The pack mentality of the media is a wonderfully powerful thing. To be observed and appreciated at a respectful distance – a bit like a killer whale. This was witnessed by us all who sat enthralled watching Sky News through Wednesday afternoon as the cringe-inducing horror of what became known as ‘bigotgate’ unfolded. Once a story of this kind begins it is really difficult – perhaps impossible – to control. In an earlier post I talked about the necessity for a ‘speed kills’ attitude to communications which will ensure that day-to-day management of the news can be achieved. With bigotgate we saw the perfect illustration of how a story can sometimes be too big, the pack mentality from the media too ferocious and the momentum of the media narrative too strong to ever hope to control it.
The three leaders
If you follow any story for a short time it is easy to recognise the narrative where ongoing events fit like signposts on a long desert highway. The unfortunate incident with the Prime Minister and Mrs Duffy, the Rochdale pensioner, fitted into the media assertion that Gordon Brown isn’t very personable or open to engaging with the public. The ongoing narrative for Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister, and arguably beyond, was that everything he did was spin obsessed. At the last election the media assumption for Michael Howard and the Conservative Party was an obsession with immigration. How ironic that now is.
For businesses, watching the intensity of the media’s reporting of every mistake or gaffe from politicians is a fantastic way of understanding why the media is a living, breathing, ever changing beast. Moving the media’s narrative is immensely difficult but if you understand where you fit into this narrative then your tactical communication will be far more effective.
The other great example of the media narrative in this election has been the reporting of the TV debates. Clearly these unprecedented events were going to be the focus of immense speculation and garner acres of news print and hours of analysis on TV and radio. What was also certain was how the media were willing there to be a winner from the first debate which would then determine the course of the reporting of the next few weeks of campaigning. In the past week we have also seen a hint of the media’s willingness to build someone up to knock them down again. While Nick Clegg is widely seen to have won the first debate he certainly didn’t trounce Mr Brown and Cameron in the way suggested since. Subsequently the way the media turned against Nick Clegg was revealing in its fickleness. In the same way, media commentators are broadly in agreement that David Cameron performed the best of the three leaders in the final debate, however Gordon Brown didn’t fail as spectacularly as you would think by reading today’s newspapers.
David Cameron now has what is called in American politics ‘the big mo’ – momentum going into the last week of campaigning. The media pack is currently hunting on his behalf, or at least is targeting his opponents with a renewed spring in their step. Journalists are some of the most risk adverse people you will ever meet. Fundamentally they want to be reporting the same story as everyone else or their editor wonders why they are paying them. The debates became the pathway guiding all other stories in this election as well as the journalists comfort blanket. The politicians knew this was going to happen and tried to control it by deploying their best press officers in the now infamous ‘spin room’ at the debates. However, with a story this big, once the pack mentality takes hold all you can do is watch and hope you survive the ensuing tsunami.
With less than a week to go the chances of another incident as momentous as ‘bigotgate’ to shake the narrative is unlikely but not impossible. This isn’t to suggest that the election result is in any way certain. If the media pack becomes hungry once more anyone is vulnerable.
