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In the early months of 1947, as it sought to save power during an acute fuel crisis, Clement Attlee's Labour government suspended the publication of all British periodicals for a period of two weeks. This would have been a bold step for any government, let alone one which had as uncomfortable a relationship with the press as Attlee's did, and, at the time, the press was not slow to suggest that the suspension was motivated as much by political factors as it was by a desire to conserve fuel. This article examines the implementation and nature of the suspension, exploring the tensions it generated and asking whether the government's actions can be described—as they were by some contemporary observers—as a deliberate act of suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The career in India of the Fleet Street journalist F.W. Wilson as editor of The Pioneer (1928–29) is a fascinating episode in the endgame of empire. Catapulted into the editorship of this reactionary colonial newspaper by a British management anxious to rescue its waning fortunes, Wilson sought to widen its appeal beyond a colonial British readership by embracing an anti-government, campaigning agenda which would enlist Indian middle-class audiences. This paper assesses the evidence for Wilson's radicalisation of The Pioneer's editorial stance in the context of India's freedom struggle, and the extent to which new editorial methods and approaches were introduced. It explores Wilson's contacts with leading Indian politicians, his efforts to ‘Indianise’ the content of the paper, the success of this editorial strategy in attracting advertising and key episodes which brought about The Pioneer's outright conflict with the government of India and his removal as editor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 2009 MPs' expenses scandal was one of the most significant political stories of modern times. It raised questions, not just about the ethics and behaviour of MPs but also about the relationship between politicians at Westminster and the political correspondents who follow them on a daily basis, known as ‘the lobby’. For the significance of this scandal, in media terms, was that the story was not broken by members of the lobby but came from outside the traditional Westminster news gathering process. This paper examines why this was the case and it compares the lobby today with that which was described and analysed by Jeremy Tunstall and Colin Seymour-Ure in their respective studies more than 40 years ago. The article concludes that the lobby missed the story partly because of the nature of the lobby itself and partly as a result of a number of specific changes which have taken place in the media and the political systems over the past 40 years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The British Labour Party became increasingly aware after the First World War that it was potentially a government in waiting. In opposition the party was generally supportive of Irish nationalism. It supported Home Rule and was adamantly opposed to the partition of Ireland contained in the 1920 Government of Ireland Bill. Despite the fact that the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 was inconsistent with Labour Party Irish policy, cementing as it did the partition of Ireland as well as hardly being an exercise in 'self-determination', both Labour MPs in the debate on the Treaty as well as the Labour press supported the Treaty as it offered a way out of the Irish imbroglio and a return to rational class-based politics. The overriding concern of, in particular, the parliamentary leadership of the Labour Party by now was to prove to the British electorate that it could be as protective of British state interests as its rivals. The article argues that this pragmatic about-turn was adopted as many members of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in particular were acutely aware that the party needed to be seen as patriotic, moderate, and responsible if it was to stand any chance of being elected to power. The article traces this reversal in policy by reference to contemporary parliamentary debates as well as through the columns of the contemporary Labour press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of newspapers in nineteenth-century British politics has long been recognized by historians. Lord Palmerston understood keenly the power of the press and cultivated good relations with a number of papers. This article will elucidate more thoroughly than heretofore his early forays into the world of press intrigue. Palmerston did not, however, earn the regard of The Times, at least not until much later in his career. The Times, edited by Thomas Barnes from 1817 until his death in 1841, was the most powerful newspaper of the era. This article will examine the origins of its long-running feud with Palmerston, demonstrating the personal and political differences at the heart of its inception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Edwardian years saw a range of dominion and colonial issues brought to the forefront of public attention by the British press, with the doyens of Fleet Street taking an active part in shaping the popular debate. This paper analyses the agency of the press in the imperial dramas involving the Indian empire, focusing upon leading aspects of the Viceroyalty of Lord Curzon. It provides, for the first time, an in-depth study of the national press coverage and its role in the controversy surrounding the downfall and resignation of Curzon in 1905, thereby shedding new light on media perceptions within the metropolis, and detailing the engagement of officials in press manipulation and propaganda. It is contended that it was the domestic context, and the consequences of attacking Curzon in public at Home, along with his failure to mount a successful defence, that were instrumental, though often overlooked, factors in determining his fate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the way in which the Holocaust was linked to the process of the birth of Israel between 1947 and 1948 in the mainstream British, Swedish and Finnish press. By utilising a framework of comparative cultural history, this essay seeks to understand why different countries responded to the suffering of the Jews during the Second World War in such diverse ways. This essay also seeks to question the popular belief that the two events were intimately linked, and that the link was recognised in a straightforward manner. Hence, the study argues that although the press coverage sometimes managed to establish the connection between the two events, more typically the news was domesticated. In other words, the news had a transcendental and meta-historical character, working as an extension to each country's own self-understanding of Jews, Zionism and the Holocaust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issue between British national newspapers and Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in Great Britain. It examines the press/politics relationship since 1997 and shows how eight national dailies presented New Labour in government and the Torries in opposition, in and between general elections. It also addresses several questions in which answers explain the inconsistencies and contradictions that characterize the performance of certain newspapers throughout the period and their alignment at election time. The author then presented his conclusion that neither the mail, nor the more or less half-hearted pro-Blairs papers, nor the telegraphs which alone constituted the "Tory press" in 2001, had an intimation about what happen to Tony Blair in only few years' time.

The article reports the crisis faced by the British tabloid press in its relationship with politicians and the public for prejudiced and inaccurate reporting. The article states that the speculations about the private lives of prominent figures and aggressive long-lens photography by the British press made the conditions critical. Several details including the introduction of a series of bills in the Parliament seeking protection against the press and the institution of a Committee headed by David Calcutt by the Conservative government in Great Britain to inquire into privacy matters are discussed.

This piece investigates the role of news media and journalists in setting political agendas. It presents evidence to challenge the agenda-setting paradigm most often adopted in such research. Instead it argues for greater employment of methods and perspectives more usually employed in media sociology. It then presents findings from research on Members of Parliament (MPs) in Britain. The findings, based mostly on semistructured interviews with 40 MPs, offer some interesting perspectives on the relationship between political journalism and the political process at Westminster. The overall conclusion is that intense media attention on issues can shift political agendas and policy development, but not according to the simple stimulus-response model of agenda-setting commonly employed. More often, news content and journalists play a significant role in setting agendas because politicians use them, in a variety of ways, to promote or negotiate agendas and policy options among themselves. In other words, journalism and journalists have a significant social and cultural role in helping MPs, consciously or unconsciously, to reach agreed agendas and positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the current state of press partisanship in the UK. Utilizing content analysis data from the 2005 General Election campaign, recent hypotheses about press dealignment are tested with quantitative methods. Partisan tendencies in reporting are measured in terms of coverage bias, statement bias, and agenda bias. As the governing party, Labour benefits from coverage bias in all papers, while the Liberal Democrats remain marginalized. It can be shown that increasingly ambiguous endorsements in broadsheet and tabloid press alike translate into a general absence of open support for political parties. At best, endorsed parties receive neutral treatment, with their opponents being harshly criticized. Partisan tendencies do, however, manifest themselves in other patterns of campaign coverage. Even weakly partisan papers engage in strategic behaviour, most notably by reinforcing the issue agendas of endorsed parties. With both the Independent and the Guardian lending strategic support to the Liberal Democrats, and the Murdoch press being largely non‐committal, the analysis hints at an erosion of support for New Labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the reactions of the British press about the Purges initiated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938. Responses of 'Manchester Guardian,' the 'New Statesman' and 'The Times' to the Purges; Interpretation of European developments; Conception of foreign policy; Evolution of editorial attitudes; Evolution of communism and role of terror in 20th-century police regime.