Friday, February 22, 2008

Clever news management

David Cameron's speech and accompanying evidence of Brown's 'Government by Gimmick' could have been very damaging. Governments need to appear proactive and finding solutions to social problems, but due perhaps to the news cycle they are compelled to quickly grab the headlines prior to checking if they can deliver. the fact that delivery is often hard to ensure for any individual and the media quickly lose interest means the spotlight soon shifts and things fall off the agenda. To focus on the only controversial point, that trips to Auschwitz are a gimmick, is a clever move. While the evening news programmes carried the story, the focus was on the demands for Cameron to apologise and it was his reputation that was damaged. Not a wise move by him in wording the 'gimmick' in the way he did, but a good move by Labour's news management team in taking the heat out of the story.

No comments: