Power Without Responsibility (JN 500) Scandal and the Decline of Deference Case Study: Profumo...

Power Without Responsibility (JN 500)

Scandal and the Decline of DeferenceCase Study: Profumo Affair

Lecture Outline

1. Scandal, Sleaze and the News

2. The Decline of Deference

3. Case Study: Profumo Affair


Scandals are newsworthy because:They have the human interest value of high-profile

individuals;They are unusual events that rupture regular

political process;They have a high degree of clarity and are

unambiguous; andThey are negative events that foster conflict and

drama (Craig 2004, p. 19).


News media scrutiny of scandals ensures a high degree of accountability.

Alternatively, the random nature of scandals, their unpredictable and often quickly forgotten narratives, and focus on individuals rather than process and political structures can detract from quality journalism and public understanding.


“The increasing political role of scandals is consonant with a political system where disclosure rather than argument and analysis is the main activity. The news media are relatively weak and erratic conveyors of policy debates and performance, but are powerful narrators of concrete events and effective portrayers of the drama of conflict” (Tiffen 1999, p. 252).


News offers definitions and management of social deviance: “The defining characteristic of journalism is that it visualizes deviance and control as these relate to visions of social order and change” (Erikson, Baranek and Chan 1987, p. 8).


Dismiss stories of scandal and sleaze as peripheral to the real business of reporting politics?

Or do such stories have political legitimacy because they focus on the character of individual political

leaders, raising issues of trust?


Franklin is critical of sleaze and scandal reportage at expense of parliamentary reportage.

Descent into tabloidisation

Distorted news values deprive public of what they really need to know

Anti-democratic preferring of trivia over serious policy matters


Scandals as kind of tokenism and fundamental form of diversion:

“… there is a sense in which contemporary ‘sleaze’ journalism can be viewed as a safety-valve for advanced capitalist societies which, though uniquely affluent and consumption-oriented, continue to be characterised by injustice and inequality; a public demonstration and ritual denunciation of elite deviance which mocks and subverts the ‘ruling classes’ without actually threatening the structural core of the system” (McNair 200, p. 58).


McNair alternatively says “sleaze journalism can, and with normative democratic principles in mind, should be viewed as the welcome by-product of an era when journalistic deference toward political elites has been eroded, and the normative watchdog function of the Fourth Estate is increasingly applied…” (2000, p. 54)

Scandals and sleaze particularly relevant when at odds with public pronouncements.


Scandals have had real political effects on UK governments. The Major government, for example, was undermined by cash-for-questions scandal and adulterous affair involving Piers Merchant MP.


Scandal and sleaze continue to be a significant part of the political news landscape.

Expenses scandal (2009) broke by Daily Telegraph journalists after leaks and FOI requests. Resulted in resignation of Speaker Michael Martin, and resignations of Ministers and MPs.


The decline of deference refers to the challenge to, and breakdown of, political and social hierarchies from the 1950s and 1960s.

Robin Day’s political interviews from the mid-1950s challenged political elites in new and powerful way. In 1958 the interview of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan described as “the most vigorous cross-examination a prime minister has been subjected to in public.”


As we have previously noted, the 1960s saw rise of current affairs programming and political news satire programmes, such as That Was The Week That Was.


The decline of deference has helped with the rise of a more independent journalism that is critical of all sections of society and investigates without fear or favour. Question of whether it has also contributed to diminishing regard for politicians and other public figures?


1963 political scandal involving John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, who had an affair with Christine Keeler, who was alleged to have also been the mistress of a Soviet spy.


Profumo later admitted he lied to the House of Commons about the relationship and he resigned. The affair seriously damaged the government of Harold Macmillan.


The decline of deference captured most eloquently in Mandy Rice-Davies’ famous quotation about Lord Astor’s denial of an affair with her, or even knowledge of her, at the trial of Stephen Ward: “He would, wouldn’t he?”

References

Craig, G. (2004) The Media, Politics and Public Life. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Ericson, R.V, P. Baranek & J.B.L. Chan (1987) Visualizing Deviance: A study of news organization. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Franklin B. (1997) “From the gallery to the gutter: Changing newspaper reporting of parliament.” Newszak & News Media. London: Arnold.

McNair, B. (2000) Journalism and Democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. London: Routledge.

Tiffen, R. (1999) Scandals: Media, politics and corruption in contemporary Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press.

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