Tabloids and Governments

In his fast selling memoirs, Tony Blair described his tabloid trained Head of Communications, Alastair Campbell, as a ‘genius’.  David Cameron has presumably taken that observation to heart, having appointed an even more distinguished tabloid man as his own Head of Communications.  Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World no less.  But with Coulson’s role in the News of the World’s phone-tapping scandal currently under scrutiny, the Economist’s ever reliable, and prescient, Bagehot has taken the time to offer a few observations about the nature of tabloid power and it’s place in government.

On the News of the World, which Coulson edited, Bagehot notes this:

Few things frighten a British politician as much as a phone call from the News of the World, a ferocious, ruthless Sunday tabloid that is the country’s best-selling newspaper. Many British daily newspapers are raucous, salacious and intrusive, while also being astonishingly professional. The NOTW takes all this to another level: no other publication devotes the same resources to getting scoops. The result is a weekly product that routinely crushes the competition, thanks a potent blend of hard work, money and prurience. At its worst, it combines the cynicism of a brothel madame with the self-righteousness of a lynch mob.

On the appropriateness of Coulson’s current powerful position, he says:

Is it naive, though, to feel a certain melancholy that Mr Cameron should rely so heavily on a man who ran the News of the World, of all tabloids? It is more than just another newspaper. Even by the standards of the tabloids, it is capable of unusual cruelty and unfairness in the pursuit of a few column inches. Alongside the villains it boasts of exposing, its victims include numerous ordinary Britons whose only crime was to be considered newsworthy for a few moments on a given Sunday. Where all that fits into Mr Cameron’s vision of a Big Society is something of a mystery.

As scandal dominates the opening days of a new term of politics study, these seem to be just observations, both.

Modern Conservatism - In Thought And Action [7 Jan 2012]
AS parties: divide over energy prices [19 Oct 2011]
The Coalition and the Conservatives [9 Oct 2011]
Political reincarnations continued [3 Oct 2011]
How Cameron is Shaping the Premiership [3 Apr 2011]
No, Prime Minister: a new road map for government [17 Dec 2010]
AS Politics update: Parliament [13 Dec 2010]
Power in the central executive territory [16 Oct 2010]
What Does Ed Miliband’s Victory Tell Us About Modern British Political Leadership? [26 Sep 2010]
How Conservative Members Rate Coalition Cabinet Ministers [12 Sep 2010]
Cameron As Prime Minister - Is There Anything AS Students Can Say? [15 May 2010]
Gordon Brown’s Reputation in History [15 May 2010]
Lord Ashcroft and the Troubled Times of David Cameron [6 Mar 2010]
Brown in Power – What the Rawnsley Revelations Tell Us About the Office of Prime Minister [21 Feb 2010]
Political Parties - Conservatives backtracking and Lib Dems not hanging [19 Feb 2010]
Student Challenge - make their own Cameron poster [21 Jan 2010]
Pressure Groups & the NHS [27 Dec 2009]
The New Conservative Policy on Europe - What Really Happened [5 Nov 2009]
Cabinet government is dead say officials [25 Aug 2009]
AS revision: decline of Parliament [23 May 2009]
AS revision: MPs’ expenses [20 May 2009]
What does a spad do? [16 Apr 2009]
Pension Envy [22 Mar 2009]
Yes, minister? [17 Mar 2009]
Parliament and government: the basics [4 Feb 2009]