Colin Seymour-Ure has been researching and writing about political communication and mass media since the 1960s. He is Emeritus Professor of Government and former Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Kent, Canterbury. His publications include "The British Press and Broadcasting since 1945" (Blackwell Publishing, second edition 1996) and a biography of the cartoonist David Low (1985). He is a Council member of the Hansard Society, and he used to chair the Independent Television Commission's committee responsible for advising on advertising rules.