Prime Ministers and the Media Issues of Power and Control

by Seymour-Ure, Colin

• ISBN13: 9780631187677
• ISBN10: 0631187677
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-24
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This book looks at the ways in which prime ministers manage and fail to manage their public communication. A timely examination of the ways in which prime ministers manage and fail to manage their public communication. Original in scope, covering political rumours, political cartoons and capital cities, in addition to more familiar topics. Sets contemporary analysis of Downing Street press secretaries, media barons and press conferences in fuller historical context than usual. Draws on public records, private papers and interviews by the author dating back to the 1960s.

Author Biography

Colin Seymour-Ure has been researching and writing about political communication and mass media since the 1960s. He is Emeritus Professor of Government and former Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Kent, Canterbury. His publications include The British Press and Broadcasting since 1945 (Blackwell Publishing, second edition 1996) and a biography of the cartoonist David Low (1985). He is a Council member of the Hansard Society, and he used to chair the Independent Television Commission’s committee responsible for advising on advertising rules.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vi
List of Maps	vii
List of Tables	viii
Preface	x
Introduction: Prime Minister, Communication, Power, Control	1	(6)
1 Public Communication and the Prime Minister's Tasks	7	(24)
2 Public Communication as a Prime Ministerial Resource	31	(20)
3 Public Communication: Turning Authority into Power	51	(15)
4 The Capital City as News Environment	66	(31)
5 Harlots Revisited: Media Barons, Politics and Prime Ministers	97	(26)
6 The Rise of the Downing Street Press Secretary	123	(20)
7 The Downing Street Press Secretary: Getting into a Spin?	143	(26)
8 Prime Ministers and Press Conferences	169	(34)
9 Grapevine Politics: Political Rumours	203	(27)
10 Drawing Blood? Prime Ministers and Political Cartoons	230	(35)
Index	265