Media and UK Politics

Center:

London

Program(s):

London Summer - UK Today [1]

Discipline(s):

Political Science

Communications

Course code:

PO/CM 350

Terms offered:

Summer

Credits:

Language of instruction:

English

Instructor:

Julian Putkowski

Description:

The British public is offered full coverage of political issues and events with five daily ‘broadsheets’, an evening newspaper and several tabloids with high circulation in London alone, and broadcasting networks including the well-respected BBC. This number of British media means that political stories are told in multiple versions and are submitted to multiple interpretations. This course examines a number of issues and current topics in the news that demonstrate the long-term struggle for power between the conventional media (press, TV, radio news media and increasingly, the internet) and UK politicians and political institutions. Additional topics to be explored are: How this struggle affects the delivery of news to the British public; what are the opportunities and challenges of internet coverage of parliament’s proceedings; and whether public broadcasting has a future.

Drawing on topics from current affairs, students will be encouraged to probe the consistency and contradictions of Britain's political leaders, appraise party political agendas and explore how interest groups exercise influence in a mature democracy. In addition to acquainting students with key aspects of contemporary British politics, students will examine the structure and function of British national media.

Students will be expected to read and comment about British domestic political developments featured in the national press and other media. After they have become generally familiar with the UK’s political system, the class will proceed to explore a succession of topics, collectively intended to illuminate and define the changing relationship between politicians and the news media.

Prerequisites:

None

Learning outcomes:

Students who complete the course will develop:
• A general informed understanding about British politicians, democratic institutions and the political system
• A developed understanding of media policy and the dynamic relationship that exists between politicians, political developments and the news media
• Insights about government news management, censorship and control
• Critical appreciation of the theory and operation of political news’ acquisition, interpretation, communication and dissemination by print, broadcast and on-line media
• Knowledge about the opportunities and challenges presented by development of digital communications and globalization on news media

Method of presentation:

Lectures, discussion, guest speakers.

Required work and form of assessment:

Lectures (including DVD and other visual materials); seminar discussions, and student presentations. The course features 12 classes, including one field trip to the BBC TV Centre.

Attendance and class participation (10%); research assignment (30%); seminar presentation (10%); mid-term exam (20%); written final exam (30%)

The research assignment involves students adopting a comparative approach or examining contrasting perspectives about a specific issue, policy or political development or testing an aspect of the actual relationship between news reportage and domestic UK politics against one or more established theories about the role of the news media. The text may be in the form of an essay or report, 1,500 + words long, excluding notes, bibliography and appendices. The topic and title must be negotiated in advance and approved by the instructor.

content:

Class 1: Introduction: Political System & the UK Press
Parliament, British political parties and politicians – relationship with the UK mass media – political reportage - image and reality. Manufacturing Consent. Reading: Jones & Norton, 141-160, 306-313, 316-330, 332-344;
Negrine (1996) 1 – 22, 55 – 77.

Class 2: UK Political System
To what extent may the UK media be held responsible for current parliamentary crisis? Does news coverage lend substance to the contention that in securing coverage in the press, image has become more important than ideology for political parties?” Reading: Seldon & Kavanagh, 94-111; Kuhn, 203 -206; Seymour-Ure, ch
8.; Jones & Norton, A2-A19; Washbourne, 31-50; Louw, 109-127 and other readings as assigned.

Class 3: UK Political System – Interest Groups
Peculiarly English? Mobilizing public opinion: Case studies, including the 2005 UK Law banning hunting with dogs, the League against Cruel Sports and the Countryside Alliance. Reading: Countryside Alliance & League
Against Cruel Sports websites; A. Anderson, 722-738; and other readings as assigned.

Class 4: Control Freakery, Packaging and ‘Spin’
Government news management has proved highly controversial. Media advisers (e.g. Alastair Campbell and
Andy Coulson), have been accused of undermining democratic process but as Jo Moore’s resignation and the outcome of the Hutton Inquiry into WMD demonstrate, attempts to ‘bury bad news’ or to manipulate public opinion are not always successful. Reading: Cottle, 45-61; Kuhn, 176-202; Tony Blair speech on the UK media,
12 July 2007; Oborne chs. 11 and 12

Class 5: Information Communications Technology and UK Politics
Issue: How might ICT play a part in reversing UK voter apathy? How influential are UK political bloggers? Reading: Axford & Huggins, 64-89; 109-126 1-30; Coleman et al, 9 - 41; 67 - 79; Curran, 55 - 78; Curran and Seaton, 237 – 293; Fenton, 120 - 137; Miller (6.11.2003) ‘System Failure’; Papacharissi, 131-167; Stokes & Reading, 108-125; Street, 213-230.

Class 6: Office of Communications (OFCOM) was intended to consolidate, modernise and transform the relationship between the UK State and the Media. Critics say OFCOM undermines media independence but supporters insist it protects the UK from global super corporations, as well as maintaining quality, diversity and therefore choice for UK TV viewers. Case study: The Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross controversy. Reading:
OFCOM website; Daily Mail, 26.10.08 Russell Brand etc.; BBC News Timeline: Russell Brand. MID TERM EXAM

Class 7: Media Magnates and UK Democracy
Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp media interests extend across the Atlantic – and it has been claimed that Murdoch’s support secured Tony Blair’s election in 1997. However, the demise of Robert Maxwell and Conrad Black also exemplify media magnates’ fragility. Reading: Dwyer, 69-79, 97-103; Greenslade, 606 – 621; 675-
680; Kuhn, 88-112; Negrine, 57-80; Stokes & Reading, 124-144; Street, 124-144; Wolff, 378-413.

Class 8: Restructuring the UK Media: Challenges and Opportunities
UK newspaper circulations are collapsing and TV advertising revenue has dwindled. Has government liberalisation policy exacerbated UK media vulnerability? Reading: Curran and Seaton, 392 -412; Kuhn, 58 –
87; Sarikakis, 23-42; Stokes & Reading, 127-141; Barnett 7-14; Newspaper extracts.

Class 9: Public Service Broadcasting
Public Service Broadcasting (the BBC) is far more influential in the UK than in the USA. The debate about future funding of the BBC is politically controversial. What issues inform current debate and how may the outcome influence news coverage? Video viewing; Kuhn, 30-57; OFCOM Review of PBS & BBC Response; Bromley, 28 -
45; Curran and Seaton, 197-234; Freedman, 147-170; McNair, 108-135; Stokes & Reading, ch. 4.

Class 10: EU and the UK Media
EU enlargement eroded diversity and choice in EU Accession states. Will this also occur in the UK – threatening the regional news media? Doyle, 141 – 161; McNair, 157-182; Sarikakis, 43-57; EU AV and Media Policies: regulatory framework; http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media/index_en.htm; [2] http:ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/index_en.htm+Television+without+Fron... [3]

Class 11: Manufacturing Consent UK?
To what extent may Herman and Chomsky’s thesis be applied to today’s UK media? Chambers et al., 216-240, Curran and Seaton, 66-103; Herman & Chomsky in Tumber, 166-179; Lloyd, 185 – 203; http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ [4]

Class 12: Field study visit to BBC; Date TBD; TERM PAPER DEADLINE

Required readings:

Blair, T., Text of speech on the media, Reuters, 12.6.2007
Cottle, S. (ed.), News, Public Relations and Power London, SAGE 2003
Chambers, D. et al, Women and Journalism London, Routledge, 2004
Curran, J., Media and Power London, Routledge 2002
Curran, James and Jean Seaton Power without Responsibility: the Press and Broadcasting in Britain London, Routledge, 2003 edn.
Doyle, G. Media Ownership London, SAGE, 2002
Dwyer, T. Media Convergence Maidenhead, McGraw Hill/Open University Press, 2010
Fenton, N. (ed.), New Media, Old News – Journalism & Democracy in the Digital Age London, SAGE, 2010
Freedman, D., The Politics of Media Policy, London, Polity Press, 2008
Jones, B. & Norton, P., Politics UK London, Pearson, 2010 (7th edn.) Kuhn, R., Politics and the Media in Britain London, Palgrave, 2007
Lloyd, J., What the Media are doing to Our Politics London, Constable, 2004
Louw, E., The Media and Political Process, London, SAGE, 2010
McNair, B., News and Journalism in the UK London, Routledge, 2009 edn.
Miller, D., (6.11.2003) Goldsmith’s College Media Conference Paper: ‘System Failure: It’s not just the media, it’s the whole bloody system.’ http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/departments/media-communications/pdfs/davidm... [5]
Papacharissi, Z.A., Private Sphere: Democracy in a digital age, London, Polity Press, 2010
Sarikakis, Katherine, British Media in a Global Era London, Arnold, 2004
Stokes, J. and Reading, A., (eds.) The Media in Britain – Current debates and developments London, Palgrave, 1999
Washbourne, N., Mediating Politics: Newspapers, Radio, Television and the Internet, Open University Press, 2010

Recommended readings:

Ainley, B. Black Journalists, White Media London, Trentham, 1998
    Axford, Barrie & Huggins, Richard New Media and Politics, London, SAGE, 2001
    Allen, S. News Culture Milton Keynes, Oxford UP, 1999
    Bartle, J. and King, A., Britain at the Polls, 2005 CQ Press, Washington, London, 2006
    Bourdieu, P., On Television and Journalism London, Pluto Press, 1998
    Bromley, M., No News is Bad News – Radio, Television and the Public Harlow, Pearson, 2001
    Briggs, A., The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom vols. 1-4. Oxford Oxford UP, 1961-1979
    Cottle, S. (ed.), Ethnic Minorities and the Media Milton Keynes, Open UP, 2000
    Curran, J., & Gurevitch, M., Mass Media and Society London, Arnold, 2000
    Davies, N., Flat Earth News London, Chatto & Windus, 2008
    Glasgow University Media Group, War and Peace News Milton Keynes, Open UP, 1985
    Grant, W., Pressure Groups and British Politics London, Macmillan, 2000
    Greenslade, R., Press gang – How newspapers make profits from Propaganda London, Macmillan, 2004
    Griffiths, D. (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of the British Press 1422 –1992 London, Macmillan, 1992
    Hall, J., Online Journalism London, Pluto Press 2001
    Hollingsworth, M. & Norton-Taylor, R., Blacklist: the inside story of political vetting. London, Hogarth Press, 1988
    Iyengar, S. and R. Reeves, Do the media govern? London, SAGE, 1997
    Jones, N., Sultans of Spin – The Media and the New Labour government London, Orion, 1999

Knightley, P., The First Casualty: the war correspondent as hero, propagandist, and myth maker from the Crimea to Vietnam London, Andre Deutsch, 1975
Koss, S., The rise and fall of the political press in Britain vol. 2. London, Hamish Hamilton, 1984
Macintyre, D., Mandelson and the Making of New Labour London, Harper Collins, 2000
McNair, B. Journalism and Democracy London, Routledge, 2009 edn.
Negrine, R. Politics and the Mass Media in Britain. London, Routledge, 1994. Negrine, R. The Communication of Politics London, SAGE 1996
Norris, P. (ed.) Women, the Media and Politics Oxford, Oxford UP, 1997
----- and B. Pimlott (eds.) The Media in British Politics Aldershot, Gower, 1987
Oborne, P. Alastair Campbell – New Labour and the Rise of the Media Class London, Aurum, 1999
Philo, G. The British media and the Gulf War Glasgow, Glasgow University Media Group, 1993
-----. Research Report - Politics, Media and Public Belief. Glasgow, Glasgow
University Media Group, 1993
Seaton, J. (ed.), Politics and the Media: Harlots and prerogatives at the turn of the Millenium London, Blackwell, 1998
Seldon, A & Kavanagh, D., The Blair Effect 2001-5 Cambridge, CUP, 2005
Solomos, J., Race and Racism in Britain London, Macmillan, 1993
Stokes, J. and Reading, A. (eds.), The Media in Britain – Current debates and developments London, Palgrave, 1999
Street, J. Mass Media, Politics and Democracy London, Palgrave, 2001
Underwood, G. Mass Media: Broadcasting Systems
(www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/media/peacock.html [6])
Wolff, M., The Man who owns the news: Inside the secret world of Rupert Murdoch, Vintage Books, 2010

Other Resources:

Useful Internet Sites

UK Political Blogs round up: UK Poli Blogs : http://www.voidstar.com/ukpoliblog/ [7]

UK Politics: http://www:epolitix.com/EN/ [8] ; www.explore.parliament.uk [9] ; www.politics.co.uk [10] ;www.parliament.uk [11]

British Government & Politics on the Internet (Keele University): http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/ukbase.htm [12] BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ [13]

OFCOM: www.ofcom.org.uk [14]

Almost all the UK newspapers, national and local, have on-line websites or via: http://www.wrx.zen.co.uk/ [15] or http://www.journalismuk.co.uk/links.htm [16]

UK Regional Press: http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/2006/online/061110eu.shtml [17]

Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom: http://www.cpbf.demon.co.uk/ [18] Northern Ireland/Conflict Archive on the Internet: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ [19]

British Government & Politics on the Internet (Keele University): http://www.keels.ac.uk/depts/por/ukbase.htm [20]

People and Politics UK: http://www.political.org.uk/ [21] Policywatch: http://aoife.indigo.ie/~pwatch/sbp0498.html [22]

UK Politics Information Page: http://www.ukpol.co.uk/ukpo.htm [23]

Women on TV: http://www.aber.ac.uk/~eduwww/Undergrad/ED30520/women1.html [24]

TV/Radio Politics / Media Coverage

(Times may vary slightly, check TV/Radio listings): Recommended viewing: BBC1 TV's News at 10 (10.00 p.m.); This Week (BBC1 TV Thursdays, 11.35 p.m. – 12.20); ITV1 London (Channel 3) News (10.30 p.m.); BBC2 Newsnight (Weekdays 10.30 – 11.20 p.m.), Channel 4 News (Weekdays 7.00 p.m.); Despatch Box (When Parliament is sitting - Weekdays circa 12.00 p.m.); BBC News 24; Sky News; Sunday AM (BBC1, Sundays 8.30 a.m. – 9.30 a.m.); The Politics Show (BBC1, Sundays 1.20 p.m. – 2.20 p.m.); Jonathan Dimbleby/ITV News

(ITV1 London, Sundays 12.55 – 1.50); The Week (ITV1 London, Sundays, 1.50 – 2.20 p.m.)

Recommended listening: BBC Radio 4 [ 92-95 fm & 198 lw ] Today (Daily morning news programme, 6.00 – 9.00 a.m.; Talking Politics (Saturdays 11.00 – 11.30 a.m. When Parliament is sitting: BBC Radio 4: The Week in Westminster (Saturdays 11 - 11.30 a.m.); Today in Parliament (Weekdays 11.30 - 12.00 p.m.) or Yesterday in Parliament (Weekdays, Radio 4 .8.45-9.00 a.m.)

Notes:

This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.

Brief Biography of Instructor:

In addition to his contributions to London’s City University’s MA in Non-fiction Writing, and the IES Abroad History of London course, Julian Putkowski specializes in teaching overseas students about UK media and politics. Julian’s post graduate teaching specialism is English & Communications, and he has worked in a range of non-academic contexts, including journalism, business development, and management of a not-for-profit youth education project. His established interest in linking British media, politics and history has most recently been reflected in “Tommyrot”, a critical essay he contributed to Sir Michael Howard’s (ed.) “A Part of History” (2008). He has two reference works about British military officers (forthcoming: Francis Boutle Publishers, 2010) and has recently completed a (co-authored) manuscript of a book about murderers.