Page 89 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION

internationally renowned, towards the racier style characteristic
of the tabloids. Peak-time factual programming is increasingly
concerned with real-life crime shows (such as Crimewatch UK),
exposés of sharp practice in the economy (The Cook Report),
‘docu-soaps’ and ‘shock horror’ reportage of various types. Even
Panorama, once renowned (and occasionally mocked) for the
seriousness and depth of its analyses of official policy, party politics
and the like, now frequently addresses such issues as drug abuse
and juvenile crime. These are, of course, the legitimate stuff of
journalistic inquiry, but their growing prevalence in the British
media reflects a commercially driven shift in news values.
The previous section examined the views of those who see these
trends as fundamentally damaging to the democratic process,
further relegating serious ‘quality’ journalism to the margins of
late night BBC Two, Channel 4 or Radio 5. More often than not, it
is argued, this type of journalism is crucially lacking in substance,
dealing only with the spectacular, epiphenomenal aspects of social
and political problems, while avoiding the discussion of solutions.
The viewer is shocked, or entertained, or outraged, but not
necessarily any wiser about the underlying causes of the problem
being covered. The entertainment value of events begins to take
precedence over their political importance. Others welcome the
confrontational, subversive style of much of this material, stressing
that much of it is not only more watchable, but more politically
useful than long, detailed and, for many, boring analyses of health
or education policy.
Arguments about the tabloidisation aside, commercialisation has
also enhanced the media’s long-standing tendency to pursue ‘pack’
journalism, whereby individual organisations pursue a shared
agenda. When a story is deemed to have become ‘news’ by one
organisation, the others feel compelled to follow suit. This is not
necessarily because the story has ‘objective’ importance, but will
often be the product of editorial assumptions that to be left behind
by the pack is dangerous for an organisation’s commercial position
and legitimacy as a news provider.
In an intensifying commercial environment, therefore, the
political process comes to be seen by journalists as the raw material
of a commodity – news or current affairs – which must eventually
be sold to the maximum number of consumers. Inevitably, those
aspects of the process which are the most sellable are those with the
most spectacular and dramatic features, and which can be told in
those terms. In some cases, such as the cash-for-questions affair, the

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