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NEWS, AND TELEVISION By the same author

GUARDIAN YEARS , NEWSPAPERS AND TELEVISION

Alastair Hetherington

palQraveI macmillan © Alastair Hetherington 1985

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published 1985

Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG212XS and Companies and representatives throughout the world

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained fore st sources. Logging. pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hetherington, Alastair News, newspapers and television. . - 2. Mass media­ Great Britain I. Title 070 .4'3 PNSI18 ISBN 978-0-333-38606-4 ISBN 978-1-349-18000-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18000-4

II 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 94 Contents

List ofTables VI List ofCharts Vll Preface Vlll

1 WHAT'S NEWS? WHO MAKES THE NEWS? 1 2 OWNERS, EDITORS AND AUDIENCES 22 3 GOING TO PRESS AND GOING ON AIR 48 4 DECISIONS (1): A CROSS-SECTION 63 5 DECISIONS (2): TELEVISION NEWS 87 6 DECISIONS (3): THE MAIL AND MIRROR 116 7 DECISIONS (4): AND 151 8 A DEEPER DIMENSION 186 9 THE 1984-5 COAL DISPUTE: NEWSPAPERS Innis Macbeath 197 10 THE 1984-5 COAL DISPUTE: TELEVISION NEWS 226 11 WAR , AND OURSELVES 282 12 A PERSONAL POSTSCRIPT 292

Appendix A : Newspapers 299 Appendix B: Staffing - Journalists 303 Glossary 307 Bibliography 311 Notes and References 313 Thanks 320 Index 321

V List of Tables

3.1 The Times: home news schedule for Monday, 13 February 1984(11.30) 50 3.2 The Times: foreign news schedule for Monday, 13February 1984(11.30) 51 3.3 The Times: memo after 11 .30 conference 52 3.4 BBe: proposed home news diary, television news - Monday, 31 October 1984(9.30 a.m.) 52 4.1 Priorities: TV and newspapers 85 5.1 Straw poll: the results 104 5.2 News lists 114 5.3 Programme running order, News at Ten, Monday, 31 October 115 6.1 Numbers of news items 147 6.2 Content analysis, Tuesday, 17 January 149 6.3 Content analysis, Wednesday, 18 January 150 7.1 Content analysis, Tuesday evening, 14February 184 7.2 Content analysis, Wednesday, 15February 185 9.1 Selected background or explanatory items: newspapers and television 224 10.1 Place in bulletins (1984-5 coal dispute) 279 10.2 Hours of coverage in each week 279 10.3 The reporting of press conferences, statements and interviews 280 10.4 The reporting of violence 280 10.5 Presentation 281

vi List of Charts

2.1 Management structure, ITN 43 2.2 Management structure, BBC 44 2.3 Management structure, the Guardian 45 2.4 Management structure, the 46 2.5 The flow of news - inside the office 47 6.1 sales , 1948-84 116 6.2 Mail'splash' layouts 122 6.3 DailyMirror: newsroom layout 139 6.4 Editor's design given to night desk 144

vii Preface

'It's like riding a bicycle: if you stop to think about it you'll fall off.' Thus the deputy editor, BBC television news, when interviewed by the author in December 1981 on his approach to news. As a former journalist, I could only agree. The pace of daily journalism leaves little time for introspective con­ templation. Nevertheless, for many years I had felt that it would be useful to try to persuade journalists to explain how they reached their decisions - especially on what was or was not news, and on how it should be handled. Sir Kenneth Alexander, an old friend, became Principal of Stirling University in 1980. Not long afterwards he suggested that a study of news could be undertaken from a base in Stirling. In December 1981 I carried out a small pilot study, to test what might be feasible. Together Sir Kenneth and I then secured grants from the BBC and from the Television Fund, which is financed by television companies; and subsequently from the Social Science Research Council , renamed the Economic and Social Research Council. In autumn of 1982 Stirling University appointed me as a research professor in media studies. Without the funding from the ESRC, the Television Fund and the BBC - and the support of Stirling University - this study would not have been possible. I am most grateful to all of them. Access to the newsrooms and news staff of the BBC and ITN was readily offered; so was access to the regional newsrooms of STY and BBC Scotland. Similarly the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the and The Times all agreed to allow access; and they proved patient and tolerant of many fieldwork visits. (The Times deserves special thanks for admitting a former editor of the Guardian who still had close connections with that paper.) , and Sun refused access - though the editors of the Telegraph and the Express individually offered to be interviewed. At the Express Sir Lamb explained that, since he had only recently

Vlll Preface IX

arrived and there were tensions within in the 'Lubianka', the presence of outside observers in the newsroom might be misunderstood. simply turned down two requests. Lack of access to any of the most strident popular papers leaves a serious gap in this study. The Mail and Mirror are consequently the only 'popular' papers covered here; and they too were always open and friendly in allowing observation of their daily work. So was the Scottish during our brief visits there. The ESRC believed that a sociologist should work with me, and Mr Howard Tumber was appointed to do so. His back­ ground was in the study of television, and he is associated with the City University. For a year he gave me much valuable help. He undertook the primary fieldwork at the Guardian, the Mirror and BBC television news, while I observed in parallel at The Times, the Mail and ITN. It was always our intention to complete most of the fieldwork in the winter of 1983-4, as we did, and then to finish by studying coverage of major event. The NUM-NCB dispute, starting in March 1984, was an obvious choice - but it lasted much longer than we or others had foreseen . Howard Tumber had to move to other commitments at of his year . For a short period therefore, with the approval of the ESRC , I recruited Mr Innis Macbeath. He had lately retired after many years as labour editor and an assistant editor of The Times, and then as professor of industrial relations at the London Business School. In the end he wrote the chapter on newspaper coverage of the coal dispute - and it appears under his name in this book - while I wrote the chapter on television coverage. One regret was that, because space in a single book prevents it, we were unable to include most of the tables of content analysis prepared at each stage . They are , however, being lodged in a more extensive report with the British Library and the library of the ESRC. Thanks are due also to my wife, a constantly constructive critic; to other members of the family who helped in various ways; and to colleagues and students at Stirling University. Their assistance and advice is acknowledged more fully at the end of this book. Alastair Hetherington Stirling