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.

British election campaigns are shaped not simply by what politicians do and say, but by how they are reported to the public through the mass media. This book examines the dialogue conducted via the press, television, advertising and the opinion polls beween politicians and the people in the 1997 campaign and its run-up. Special attention is paid to the innovations and changes that marked the 1997 campaign, including the Labour Party's Millbank communications machine, the Sun's endorsement of Labour, the political parties' strengthening grip of the campaign agenda, party campaigning on the...

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.