Page 90 - An Introduction to Political Communication Third Edition

THE POLITICAL MEDIA

bizarre death of Conservative MP Stephen Milligan in early 1994
and the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the US, it might be thought
that the commercial interests of the media in pursuing a ‘sexy’ news
agenda, and the public interest of citizens in finding out the truth
about their political representatives, coincides. The Stalker affair, as
David Murphy asserts, is another example of the media uncovering
uncomfortable truths which any political establishment would
rather leave hidden. This case, and many others arising from the
conflict in Northern Ireland, demonstrates that ‘the process of
media production is an arena of contest and negotiation in which
official sources cannot always take it for granted that they will be
able to set the agenda’ (Miller and Williams, 1993, p. 129).
The important (politically speaking) and the entertaining are not
mutually exclusive. In many instances, however, when commercial
considerations drive both print and broadcast media, pack-like,
after philandering ministers and bishops, sexually deviant MPs, and
princesses with eating disorders, it is not always clear what public
interest is being served. We may in such cases be enthralled at
how the mighty are fallen, while remaining ignorant as to the less
glamorous but more important details of how political power really
works and is exercised.
The commercialisation of the media may with some reason be
viewed by politicians as a threat to traditional loyalties and
alliances. When in 1992 the Sun, having been widely criticised for
yet another intrusion into someone’s privacy, let rumours circulate
that it had ‘dirt’ on a number of senior politicians which only
discretion and political allegiance prevented it from revealing, a
palpable wave of unease swept through the professional political
community. And after the series of sex scandals which bedevilled
the Conservative Party after 1992, no one can doubt that, regardless
of political allegiance, the British press will not hesitate, out of
loyalty alone, to embarrass or force out of office any government
minister guilty of sleaze if there are papers to be sold. For many
politicians, this cannot be a comforting thought.

THE ORGANISATIONAL NEED FOR NEWS

While the commercialisation of the media may have some unwel-
come consequences for the political class, another related trend
promises considerable benefits. Part of the increased competitive
pressure under which the established broadcasters have been placed

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