201402 Spinning on a cleaner cycle new.pdf (706.41 kB)
Spinning on a cleaner cycle: how media management became 'respectable' under the UK's coalition government
The issue of media management or ‘spin’ came to dominate Tony Blair’s time in office; so much so that even his own Press Secretary, Alastair Campbell, came to concede that they had over-used it. When David Cameron came to power, although he has acknowledged that he learnt many political lessons from Tony Blair, he was keen to ensure that his Government did not make the same mistakes in terms of the over-use of spin. In this article, based on interviews with key players, a comparison is made between the way the two prime ministers, and in particular their press secretaries, managed their media relations in their first years in office. This article, written by two political journalists who witnessed the first years of Blair and Cameron at first hand, characterises the Blair media regime as practising ‘spin heavy’ and the Cameron regime, under Andy Coulson, as practising ‘spin lite’. It concludes, that both in terms of relations with the media, and how that relationship played out vis a vis coverage, ‘spin lite’ was a more successful formulation.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Journal of Applied Journalism and Media StudiesISSN
2001-0818Publisher
IntellectExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
4Page range
205 -222Department affiliated with
- Media and Film Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-04-04First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-04-04First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-03-30Usage metrics
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