"Is this news to you, Prime Minister?" : media agendas, news management and a campaign interaction in the 2005 UK general election

Collins, Jeremy (author)

This paper presents a specific case study - a "campaign interaction" between the prime minister and a member of the public during a live BBC TV general election debate - in order to examine a number of issues around concerns over the "crisis in public communication" and political control of news information flows. In a wider political sense this episode, in which Tony Blair seemed to be unprepared for a question about family doctor appointment times, was a relatively minor element of a general election campaign dominatedby issues such as asylum policy and the Iraq war. Nevertheless, analysis of the ensuing news coverage suggests that election news agendas can be diverted away (at least temporarily) from the planned communications of political agents towards issues and themes publicised by non-official, non-expert sources, while also illustrating the ultimate reliance of the mediaon those official accredited sources. The role of the BBC in the case study also raises the issue of its position as a public service broadcaster, and the interaction between press and broadcasting in British political news coverage.

• Language: English
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Year: 2008
• Number of pages: Str. 57-70
• Numbering: Vol. 15, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-76237
• UDC: 316.77
• ISSN on article: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 27266141
• Publication date in RUL: 21.12.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Javnost = The public
• Shortened title: Javnost
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis, European Institute for Communication and Culture
• ISSN: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40119808

Secondary language

• Language: Unknown

Abstract

Članek obravnava specifičen primer interakcije med predsednikom vlade in gledalcem predvolilnega televizijskega programa BBC, da bi razjasnil vrsto vprašanj o "krizi javnega komuniciranja" in političnem nadzorovanju informiranja. V političnem smislu je bila epizoda, v kateri se je pokazalo, da Tony Blair ni bil pripravljen na vprašanje o naročanju na zdravniški pregled, relativno nepomembna v primerjavi z vprašanji, kot sta azilna politika ali iraška vojna. Vendar pa analiza kaže, da se vsaj začasno lahko obide volilne vprašanja in teme, ki jih načrtujejo politični akterji, čeprav se mediji v zadnji instanci zanašajo na uradne vire. Vloga BBC v tej študiji sproža tudi vprašanje o položaju javne radiotelevizije ter odnosu med tiskom in radiotelevizijo v političnem novinarstvu v Veliki Britaniji.