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Television Coverage of British Party Conferences in the 1990S: the Symbiotic Production of Political News

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Television Coverage of British Party Conferences in the 1990S: the Symbiotic Production of Political News Television Coverage of British Party Conferences in the 1990s: The Symbiotic Production of Political News James Benedict Price Stanyer PhD thesis submitted in the Department of Government London School of Economics and Political Science 1 UMI Number: U120754 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U120754 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract Studies of political communication in the UK have focused primarily on election campaigns and reportage of parliamentary and public policy issues. In these contexts, two or more parties compete for coverage in the news media. However, the main British party conferences present a different context, where one party’s activities form the (almost exclusive) focus of the news media's attention for a week, and that party’s leadership ‘negotiates* coverage in a direct one-to-one relationship. Conference weeks are the key points in the organizational year for each party (irrespective of their internal arrangements), and a critical period for communicating information about the party to voters at large, especially via television news coverage, which forms the focus of this study. The visual and audio impressions generated in the conference hall shape the way in which citizens not involved with that party perceive its organization, membership and policies. This thesis is the first specialized study of how TV news coverage of party conferences is shaped. Source-centred approaches to understanding the production of news focus on the activities of extra-media actors such as party elites in shaping coverage. Media-centred approaches substantially disagree, stressing the media elites' exercise of discretionary power or licensed autonomy in framing news. Party conference coverage reveals the activities of both party and media elites in an exceptionally clear and uncluttered form. Using qualitative interviews with party and media influentials, content analysis of TV news coverage and transcripts, direct observation of conferences and newsrooms, and collateral material from press coverage, historical material and other sources, this study explores the main stages in the production of news. Parties and media organizations both undertake detailed pre-planning for conference week, in the process negotiating key parameters which shape coverage. Journalistic news gathering activities shape the emergence of stories once the conference week begins. The parties have developed specialist teams to handle immediate news management, taking account of media strategies, but coverage can also be affected by internal dissent inside the parties, and by collective and individual responses among TV organizations. The production of conference news is symbiotic at many levels. The one-to-one character of party-media relations in conference weeks demonstrates clearly that broadcasting organisations exert a disciplinary effect upon political parties. Media pressures have fostered a degree of homogenization in parties' internal structures, and a certain standardization in their previously unique organizational cultures and modes of public self­ presentation. Party conferences have come to look and sound similar, partly in response to 2 the organizational demands of media professionals and the emergence of media-oriented party cadres. But access to TV news is also an increasingly effective tool for party leaderships to influence the internal debates and power struggles within the parties themselves. 3 Contents Acknowledgements 6 List of Figures and Tables 7 Introduction: The Symbiotic Production of Party Conference News 12 1.1 Literature 13 1.2 The Framework 18 1.3 Themes 19 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 30 Chapter 2. Advanced Planning of Coverage 34 2.1 Organisational Structures and Logistical Planning 35 2.2 Joint Planning: Negotiation and Adaptation 42 Chapter 3. Long-Range Media Planning by the Parties 59 3.1 Basic Conference Planning Arrangements 60 3.2 The Agenda and Timetable: Promotion 64 3.3 Setting Party Communication Strategies 72 3.4 Minimising Risk 75 3.5 Aesthetic Planning 79 Chapter 4. How the Broadcasters and the Parties Arranged News Production at Conference 93 4.1 The Broadcasters' Set-up at Conference 93 4.2 The Political Parties at Conference 100 4.3 Events, Gathering, Interaction and Relationships 105 4.4 Competition 108 4.5 Broadcasters' Attitudes 111 Chapter 5. Strategies and Responses in Conference Interaction 128 5.1 Implementing Communication Strategies 129 5.2 Managing the Conferences 139 5.3 Shortcomings in Conference Manipulation 148 4 Chapter 6. Manufacturing Debate 162 6.1 The Clause Four Debate 163 6.2 Cannabis, a Minimum Wage and the Monarchy 168 6.4 The Conference Fringe 175 Chapter 7. Spinning and Framing the Leaders’ Speeches 196 7.1 The Liberal Democrat Leader’s Speech 202 7.2 The Labour Leader’s Speech 211 7.3 The Conservative Leader’s Speech 226 Conclusions 244 8.1 Some Theoretical Implications 246 8.2 News Games 251 8.3 Coverage Trends and the Future of Party Conferences 257 Appendix 1: Research Methods 268 Appendix 2: Content Sheet 274 Appendix 3: List of Interviewees 277 G lossary 279 Bibliography 280 5 Acknowledgements This research could not have been completed without the assistance of numerous people and organisations. I would like to thank the Liberal Democrat Party, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party for granting me access to their annual autumn conferences. I am particularly indebted to various party sources, who cannot be all be named, and to the journalists, editors, and planners at the BBC, ITN and Sky, not forgetting Roy Graham, who spoke to me and answered my questions in letters. I would like to thank them all. This research was only made possible by a research grant (R00429334330) from the Economic and Social Research Council, aided by additional funds from the London School of Economics and the Reeves Foundation. I am grateful for the help of the LSE Audio Visual Unit in recording the news, to the LSE Methodology Institute for running a series of useful courses and for Robert Moore’s help with computers. Finally I would like to thank the following friends and colleagues. Tom Nossiter, for seeing the potential of the project and taking me on as a PhD student. Maggie Scammell, to whom I owe so much and whose initial idea it was to examine the party conferences: for helping me gain research funding, for her support over the years, and for her encouragement when we met up at the conferences. Pat Dunleavy, my supervisor, for his drive and support, and his ability to see through the complex problems that arose in writing up and without whom the project would not have been finished. Fleur, for being a constant source of support and help throughout the period. My parents, Peter and Di, for their unwavering belief in me, and their enormous support. I would also like to express my gratitude for moral and intellectual support to Raymond Kuhn and my fnends at the LSE, particularly Richard Heffeman for his helpful insights into the mechanics of power in the Labour party and its conference, and Andy Chadwick and Oily James, without whose constant encouragement this would not have been completed. James Stanyer, London, September 1998. 6 List of Figures Figure 1.1: Activities in the conference news production process. 19 Figure 8.1: Broadcasters' orientation towards events and levels of coverage. 250 Figure 8.2: The speech game played during the party conferences (in extensive form). 252 Figure 8.3: The speech game at the party conferences (in strategic form). 253 Figure 8.4: The debate game played during the party conferences (in extensive form). 255 Figure 8.5: The debate game at the party conferences (in strategic form). 256 Figure 8.6: Live coverage of the annual party conferences 1976-1996. 261 7 List of Tables Table 4.1: The number of reports produced by the different members of the main BBC news team at the conferences 1993-1996. 94 Table 4.2: The number of reports produced by the different members of the ITN news team at the conferences 1993-1996. 94 Table 4.3: The number of reports produced by the different members of the Channel Four news team at the conferences 1993-1996. 94 Table 4.4: The number of reports produced by the different members of the Newsnight news team at the conferences 1993-1996. 95 Table 4.5: The type and number of additional news items used by bulletin 1993-1996. 96 Table 4.6: The number of time news community members appeared as sources in conference reports 1993-1996. 98 Table 4.7: Prominence of Liberal Democrat conference reports by bulletin 1993-1996.113 Table 4.8: Prominence of Labour conference reports by bulletin 1993-1996. 114 Table 4.9: Prominence of Conservative conference reports by bulletin 1993-1996. 114 Table 4.10: The number of "additional" news items broadcast by conference 1993-1996. 115 Table 4.11: Prominence of all reports on home affairs speeches by conference 1993-1996. 116 Table 4.12: Prominence of all reports on economic speeches by conference 1993-1996. 117 Table 4.13: Prominence of all reports on critical speeches by conference 1993-1996. 118 Table 4.14: Prominence of reports on conflictual debates by conference 1993-1996. 119 Table 4.15: The frequency of appearance of Liberal Democrat sources in reports 1993- 1996.
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