Description
Book SynopsisThis book looks at the ways in which prime ministers manage and fail to manage their public communication.
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- A timely examination of the ways in which prime ministers manage and fail to manage their public communication.
- Original in scope, covering political rumours, political cartoons and capital cities, in addition to more familiar topics.
- Sets contemporary analysis of Downing Street press secretaries, media barons and press conferences in fuller historical context than usual.
- Draws on public records, private papers and interviews by the author dating back to the 1960s.
Trade Review"This is a fascinating, authoritative and eminently readable history of the changing relationship between prime ministers and the media. As one of the country’s leading historians of politics and the press, Colin Seymour-Ure offers some highly original insights in a book which should be required reading for anyone with an interest in politics or political communication."
Steven Barnett, University of Westminster "Nevertheless, the book is clearly written enough to make it a good eaching tool and it contains enough insights (and historical nuggets) to satisfy an academic audience too." Political Studies Review
Table of ContentsList of Figures.
List of Maps.
List of Tables.
Preface.
Introduction: Prime Minister, Communication, Power, Control.
1. Public Communication and the Prime Minister’s Tasks.
2. Public Communication as a Prime Ministerial Resource.
3. Public Communication: Turning Authority into Power.
4. The Capital City as News Environment.
5. Harlots Revisited: Media Barons, Politics and Prime Ministers.
6. The Rise of the Downing Street Press Secretary.
7. The Downing Street Press Secretary: Getting into a Spin?.
8. Prime Ministers and Press Conferences.
9. Grapevine Politics: Political Rumours.
10. Drawing Blood? Prime Ministers and Political Cartoons.
Index.
