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The relationship between politicians and the press
In the seaside town of Brighton in southern England the ruling Labour Party's annual conference is getting underway. It's a time for both Mps and grassroots members to take stock of how the party is doing, to discuss policy and to hear, hopefully inspiring speeches. The party delegates will be hoping too for plenty of coverage from the media assembled there.
Newspapers in Britain have long had great influence over Governments, much to the resentment of the politicians. Almost seventy-five years ago, the then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin accused the two big press barons, Lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere, of running their papers as "engines of propaganda" for the "personal wishes and personal dislikes of two men". He famously accused them of seeking "power without responsibility-the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages." It's hard to imagine the current Prime Minister Tony Blair attacking the tabloid press so publicly.
The former editor of the Daily Mirror Piers Morgan claimed earlier this year that he met the Labour leader no fewer than fifty-eight times for lunches, dinners or interviews, a statistic which astonished many in Government and the media, who thought a party leader and Prime Minister should have had better ways to spend his time. But Tony Blair has good reason to court the press. In Britain, Labour, left-of-centre governments, have always had problems with national newspapers, most of whose owners traditionally supported the right-of-centre Conservative Party. This came to a head on Election Day in 1992 when Labour seemed set to win power for the first time in eighteen years.
In those days, Britain's biggest-selling daily paper, the sun, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, was no friend of Labour, indeed it had been Margaret Thatcher's biggest cheerleader. That morning, on its front page, it depicted the bald head of the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock as a light bulb. Alongside ran the headline: "If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?" Labour lost. By the next election, Tony Blair was the party's leader and determined to win over, or at least neutralize, The Sun and its owner. He succeeded, moving the Labor Party towards the center ground, and gaining The Sun's endorsement at the last three elections.
Once in Government, Labour played hardball with the media, relishing its power, and aware that if it did not take charge of the agenda, the media would. Its key figure was the former political editor of the Daily Mirror, Alasdair Campbell, who took charge not just of the Prime Minister's press office but all government press officers, trying to ensure the Government spoke with one voice. Journalists who reported favorably were given privileged access; those who didn't were frozen out.
Mr. Blair maintained his close links with R Murdoch and his newspapers; doing everything he could to maintain their support. Lance Price claims in his diaries that the Government assured the tycoon and his editors that it wouldn't change its policy on Europe without asking them.
参考译文
政客和媒体的关系
执政党工党的年度会议正在英国南部的海滨小镇布莱顿举行。这是下议院议员和基层成员对该党业绩做出判断、讨论政策以及充满希望地听取鼓舞人心演讲的时刻。该党代表也希望聚集在那里的媒体能够对他们进行大幅报道。
长期以来，英国的报刊对政府一直具有很大的影响。政客们对此非常不满。早在75年前，首相斯坦利·鲍德温就曾指控当时的两大新闻大亨--比弗布鲁克和罗瑟米尔勋爵将其报纸作为“宣传的引擎”来表达“两人的个人意愿和爱好”，称他们寻求“娼妓长期以来享有的特权--只管享受，不负责任”。这一论断非常有名。很难想象现任首相托尼·布莱尔会如此公开地攻击小报媒体。
《每日镜报》的前任编辑皮尔斯·摩根曾在今年早些时候称他与这位工党党魁在一起共进午餐、晚宴或进行访谈的次数不下于58次。这一数字震惊了政府和媒体界的众多要人，他们认为一位政党党魁兼任国家首相的人应该有更好的方式来利用他的时间。但是托尼·布莱尔讨好媒体是有很好理由的。在英国，中间偏左的工党政府人员总是与国家报纸媒体存在矛盾，因为后者的老板历来拥护中间偏右的保守党。这种倾向在1992年大选中发挥了决定性的作用，当时工党即将赢来其l8年来的首次竞选胜出。
在那个时期，英国最大的日报卖家是《太阳报》，它是鲁珀特·莫多克传媒帝国的一个组成部分。而这家与工党并不友好的报刊实际上是撒切尔夫人的最大支持者。那天早晨，其头版将当时秃头的工党党魁尼尔·基诺克描绘成电灯泡。旁边的大字标题写着：“如果基诺克今天获胜了，请最后一名离开英国的人将灯关上好吗?”工党最终输了大选。而到了下届大选时，托尼·布莱尔成了工党的党魁，他决心将《太阳报》及其老板都争取过来，或者至少使其保持中立。他成功做到了这一点，将工党推向了中间路线，并在最后三场选举中赢得了《太阳报》的认可。
一旦掌握了政权，工党就开始品尝起了权力的滋味，对媒体采取了强硬的态度。同时工党也意识到如果它没有将日程接管过来的话，它就会被媒体控制。其主要人物就是《每日镜报》的前任政治编辑阿拉斯泰尔·坎贝尔，为了试图确保政府能对外保持一致，此人不仅掌控首相新闻办公室，而且也掌管着政府所有的新闻官员。进行有利报道的记者会被给与访问特权。反之，则会被逐走。
布莱尔先生与鲁珀特·默多克及其报刊保持着亲密的私人关系，并尽其权力保住他们的支持。兰斯·普里斯在其日记中说道，政府向这位报业大亨和他的编辑们保证，政府不会在没有询问他们的情况下而改变其欧洲政策。