The Media: A Guide for Planners

8/7/2019 The Media: A Guide for Planners

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Candidate Number: STWD7

BENVGPLB Urban Politics Essay

The Media: A Guide for

Planners

An inquest of media relations at The

Millenium Dome.


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between three government departments, various quangos, and corporate sponsors (McGuigan

2003). This would fit the pluralist model described by Judge (1995: pg14) as fragmented

and decentralized power extending beyond formal institutional structures.

In terms of media coverage, it is interesting to look at the mobilization of bias (Bachrach

1962: pg952). Decision-making at a newspaper is shaped by a small number of people who

set the tone from which all journalists take their lead. Unlike other newspapers such as The

Sun where Rupert Murdoch calls his editor on an almost daily basis, the Daily Mail owner

chooses not to meddle in editorial decisions (Independent 2004). Of course, that doesnt

mean it could never happen, but for the past 20 years it has been editor Paul Dacre who sets

the tone.


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Figure 1: Decision making at the Daily Mail for a political story

Controlling shareholder:

Viscount Rothermere

Publisher:

Associated News a ers

Editor in chief (the boss):

Paul Dacre

Production side: Night editor and

the backbench of sub editors

Deputy Editor

Daily Management of the paper:

Deputy Editor and assistant editors

who liaise with section editors

Political EditorNews Editor

Journalist

Journalists at competingpublications the pack

Local

newspapers

The

reader


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To be effective, an organisation seeking to influence the media will act at all levels (Figure

3). Daily decisions will be made by the deputy editor in consultation with a range of assistant

and section editors, with input from the production staff as the stories are laid out on the

page. Below cabinet minister and CEO level, senior officials could try to make connections at

this level. Press officers and low-ranking officials should seek out journalists, who have thepower to suggest stories and frame the reference. For a non-exclusive story,pack rules may

apply, determined as a group by journalists from competing publications used to covering

stories together.

The media, whose influence will depend on its politics and circulation, has direct access to

important decision-makers and that relationship means that journalists could be regarded as

part of the regime which Stoker describes as the fluid cooperation and coordination

between government and non-governmental actors (1995: pg54). The relationship between

senior politicians and the editor of the paper is important, reflected in the Labour-supporting

Mirrors much more positive coverage of the Dome. The right-wing Daily Mail was one of itsfiercest critics.

The woman in charge of the daily running of the Dome, Jennie Page, had as a career civil

servant few of the wider regime networks that would have helped her deal with the media.

She was replaced by an unemployed 34-year old former vice president of Disneyland Paris,

P.-Y. Gerbeau (McGuigan 2003: pg676) who as a Frenchman also lacked connections at the

outset. However he understood the importance of forging those relations and was given an

easier ride because of it.

Castells notes that power relies on the control of communication (2009: pg10) and that

mass communication is shaped and managed by power relationships (2009: pg3). Figure 2

shows how the different agencies involved in the Dome interact with the Daily Mail. The

government (in blue) controls the public agencies in red, but not the opposition or rival power

bases in green or the corporate world in purple, who wield influence in other areas of the

paper, such as the business section. Individual journalists are influenced by all of the above,

but also by their own newspaper and competing journalists. They are under daily pressure to

come up with stories, and if not fed positive ones they may be nourished by detractors. This

crucially is something Page failed to understand.


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Figure 2: Millenium Dome actors and

Their influence on The Daily Mail

New Millenium Exeperience

Company (NMEC)

Minister for Culture

Media and Sport (Chris

Smith)

Opposition

Special Minister for the

Millenium (Mandelson/ Lord

Falconer

Daily Mail

Corporate Sponsors: LOreal,

Manpower, BT, Ford, Boots,

McDonalds BAE etc

Developers

Millenium

Commission

Local paper

Greenwich

Time

Millenium Access Infrastructure Group set up

by DETR to integrate major transport

infrastructure projects (later absorbed into

Millenium Access Steerin Grou

Millenium Access Steering group chaired by

Glenda Jackson, Minister for London Transport.

Also includes London Transport Ltd, NMEC,

London Transport buses, Association of London

Governments

Local

people

Department of the

Environment, Transport

and the Regions (Prescott)

Prime

Minister

Tony Blair

Greenwich

Council

English

Partnerships

Camelot

Group

Other

competing

media

Evening

Standard

House of

Commons

Culture Media

and Sports

Committee

National Audit

Office

The

reader


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Figure 3:

Most common direct access to Daily Mail

(from Daily Mail viewpoint)

Opposition

John

Prescott

House of

Commons

Culture Media

and Sports

Daily Mail

Business

Editor

Chris

Smith

Gordon

Brown

Local

newspapers

Competing

journalistsDaily Mail

journalist

Dail Mail

News Editor

Daily Mail

Political

Editor

NMEC Chairman

Bob Ayling,

CEO British

Airwa s

NMEC CEO Jennie

Page (later PY

Gerbeau)

Dail Mail

Deputy

Editor

Prime

Minister

Ton Blair

Daily Mail Editor

Paul Dacre

Camelot

Group

Opposit

ion PR

NMECHead of PR

Corporate Sponsors:

LOreal, Manpower, BT,Ford Boots McDonalds

Smith

PR

Peter

Mandelson

NMEC

press

officer

Prescott

PR

Mandelson

PR

Blair PR:

Alastair

Campbell

Brown

PR

Corporate

PR


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Planners in all of this

It should be noted that planners do not figure directly in any of these diagrams, and this is

problem in terms of influence. However, planners operate within the wider environment and

should understand how the media can impact planning decisions.

Planners do exist under the banner of Greenwich Council in Figure 2, which approved

planning permission for The Dome and thus has relations with regeneration agency English

Partnerships, who owned the land, the developers, the government department responsible for

transport and local government (DETR), the New Millenium Experience Company (in charge

of running the Dome), the Millenium Commission (which financed the bulk of the project),

and local people. In terms of direct contact with the media, the council (but probably not their

planners) will have relations with the local newspaper (which will be read at The Daily Mail)

and The Evening Standard. Planners at the DETR and the Millenium Access Infrastructure

Group and the Millenium Access Steering Group would also have had indirect access to themedia via the power brokers in these groups. None of these relationships are important

enough to feature in Figure 3, which shows the actors The Daily Mail thinks are important.

Newspaper coverage

This essays analysis of newspaper coverage begins after the opening night fiasco when

VIPS were kept waiting for hours on a tube platform for security checks (The Independent

2000). Leaving star journalists on a freezing cold platform on Millenium New Years eve

infused a sour note into coverage of the Dome, and symbolized for many its shoddy

organisation. But not all the stories from that day are negative. The Mirrors assertion that a

coded threat to blow up the Dome explained the disorderly queues was generous to say the

least. The Observer and The Daily Mail report favourable opinions by the paying public.

A few months later, when Page was fired, coverage is more critical. The Sunday Mirror is

calling the Dome a disaster and The Independent has let opposition MPs influence its lead

which accuses Dome Chiefs of fiddling visitor figures. The Mail of Sunday has given voice

to Dome critic Stephen Bayley, letting him write his version of events. Only left-leaning The

Observer gives the event a positive spin by focussing on the new whizz-kid in charge.

In 2001, once the terms of the deal to lease the Dome are known, coverage is even more

negative. In is interesting to compare December 18 when the terms were not known and

19. The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Guardian run fairly neutral stories on the 18th

relating how the deal might help the Dome bounce back. Murdoch newspapers (The Sun and

The Times) are more critical. But when it is revealed that the new owners werent going to

pay anything for the Dome, the move is universally condemned for what many see as a waste

of 800 million of public money.

In many ways, newspapers were only reporting the sorry facts. Although the Dome was the

largest development project in Europe, Thornley (2000: pg689) claims it was divorcedfrom the strategic planning context which led to difficulties and lost opportunities. He says


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the short timeframe led to a focus on the Millenium event and not the legacy, which

Mandelson admitted to a House of Commons committee he had not planned for (2000:

pg696). In addition, the different transport agencies involved were fragmented and found it

difficult to agree.

Such confusion would now be avoided with the fusion of transport agencies into Transport

for London and the creation of the Greater London Authority in 2000. With a single

administrative body responsible for Greater London, and a charismatic figure with national

appeal in the Mayor of London, there is a clearer structure for decision-making and

responsibility.

McGuigan (2003: pg670) says newspaper criticism was remarkably superficial given the

extent of the Domes problems. He says the Hinduja scandal which led to the Mandelsons

resignation over allegations he offered passports in exchange for sponsorship of the Dome,

was only the tip of an iceberg (2003: pg679), He claims that although corporatesponsorship at 150 million was less than one fifth the amount of public money, the sponsors

were given almost carte blanche in the way they set up the exhibitions making their role

more important ideologically than financially (2003: pg686).

.


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Conclusion

It could be argued that media coverage of the Dome was shaped by the national mood

which Saltzein (2008: pg158) argues has important impacts on public agendas and policy

outcomes. According to The Times in 1998 "attacking the Dome is Britain's favourite sport"

(Carling 1998: pg7). To what extent that mood was shaped by the media depends on whether

you believe people are capable of making up their own mind when they read about the

appalling management of the Dome, or whether media exaggerations warped their

perspective. The truth is probably somewhere in-between.

Certainly poor decisions were made from the outset. Gray (2003: pg450) says the choice of

Greenwich as the site for the Dome was politically motivated as Birmingham had a better

plan, sponsorship deals in place and a plan for the site after the exhibition was finished. When

problems did occur, the government either sought to evade the issues or pass responsibility to

the NMEC which did little to still the baying press-pack" (pg452). And a failure to think

about a long-term strategy meant the government was reacting to short term problems and

immediate emergencies rather than resolving the core issues involved (pg452).

Planners have traditionally veered away from the media, and many, particularly those in

public service, prefer to remain under the radar. Journalists too show little interest in

planners, filing planning under the dull but worthy category that sadly too often getsoverlooked. While many planners wouldnt want to get involved with the dirty business of

trying to influence the media, they should understand the influence of the media on decision-

makers. Planners can then think about their relations with those decision makers,

remembering that it is not only journalists who have influence.

In the end, the best way to ensure positive media coverage is to give journalists something

positive to write about. Those who fear the Olympic Village runs the risk of becoming the

new Millenium Dome should remember that it didnt need to turn out that way. A lack of

clear vision about what should be done with the Olympic site after the games risks leaving

behind a high profile masterplanned Olympic Village running up huge dents and maintenance

costs (Milles 2005: pg23). That would be a terrible pity, and not just in terms of media

coverage.

Word count: 2086


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References consulted:

1. BBC (2007) Blair: In his own wordshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3750847.stm [Accessed Jan 5 2011]

2. Bachrach, Peter & Morton Baratz. 1962. Two Faces of Power, American PoliticalScience Review. Vol.56: 947BBC

3. Carling O & Seely A (1998) House of Commons RESEARCH PAPER 98/32 12MARCH 1998

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp98/rp98-032.pdf

[Accessed Jan 5 2011]

4. Castells M (2009) Communication Power, Oxford : Oxford University Press5. Castells M (2000) The Rise of the Network Society, Oxford, UK: Blackwell

Publishers Ltd.

6. CLG, Department for Communities and Local Government (2007), Making assetswork: The Quirk Review,,

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/makingassetswork


7. Davies, Jonathan S. and David L. Imbroscio (eds.) 2009. Theories of Urban Politics.London: Sage. (2nd edition)

8. DiGaetano, A. and E. Strom. 2003. Comparative Urban Governance: An IntegratedApproach. Urban Affairs Review. 38(3):

9. Edwards, B., Goodwin, M., Pemberton, S. & Woods, M. (2001) Partnerships, power,and scale in rural governance, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,

19, pp. 289310.

10.Edwards B et al. (2001), Partnerships, power, and scale in rural governance,Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 19, no. 2 : 289 310.

11.Forester J, (2006) Making Participation Work When Interests Conflict: Moving fromFacilitating Dialogue and Moderating Debate to Mediating Negotiations, Journal of

the American Planning Association 72, no. 4: 447


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12.Fyfe, Nicholas. 2005. Making Space for "Neo communitarianism"? The Third Sector,State and Civil Society in the UK, Antipode, Vol. 37(3): 536 - 557

13.GMT2000 (1996) Millennium Exhibition planning application submitted toGreenwich Council or http://www.gmt2000.co.uk/meridian/news/nwsnl1.htm

[Accessed Jan 5 2011

14.Gray C (2003) The Millennium Dome: Falling From GraceParliamentary Affairs 56: 441-455.

15.Greasley S. and Stoker G (2009) Urban Political Leadership in Davies, J. andImbroscio, D. (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics: Second Edition, London: Sage, pp.

125-137

16.Harding, A. (2009) The History of Community Power, in Davies, J. and Imbroscio,D. (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics: Second Edition, London: Sage, pp. 27-39.11

17.Harding, A. (1995), Elite Theory and Growth Machines, in Judge, D., Stoker, G. andWolman, H. (eds.), Theories of Urban Politics, London: Sage, pp. 35-53.

18.John, P. (2009) Why study Urban Politics?, in Davies, J. and Imbroscio, D. (eds.)Theories of Urban Politics: Second Edition, London: Sage, pp. 17- 23

19.Judd, Dennis, & Parkinson, M., 1991, Leadership and Urban Regeneration in Cities inNorthern Europe, Sage, London.

20.Judge, David, Gerry Stoker & Harold Wolman (eds.) 1995. Theories of UrbanPolitics. London: Sage.

21.Judge, D. (1995), Pluralism, in Judge, D., Stoker, G. and Wolman, H. (eds.),Theories of Urban Politics, London: Sage, pp. 13-34

22.Judge, D., Stoker, G. and Wolman, H. (1995), Urban Politics and Theory: AnIntroduction, in Judge, D., Stoker, G. and Wolman, H. (eds.), Theories of Urban

Politics, London: Sage, pp. 35-53.

23.Keating, Michael. 1991. Comparative Urban Politics: Power and the City in theUnited States, Canada, Britain and France. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.

24.Lowndes V (2009) New Institutionalism and Urban Politics in Davies, J. andImbroscio, D. (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics: Second Edition, London: Sage, pp.

91- 106

25.McGuigan J (2003), The social construction of a cultural disaster: New Laboursmillennium experience, Cultural Studies 17, no. 5 (2003): 669.

26.Millenium-Dome.com http://wwp.millennium-dome.com/ [Accessed Jan 5 2011]published by Greenwich 2000 Limited

27.Millenium-Dome.com (1996) DOME PLANS SUBMITTED TO COUNCILhttp://wwp.millennium-dome.com/news/news14.htm [Accessed Jan 5 2011]

28.Miles M and Hall T (2005), Interventions: Advances in Art and Urban FuturesVolume 4 (Intellect Ltd).


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29.Molotch, Harvey. 1976. The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economyof Place, The American Journal of Sociology, 82(2), pp. 309-330

30.Mossberger K (2009) Urban Regime Analysis in Davies, J. and Imbroscio, D. (eds.)Theories of Urban Politics: Second Edition, London: Sage, pp. 40- 55

31.Pratchett, L. 2004. 'Local Autonomy, Local Democracy and the New Localism'Political Studies. Vol.52(2): 358-75

32.Press Gazette (2010) Quality newspapers hit by double digit ABC declines Dec 10http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=46425&c=1


33.RTPI Negotiation skills seminar outline.http://www.rtpiconferences.co.uk/rtpi/event.php?event=27576 [Accessed Jan 5 2011]

34.Sellers J (2005), Re-Placing the Nation, Urban Affairs Review 40, no. 4: 419 -445.35.Saltzstein A et al. (2008), Visions of Urban Reform: Comparing English and U.S.

Strategies for Improving City Government, Urban Affairs Review July,

http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2008/07/03/1078087408320650.abstract

36.Stoker G Regime Theory and Urban Politics in in Judge, D., Stoker, G. andWolman, H. (eds.), Theories of Urban Politics, London: Sage, pp.54-71

37.Tomaney, J. 2001. The New Governance of London: a case of post-democracy?City 5(2): 225-248

38.The Evening Standard (2006) Council official is sent to work with Dome casino firm.Aug 26

39.The Guardian (2000.) Paul Kelso on Greenwich waits for the good times: What localssay: As businesses complain, dome backers promise long-term growth. Sept 7.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/sep/07/dome.paulkelso [Accessed Jan 5 2011]

40.Thornley A (2000), Dome Alone: London's Millennium Project and the StrategicPlanning Deficit, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24, no. 3: pg

689-699

41.Vandore E (2007) Record-Breaking TGV May Bring New Business to EasternFrance, Bloomberg March 3.

In addition the following newspaper articles were consulted via NexisUK on Jan 4 2011.

Jan 2 2000

The Independent (Cole Moreton) The Big Day 2000: In the Dome Queues and Crush Left

Champagne Flat


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The Observer (Robery McCrum) Magic and misery in crush of the century: Was it worth

waiting for?

The Observer (Vanessa Thorpe) Aint nothing like a Dome, enthuse the paying public

Sunday Mail (no byline) Dome Good Value

Sunday Mirror (no byline) Dome Chief get Pounds 292,000

Sunday Mirror (Mark Nicol) Millenium 2000: Brave Mark makes his dream trip to the Dome;

courage of teenager who amazed his doctors: we give boy who beat a tumour the night of his

life

Sunday Mirror (no byline) Millenium 2000: Pounds 600M Hangover; the partys over and the

great clear-up begins: thousands held up by security checks after coded bomb warning at

Dome

Sunday Mirror (Colin Wills At The Dome) Millenium 2000: Love, love, love went the words

of Lennon and McCartney. And everywhere around me people started to cry; The Dome

finally bursts into life with a simple message of humanity

Mail on Sunday (Fiona Barton) On the stroke of twelve, the Queen and Philip embraced like

every other couple this was their fiorst public kiss in 50 years of marriage

Mail on Sunday (Christopher Leake, Fiona Barton, Dan Bridgett) The queues that barely

moved

Feb 5 2000

Daily Mail (Matthew Hickley) We cant keep bailing you out, Dome told

The Independent (Severin Carrell) Dome chiefs accused of fiddling visitor figures

The Independent (Severin Carrell) Dome told to cut costs or lose pounds 30M in grants

The Mirror (David Pilditch) Dome is at half capacity

The Times (Dominic Kennedy) Tough love as Dome rescue cash is halved

Fab 6 2000

The Independent (Comment) Now its Le Dome

The Independent (Jonathon Carr-Brown Political Editor) The curse that stalks Labour

ambition

The Independent (Simon Calder) Race against time for Monsieur Gerbeau


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The Independent (Catherine Pepinster) Welcome to the exit zone: bad publicity, low

attendances, and a financial crisis have finally proved too much for Jennie Page

The Independent (Jason Nisse Business Editor) Dome Chief is ousted for Disney Whiz-Kid

(sic)

Mail on Sunday (Christopher Leake) Dome Chief Fired

Mail on Sunday (Stephen Nayley) A noisy mouse who presided over a disgrace

The Observer (John Arlidge and Patrick Wintour) Dome boss quits as Disney moves in:

French whizz-kid drafted in to rescue beleaguered Labour showpiece

The Observer (Anthony Brown) How the dome dream collapsed: Gambling on a little Gallic

flair The salvation

The Sunday Times (Rupert Steiner and Richard Brooks) Disney takes over as dome boss

sacked

Sunday Mirror (Leader) Dome is now a real Mickey Mouse outfit

December 18 2001

The Daily Telegraph (David Millward) US oil magnate to turn Dome into sports arena

Daily Mail (Tania Shakinovsky) Basketball boss to help Dome bounce back

The Guardian (Jill Treanor and Kevin Maguire) Dome compromise could bring costly saga to

close

The Sun Dome for Rent

The Times (Tom Baldwin Deputy Political Editor) Lease deal decides Domes future

Deecember 19 2001

The Daily Telegraph *David Millward) Taxpayers must wait years for Dome profit

Daily Mail (Matthew Hickley) Dome giveaway

Daily Mail (Edward Keathcoat Amory) Labour should end this sorry episode

The Guardian (Jill Treanor and Kevin Maguire) New talks put dome deal on hold


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The Independent (Marie Woolf Chief Political Correspondent) One Amazing deal: After 628

million pounds of lottery money, the Dome is handed over to developers, for nothing

The Independent (Cahal Milmo and Andrew Gumbel) Millenium Dome: Billionaire with a

poast as patron saint of lost cases; at last the future looks bright, after 150 approaches, 22

serious attempts and two preferred bidder debacles

The Mirror (Bob Roberts) Pleasure Dome: stars line up as firm unveils 500 million pounds

music venue scheme

The Mirror (Paul Routledge) Routledge on the shambles which stained our millennium

In addition, the following references were used specially for the following diagrams:

Figure 1:

1 Associated Newspapers website : http://www.associatednewspapers.com/. ConsultedJan 6 2010

2 Interview with Viscount Rothermere in The Indepedent September 2004http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/viscount-rothermere-the-lord-of-middle-

england-547800.html Consulted Jan 6 2010

3 It was also based on my knowledge of how media organisations work from twelveyears experience as a journalist (including three years as chief French political

correspondent for Bloomberg and three years as head of the economic service for The

Associated Press in Paris). The diagrams were also checked with a top executive at The

Daily Mail, who asked not to be cited in this article.

Figure 2 and 3:

The sources above.

4 http://wwp.millennium-dome.com/dome/whos-who.htm. Consulted Jan 9 20105 Thornley A (2000), Dome Alone: London's Millennium Project and the Strategic

Planning Deficit,International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24, no. 3: pg

689-699

6 Gray C (2003) The Millennium Dome: Falling From GraceParliamentary Affairs 56: 441-455.

7 McGuigan J (2003), The social construction of a cultural disaster: New Laboursmillennium experience, Cultural Studies 17, no. 5 pg: 669

Documents

The Media: A Guide for Planners