Thursday, December 06, 2007
Reversing the Spin
The debate on ‘Blair’s Legacy of Spin’ featured in PR Week has been compounded this week by the publication of Alistair Campbell’s long anticipated diaries. Apart from the fact that these diaries lack the shattering revelations we all hoped for, they do serve one purpose – to perpetuate the media’s guilty love of spin.
The publication of these diaries allows the news media to reignite the popular but trite question of style over substance. When this ongoing battle between government and the fourth estate is examined more closely it is often an entirely pointless pursuit.
The trouble is that falling newspaper and traditional media revenue and readership is driving an increasingly opinionated and sensationalist news media. Of course papers have always had their own political leanings but this is not the problem. Ever more the national media is becoming a ‘rabid beast’, baying for the blood of whichever politician or public official who puts a foot wrong. The daily paper is frequently comparable to a bizarre royal court, calling “Off with his ‘ed!” Every time a mistake is made.
This point is not to usurp the media’s right and core purpose – to hold government to account. Rather it is to highlight its obsession with public execution. When mistakes are made, heads must roll, no question.
However, this ‘feral beast’ as Tony Blair affectionately called it, does not appear to account for a central tenet of human nature – fallibility. Humans are naturally fallible and will inevitably make mistakes. High pressure jobs will obviously separate those who are less fallible than the rest, but even the brightest top officials have their moments.
The central point here is that when cabinet and other political positions can be lost at the slip of the tongue or the mistakes of an underling, it is no wonder that politicians feel the need to protect themselves. By protection I mean from the media which controls what the electorate hear, often what they think and holds the ultimate power over politicians – the power of popularity.
Unfortunately what springs from this is a perpetual cycle of mistrust where the government attempts to appease the media, which is ready to attack on the smallest falter. This is where plotical advisors, ‘spin doctors’, call them what you will, become so important. Managing the media has become the only way for politicians to survive longer than a month without being ousted due to a media attack. And don’t think that Gordon Brown will be any different – his stance of ‘getting down to work’ – is simply another tactic of perception management.
So what’s the solution to this cycle? Well unfortunately it isn’t just going to peter out over time. The ‘spin cycle’ will continue as long as the media’s inflated expectations persist. The only way to tackle this is for politicians to try and convey a more balanced picture of themselves i.e. the rough and the smooth. This recognition of humanity not incompetence, on a small scale will ultimately be accepted by the media and the electorate. The result of this being that the public will not expect cabinet supermen, rather an achievable level of service from MPs. With the spin cycle at least slowed perhaps they can get over their preoccupations with keeping jobs and have more time to run the country.
Posted by Toby Brown on 12/06 at 05:33 PM(0) Comments • Permalink