READING DIARY: A response to Packaging Politics: An overview of the argument with reference to a cas

A response to Packaging Politics: An overview of the argument with reference to a case study by Liz Tynan regarding spin doctoring during the Gulf war.

During the opening statement of the chapter, the author provides evidence that spin doctors use big news, usually bad, to saturate other bad news. "On 11 September 2001, within minutes of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, government spin doctor Jo Moore circulated an email to her colleagues in the press office at the Department of Trade and Industry suggesting, "it's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.'"1This is then extended with more evidence surrounding the Dunblane shootings. I would personally argue that this could be perceived as unethical as it is almost hiding the truth from the public through saturation, however Hugo Young argues "it is fanciful to imagine that spinning will come to an end"2 due to it being an "elementary weapon" embeded into the government.

All though my previously mentioned points and others including the relationship between politicians and journalists, are explored in great depth throughout the chapter I am going to focus on the discussion surrounding "the lobby", as it is also a key feature in Tynans case study. The lobby is way for Journalists and Politicians to interact, for many it is a chance for them to influence the news through giving their opinions on topics covered in the session. This idea was also used during the Gulf war to create a "press pool". All though it left "many Journalists.. dissatisfied with the system", it was a way government could control information leaving the war zone. This method was later used in the Vietnam war, along with many restrictions on reporting such as "only general terms could be used to describe the forces available", as a way for PR to influence the angle news was reported on, as they simultaneously controlled the information entering the press pools. This worked for a majority of the time however "some Journalists decided to break away from the pool system and set up so-called unilaterals. They did mange to get stories that were at odds with the official line, for instance, about coalition troops not being equipped with adequate maps."

In conclusion, Liz Tynans exploration into journalists in the Gulf war, as well as the points raised in the chapter around the lobby are very in depth. They appear unbiased to the side of journalists or government. My only confusion is that even though the chapter begins quite strongly creating arguments based around spin doctoring, it rarely makes reference back to this point throughout the rest of the piece. If I was to re-write this, I would have referred back to the initial arguments as I feel it would have tied the following items together, such as political packaging and propaganda.

1 Daily Telegraph, 10 October, P.2

2 Young, 2003, P20