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This book opens up the black box of government communication during the age of political spin, using archival and official documents, memoirs and biographies, and in-depth interviews with media, political and government witnesses. It argues that substantive and troubling long-term changes in the ways governments manage the media and publicly account for themselves undermine the public consent essential to democracy. Much of the blame for this crisis in public communication has been placed at the feet of politicians and their aides, but they are just part of the picture. A pervasive 'culture of mediatization' has developed within governments, leading to intended and unintended consequences that challenge the capacity of central public bureaucracies to implement public values and maintain impartiality. It concludes that public servants, elected officials and citizens have an important role to play in accounting for governments' custodianship of this most politically-sensitiveof public goods - the public communications function.
List of contents
Prologue.- Chapter 1: Introduction - How did we get here?.- Chapter 2: Media management - politicians' fatal attraction?.- Chapter 3: The new neolibral governments of the 1980s - subtle and covert changes to 'the rules of the game'.- Chapter 4: The age of political spin' - from Blair to Cameron and beyond.- Chapter 5: Responsiveness - how civil servants were tamed, then bypassed.- Chapter 6: Resistance - how bureaucrats and parliaments pushed back against government 'political spin'.- Chapter 7: Impartiality, accountability and public trust in governments.- Chapter 8: What could good government communication look like?.- Chapter 9: How to rebuild trust in democratic government.- Chapter 10: Conclusion.
About the author
Ruth Garland worked in public sector public relations for 28 years before taking a PhD at the London School of Economics, UK. She is Associate Lecturer in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, and has taught at the LSE, Kings College London, University of Hertfordshire and Brunel University.
