The Creation of Political News: Television and British Party Political Conferences. James Stanyer. Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2001. 206 pp. $69.50 hbk. $29.95 pbk.
Anyone familiar with the dynamics of American news organizations' coverage of national political conventions will find intriguing parallels in James Stanyer's analysis of television coverage of British party conferences.
The party conferences occur annually, rather than quadrennially, but much else is similar. On both sides of the Atlantic, these occasions have become television events rather than deliberative sessions, and they are designed primarily to advertise the party's wares-personalities …