Dispatches - Ch4 last night
Discussion
Did anyone else see this? It was about Labour tactics running up to the election and how they manipulated the media - basically, wherever there was a Labour unveiling of a poster, or a talk by Blair at a supposedly open forum or pretty much ANY OTHER 'event' you can think of in which someone from the Labour party appeared on the telly, it was all 100% stage managed with Labour party members being the sole constituents of the audience/participants - they were then passed off as ordinary members the public.
Labour also got its party members to stage demos at other parties events but to make it look like it was done by ordinary folk.
The level of organisation was huge - even as far as getting the 'public' to crowd around Blair to stop the media questionning him after he spoke.
Another tactic was getting party members to write to the readers' section of national and local newspapers pretending to be 'a working mum from Newcastle' or 'an OAP from London' to say how great the Labour party's policies have been for them.
Now I may be being naive here, but this makes me sick. It's spin doctoring of the highest order. Now not only can we not believe a word said by Blair during an election campaign, we can't believe anything anyone else says or does in favour of Blair during an election campaign. Wasn't it Blair who after being re-elected said that he'd gone out and listened to the people during this campaign? Bollox - as the programme pointed out, he was cocooned and didn't meet a single real member of the public.
>> Edited by NickD on Tuesday 24th May 11:51
Labour also got its party members to stage demos at other parties events but to make it look like it was done by ordinary folk.
The level of organisation was huge - even as far as getting the 'public' to crowd around Blair to stop the media questionning him after he spoke.
Another tactic was getting party members to write to the readers' section of national and local newspapers pretending to be 'a working mum from Newcastle' or 'an OAP from London' to say how great the Labour party's policies have been for them.
Now I may be being naive here, but this makes me sick. It's spin doctoring of the highest order. Now not only can we not believe a word said by Blair during an election campaign, we can't believe anything anyone else says or does in favour of Blair during an election campaign. Wasn't it Blair who after being re-elected said that he'd gone out and listened to the people during this campaign? Bollox - as the programme pointed out, he was cocooned and didn't meet a single real member of the public.
>> Edited by NickD on Tuesday 24th May 11:51
NickD said:
Now I may be being naive here, but this makes me sick. It's spin doctoring of the highest order. Now not only can we not believe a word said by Blair during an election campaign, we can't believe anything anyone else says or does in favour of Blair during an election campaign.
.... and how long do you think that this has been going on? These tactics have been employed by politicians for years - centuries in fact. Its not new, its not clever and it is certainly not big. Do you really think that the collective minds of New Labour had the intelligence to figure this tactic out?
What worries me is that the British Media know damn well "how it works". Whether they choose to fall in line or report against it is at their discression. My concern is that it has been Dispatches only who have chosen to highlight it.... shame on you media... what happened to the truth?
Oh, sorry I forget Abbi Titmus is on TV so its much more news worthy.....
look straight at me, watch my eyes, you will all fall into a deep sleep, you are all getting very sleepy, you will all do as i say.......vote labour.
yes i watched it, who said manipulation was dead, dr gobels has a lot to learn.
never mind, we will all be "chipped" by the next election, so this type of manipulation will be un-necessary, our voting will be centrally controlled.
next time round, please hoof them out, my wallet or standard of living, couldn't stand another term of these baffoons.
yes i watched it, who said manipulation was dead, dr gobels has a lot to learn.
never mind, we will all be "chipped" by the next election, so this type of manipulation will be un-necessary, our voting will be centrally controlled.
next time round, please hoof them out, my wallet or standard of living, couldn't stand another term of these baffoons.
v8 westy said:
i think some of the labour propaganda merchants post on here occasionally!
the manipulation will not just stop at newspapers and tv, although with constituency boundaries as they are and labour virtually owning the bbc, you might think, do labour need to bother!
Political party in manipulating media shock!!
Not meaning to be too sarcasic, but do you honestly believe that this is a tactic unique to New Labour? I admit, they are very good at it, but it is a tactic that has been done before by all parties, in all countries.
After all, why do you think there were huge crowds of screaming supporters for GW Bush, during their election? It was carefully stage managed, and only republicans or supporters of Bush could attend the mass rallies.
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