Between Media and Politics: Can Government Press Officers Hold the Line in the Age of ‘Political Spin’? the Case of the UK After 1997
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Between media and politics: Can government press officers hold the line in the age of ‘political spin’? The case of the UK after 1997 Ruth Garland The London School of Economics and Political Science Department of Media and Communications Thesis submitted to the University of London in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe in the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 94,829 words. 2 Abstract The aim of this study is to use the concept of ‘mediatization’ to inform a critical, grounded and fine-grained empirical analysis of the institutional dynamics that operate at the interface between government and the media in a liberal democracy. This thesis applies a novel theoretical and empirical approach to the familiar narrative of ‘political spin’, challenging the common assumption that government communications is either a neutral professional function, or an inherently unethical form of distorted communication. In May 1997, Labour came into power on a landslide, bringing into government its 24/7 strategic communications operation, determined to neutralise what it saw as the default right-wing bias of the national media. In the process, the rules of engagement between government and the media were transformed, undermining the resilience of government communications and unleashing a wave of resistance and response. Much academic attention to date has focused on party political news management, while the larger but less visible civil service media operation remains relatively un-examined and under- theorised, although some northern European scholars are exploring mediatization from within public bureaucracies. This study takes a qualitative approach to analyzing change between 1997 and 2014, through 16 in-depth interviews with former, largely middle-ranking, departmental government communicators, most of whom had performed media relations roles. This was a group of civil servants that had spent their working lives in close proximity to ministers during a time of rapidly increasing media scrutiny. These witness accounts were augmented by interviews with six journalists and three politically-appointed special advisers, together with a systematic analysis of key contemporary and archival documents. The aim was to provide insights into change over time within a shared policy and representational space that is theorised here as the ‘cross-field’, where media act as a catalyst for the concentration of political power. What can and does government communication in its current form contribute to the democratic ideal of the informed citizen? 3 Acknowledgements I am grateful to my supervisor, Nick Anstead, and my academic adviser, Damian Tambini, for their support, kindness and rigour during the four years it took to produce this thesis. It was a pleasure working with them, and their gentle nudging was crucial in encouraging me to delve deeper and challenge my own misconceptions. I would like to thank Nick Couldry for his intellectual and personal interest in this work and in my development as a scholar, and the Nylon and Brestolon seminar groups for the opportunity they provided to meet and share ideas with international scholars and fellow students. I particularly thank Goran Bolin of Sodertorn University, Stockholm, and Andreas Hepp, from the University of Bremen, for their support of Brestolon, which promotes friendship and collaboration between students and academics in Bremen, Stockholm and London. I would also like to thank Bart Cammaerts, former Director of the PhD programme in Media and Communications at the LSE for his patience, good humour and invaluable advice, and Jay Blumler of Leeds University for his kind support and inspiration. I thank my two examiners, Professor Jim Macnamara of the University of Technology Sydney, and Professor Julian Petley of Brunel University, London, for their time, consideration and valuable insights. I am grateful to all those who took the time and trouble to accept an invitation to be interviewed for this study. I enjoyed meeting you all and learning from you. Thank you to the LSE library and its staff, and to the National Archives, for making this inquiry possible, and to James Deeley and colleagues from the Media and Communications administration team. Thank you to the LSE postgraduate travel fund for enabling me to attend many fascinating conferences, and above all the ICA 2016 conference in Japan. Thank you also to Jennie Allen, my former colleague at BBC Worldwide, who supported me in my application to study for a PhD. I am especially indebted to the late Keith Samuel, former Head of Television Publicity at the BBC, an exemplary public servant, dedicated professional and colleague. I would like to thank my parents, Ken and Wanda Garland, for their unfailing support for me in all ways but especially in their respect for and love of teaching and learning. Finally, thank you to my partner Philip, and my sons Daniel and Simon Jones. 4 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 4 Tables and figures ............................................................................................................ 9 Prologue: Government communications and the road to the 2003 Iraq war 10 Chapter 1: A critique of the narrative of ‘political spin’ ...................... 14 1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 14 1.2 The narrative of political spin ................................................................... 18 1.2.1 Civil service impartiality and the threat of politicization ..................................20 1.2.2 Politicians and the media: a narrative of demonization and corruption .......... 23 1.2.4 Propriety and ethics in government communications ...................................... 27 1.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 32 Chapter 2: Continuity and change in the relations between government and the media – a theoretical framework ........................................................ 36 2.1 The media-political interface within government ............................ 37 2.1.1 The changing relationship between politicians and political parties, and the mass media………. ..................................................................................................................... 38 2.1.2 The rise of the special adviser ............................................................................ 41 2.1.3 Job insecurity in government communications ................................................ 44 2.2 Understanding change within government communications after 1997 46 2.3 The administrative and political dimensions of government communications ......................................................................................................... 49 2.3.2 Political communications: media and politics as ‘mutually reinforcing’ dynamics 53 2.4 Mediatization: a field-based approach .................................................. 55 2.4.1 Theoretical background to mediatization .......................................................... 57 2.4.2 Empirical research within the mediatization paradigm .................................... 61 2.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 65 5 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology ......................................... 69 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 69 3.2 Methodology – developing the research process .............................. 71 3.2.1 Origins of the study ............................................................................................ 71 3.2.3 Which methods? ................................................................................................ 72 3.2.3 Semi-structured interviews................................................................................ 75 3.2.2 Documentary and archive analysis .................................................................... 81 3.3 Collection and analysis of material ......................................................... 85 3.3.2 Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 88 3.4 Reflections on the interview process: ethical, political and personal considerations ............................................................................................................. 92 3.4.2 Ethical and political reflections on the interview process ................................