Thread: The end of spin???

In the week where Ally Campbell releases his diary (i can hear the book drop gently inside my house as i type) it will be interesting to see whether Brown can come good on his promise to tone down the spin. Lets be perfectly clear about this, spin is about persuasion, it was present in the earliest forms of democracy and will always remain. Gordon Brown will use persuasion and media techniques just like any politician worth their salt will do, however i really believe the constitutional reforms will prove to be something that will make him remembered in years to come.

Hurrah! They haven’t told me the news today -Times Online

Warm words they may be thus far, but i think our democracy needs such reform if it is to recover.

Do you think that spin was just a tool to win back a media which has been granted carte blanche to report what it wants, when it wants? I really do think that journalistic practices have gone to the dogs in Britain. I had the utter displeasure of buying a Sunday Express yesterday (as Spar had sold out of Observer) and some of the writing was appauling.

Originally Posted by twm-o

Do you think that spin was just a tool to win back a media which has been granted carte blanche to report what it wants, when it wants? I really do think that journalistic practices have gone to the dogs in Britain. I had the utter displeasure of buying a Sunday Express yesterday (as Spar had sold out of Observer) and some of the writing was appauling.

You know what, i had the displeasure of reading my stepdads copy of the sunday express and thought exactly the same thing.

I think that its symbiotic relationship between politicians and the media. Exactly where can politicians or parties go to put out their message and policies? No one would attend a public meeting, or read a leaflet. They both work together to fight each other, and i think it is becoming more poisonous and less likely to get people into politics. So many of the problems with New Labour is many of the things they have achieved are simply not believed by a sceptical public.

I think the Iraq war was a massive case of the media failing society and being far too unquestioning.

I do have a small ammount of pity for politicans because we live in a society where every dog and his cock has an opinion, but is never asked to qualify and justify it. how many people in this forum rock up and 'oh but, he a right fucking fuck he is, fucking hell like' ??

the media plays a large roll in this by exentuating the polar elements of politics and highlighting only a fraction of the work that goes into running our democracy and country. and as we live in a climate where media is our main source of education as well as entertainment, it leads to a wholly distorted view on what is actually going on and, more importantly, the way in which politics touches every part of our daily lives and the role we play within it.

Originally Posted by twm-o

I do have a small ammount of pity for politicans because we live in a society where every dog and his cock has an opinion, but is never asked to qualify and justify it. how many people in this forum rock up and 'oh but, he a right fucking fuck he is, fucking hell like' ??

the media plays a large roll in this by exentuating the polar elements of politics and highlighting only a fraction of the work that goes into running our democracy and country. and as we live in a climate where media is our main source of education as well as entertainment, it leads to a wholly distorted view on what is actually going on and, more importantly, the way in which politics touches every part of our daily lives and the role we play within it.

Very well put.

I think Brown is very right to not trail announcements in the press before parliament. But in a perverse way it could make it less likely people will be informed of government business because parliament is watched or covered very much.

I think the only way to educate people in political and public life is to involve them in it. Unfortunately many of us are too individualistic to do so. I think many decent and potentially great politicians are being lost to other sectors because people see politicians as scum. The vast majority i have met are decent people with good intentions, and that is across the part spectrum. I think the one ugly fallout from Thatcher is the removal of common ties by replacing it with individualistic desires. Many People see no worth in getting involved in the community unless it directly benefits them and their own...