Read all about it: yesterday’s newspaper is often tomorrow’s government policy
Malcolm Dean, the Guardian’s social affairs correspondent, has produced a thoughtful book on the symbiotic relationship between politics and the media in the UK. Dean, a journalist of 40 years, gives a critical account of the influential role of the media in shaping public and political attitudes.
The most stunning example is the declaration by Tony Blair, on his election as Labour leader in 1994, that “the only thing that matters now in this campaign is the media, the media, the media.” In contrast, Clement Attlee, one of Blair’s predecessors, at the beginning of the 1951 general-election campaign, declined to comment when asked by a reporter to elaborate on his campaign. Attlee’s chief concern was to finalise his party’s policy and campaign details, before engaging with the press. Such reticence would be impossible today.
