. The Labour government of Tony Blair has
adopted European human rights legislation, as well as, for the first
time in Britain, freedom of information legislation.

THE BROADCASTING ENVIRONMENT

While the press has from the beginning functioned essentially as a
set of capitalist businesses, broadcasting has taken a variety of
organisational forms. In the US, radio and later television – like the
press – were developed commercially, funded by advertising revenue.
In Soviet Russia and the fascist states of the 1930s and 1940s,
broadcasting was co-opted as a propaganda tool of authoritarian
government. In Britain, however, broadcasting was conceived and
born as a ‘utility to be developed as a national service in the public
interest’ (Scannell and Cardiff, 1991, p. 8).
Development in this form was preferred for one main reason: the
perception, among politicians, social scientists and intellectuals,
that broadcasting was a uniquely powerful medium. Too powerful,
in fact, to be placed in the hands of untrammelled commercial
interests. Too powerful, also, to be left vulnerable to political
abuse. None of the parties in Britain’s multi-party democracy
wished to permit the possibility of any of its rivals gaining control
of broadcasting for the pursuit of its own interests. Thus, the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) came into being as a publicly-
funded (from taxation, in the form of a licence fee) but politically
independent institution, protected from interference in its activities
by the government of the day. Even when commercial principles
were allowed to enter the British broadcasting arena with the
establishment of the Independent Television network in 1954,
legislation was passed to prohibit its output from being subjected
to undue political or economic pressure.

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