media and politics

[Enigmatic1]

I'm doing a research project on media and politics, and am looking at how the media portrays politicians in positive and negaitve lights, and how they do so. Any opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated, and if anyone has any links or book referrals, I'd be so grateful. Thanks.

[jno]

media and politicians are mostly at daggers drawn, but it's worth bearing in mind that newspapers (not so much TV channels) are usually committed to a particular party. Mail, Express, Times and Telegraph are Tory, Mirror and Guardian Labour, Independent and Financial Times vary, Sun will back whoever it thinks is going to win. In between elections they will mostly attack anyone not in their chosen party. Best way to check this out is to read them. Telly is usually more even-handed but in the USA, Fox News is famous for being rabid far-right.

[Enigmatic1]

jno, thanks. i appreciate your time. : )

[Oneeyedvic]

It is amazing to see how quick they also change their minds - look at The Sun with David Blunkett - one week a liar - the next he is writing for them.

For info about hypocrisy of the media, have a look at Private Eye who have a section called Streets of Shame - a real eye opener.

[BigMac]

You need to remember that, when interviewing politicians, most journalists (tv/radio/press) start from the premise: why is this lying b*st*rd lying to me?

They (the journalists) then try to ask yes/no questions when the subject of the question can't be dealt with in such a simplistic manner. So the politician appears to be evasive and the journo appears to be making the politico squirm.

To sum it up, how would you answer the question: have you stopped beating your wife?

Then you can talk about long interviews that are cut/edited to laud/denigrate the interviewee. As jno said, look at the politics of the paper/tv/radio station to get an idea why they might take a particular stance.

[Donagh]

Take a step or two back for a moment. What if there was no media? No newspapers, no TV, no radio? What kind of democracy would we have then? The media - press in particular, are referred to as the fourth estate. In a democracy, the media is an important element in the checks and balances of a fully functioning, healthy democracy. If there was no media - who would hold politicians - and not just politicians, to account? While ultimately we, as voters, have that power, we only get to exercise it every four or five years.

Having said that, it's fair to say that, just like a nation deserves the leaders and politicians it elects, it also deserves the media it consumes! Why is the media less obsessed with real issues and real politic, and more obsessed with celebrity, celebrity, even political celebrity? Because readers and viewers can't get enough of it.

But I digress. Why are we so quick to shoot the messenger? Would we prefer if Tv interviewers let politicians say anything they liked - a virtual party political broadcast every time they were asked a question? Remember that Paxman interview with Michael Howard? That confrontation between the housewife and Margaret Thatcher in during the Belgrano Crisis? We live in an adversarial society - the legal system is adversarial, the economy is adversarial, it stands to reason that the media will be too.