Spinning for Labour: Trade Unions and the New Media EnvironmentAre groups or organisations beyond the sphere of Westminster politics doomed to be marginalised in mainstream news coverage, or can the currently fashionable emphasis upon media techniques and 'spin doctoring' offer such non-official news sources a means of securing media success'. This question is now surfacing as a major issue within politics and cultural debates, as well as within the sociology of the mass media and communication studies.We are living through a period of remarkable transformation in politics, culture and social arrangements. Communications experts in the 'new Labour' camp believe that trade unions must respond by becoming more sophisticated in their use of the media and marketing techniques; and by employing new vocabularies for communicating their messages to the public. However, can trade unions succeed in using the tricks of the 1990s spin doctor to restore their position'. This study uses extensive interviews with leading national newspaper journalists and senior figures within trade unions to explore the question. Drawing upon unique archive material the study points to the importance of government in fostering or undermining branches of journalism including coverage of labour relations. |
Contents
Structure Power Ideology and Communications | 38 |
the Practice of Trade Union Press Officers | 92 |
Press Officers Correspondents and the Inside Track | 125 |
Copyright | |
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Spinning for Labour: Trade Unions and the New Media Environment Paul Manning No preview available - 2020 |
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Adrian Long agenda Ambulance Dispute amongst Arthur Scargill broadsheet campaigns Charlie Whelan Charlotte Atkins Coal Strike COHSE communication strategies conference conflict contacts context coverage crews culture Daily Daily Mirror decline develop economic EETPU emergency employers environment example health unions Ibid ideological important industrial correspondents industrial journalism industrial relations interest interpretative framework Interview involved IPMS issues Jones journalists Kenneth Clarke labour and industrial labour beat labour correspondents labour editor labour journalism labour movement Labour Party Lobby London McGuire media strategies membership NALGO NATFHE newspapers NUCPS organisations papers particular perspectives political elite position press and media production professional public relations public sphere recognised regarded relationships reports Roger Poole routine Secretary sector senior significant social sources staff story structures tabloid Thatcher Trade Union Congress trade union press union leaders union press officers values workers