Tracking The Authorised Version? Comparing UK Media Representations and Political News Management During the 1984-5 Coal Dispute

Myers, Frances (2023). Tracking The Authorised Version? Comparing UK Media Representations and Political News Management During the 1984-5 Coal Dispute. In: Political Studies Association 2023, 3-5 Apr 2023, Liverpool.

Abstract

One major contestation in discussions on the development from news mediation to mediatization is an insufficient empirical historiography of its development, particularly in light of claims for its value in understanding political and social change and the processes of change as managed by governments.

This study seeks to add to evidence on concept development by considering a single transformation from mediation towards mediatization as an example of its phased development at the juncture of press and politics in the UK. Using concept history as a tool for understanding its development towards present conceptualisations, it uses print media representations of union activity and union leadership during the early weeks of the coal dispute of 1984-5 as a case study of political change agency. The paper will therefore examine how the ‘Authorised Version’ (Harris et al, 1988) of news stories were promulgated as the Conservative government sought to change public attitudes towards industrial relations and unionisation through media outlets and careful presentation of what became dominant media narratives. Using three themes derived from the then secret 1977 Stepping Stones strategy; socialism as shame, the right sort of industrial relations, and isolation and discreditation, the paper samples 963 articles from The Times, The Mirror and The Guardian to discuss how media outlets were used as a vehicle for purposeful political communication.

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