Political Communications: The General Election Campaign of 1992

by Ivor Crewe, Brian Gosschalk

Overview

The result of the 1992 British general election confounded the predictions of most pollsters and commentators. This book examines the process of communication between politicians and voters during the campaign. The contributors—politicians, party strategists, journalists, pollsters and political scientists—examine the role of the press and television in communicating the claims of the parties to the electorate and the response of the voters to the politicians. In addition, it focuses on the attempts of politicians to manipulate the mass media, and the media's resistance of these attempts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521469647
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/17/1995
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.71(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction Ivor Crewe and Brian Gosschalk; Part I. The Politicians: 1. The Conservative campaign: against the odds John Wakeham; 2. The Liberal Democrats' campaign Richard Holme; 3. The Labour campaign Robin Cook; Part II. The Strategists: 4. The Conservative Party's strategy Shaun Woodward; 5. The Labour Party's strategy David Hill; 6. The Liberal Democrats' strategy Des Wilson; Part III. The Campaign on Television: 7. The parties and television Richard Tait; 8. Struggles for meaningful election communication: television journalism at the BBC, 1992 Jay G. Blumler, Michael Gurevitch and T. J. Nossiter; 9. Old values versus news values: the British 1992 general election campaign on television T. J. Nossiter, Margaret Scammell and Holli A. Semetko; 10. People metering: scientific research or clapometer? John Rentoul, Nick Robinson and Simon Braunholtz; Part IV. The Campaign in the Press: 11. 'Fact is free but comment is sacred'; or, Was it The Sun wot won it? David McKie; 12. Characters and assassinations: portrayals of John Major and Neil Kinnock in The Daily Mirror and The Sun Colin Seymour-Ure and Sandra Scott; 13. Failing to set the agenda: the role of election press conferences in 1992 Dennis Kavanagh and Brian Gosschalk; Part V. The Opinion Polls in the Campaign: 14. The polls and the 1992 general election Robert Waller; 15. The use of panel studies in British general elections Robert M. Worcester and Ivan Fallon; 16. Forecasting the 1992 election: the BBC experience John Curtice and Clive Payne; 17. The ITN exit poll Glyn Matthias and David Cowling; 18. The impact of the 1992 general election on the image of public opinion surveys Robert J. Wybrow; Part VI. Reflections: 19. Majorspeak: observations on the Prime Minister's style of speaking Max Atkinson.