Page 76 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

THE POLITICAL MEDIA

Until recently, tabloid journalism was associated with the press.
Now, of course, it occupies an increasing proportion of British
television output, in the form of such programmes as Tonight
with Trevor McDonald (in America, ‘tabloid TV’ is already well-
established). Even ‘serious’ current affairs programmes, such as
Panorama, have been accused of simplifying and sensationalising
complex events, concentrating overwhelmingly on the dramatic
consequences of the social processes investigated, rather than on
their causes and possible resolutions. Such journalism, it is
argued by critics, is fundamentally apolitical. For Josef Gripsund,
it encourages ‘alienation, silence and non-participation’ in the
political process (1992, p. 94), and is ‘part of a tendency to distract
the public from matters of principle by offering voyeuristic pseudo-
insights into individual matters’. Panorama interviews with the
late Princess of Wales in 1996, and convicted child-killer Louise
Woodward in 1998, exemplify this alleged voyeurism. In the first
case, the whole world watched as Diana revealed her marital
unhappiness and (as she eloquently claimed in the interview)
her mistreatment at the hands of the Windsors. In the Louise
Woodward interview, investigative journalism into the rights and
wrongs of her conviction in an American court was avoided in
favour of giving her the opportunity to declare her innocence and
victimhood. In both cases, the critics would maintain, personalities
were elevated over issues and the audience encouraged to peep into
others’ private torments, to the overall detriment of public debate.
This rather pessimistic account of the media’s role in degrading
and undermining democratic political culture is rejected by others,
such as John Fiske and John Hartley, who argue that popular
journalism is frequently subversive, even if it does not intend to be.
We will examine the political bias of the tabloids shortly. Here we
note Fiske’s argument that even conservative (whether with a
capital ‘C’ or not) media have, as a result of their commercial
position, a deep interest in maximising audiences. To do so often
involves drawing them in with stories which are by no means
pro-establishment, such as the aforementioned exposure of David
Mellor’s extra-marital affair. More recent and equally ‘threatening’
stories, from the point of view of the British ruling elite, included
the wave of sex scandals; ‘sleaze’, which engulfed the Conservative
Party at the beginning of 1994; the revelations of the Matrix-
Churchill and cash-for-questions affairs and the intense, ongoing
media speculation around John Major’s qualities (or lack of them)
as Conservative prime minister which preceded his electoral defeat.

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