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Category: Media

Is Cameron now becoming acceptable to the Guardian?

Is Cameron now becoming acceptable to the Guardian?

Could this add to Dave’s problems with right-wingers? The first paragraph of the Guardian’s editorial today is featured above and raises a question that is quite revolutionary for the paper – the idea that a Tory government might not be the worst possible outcome at the general election. Revolutionary because one of the bedrock certainties of the media and politics is that the Guardian is the most anti-Tory of what used to be called the broad-sheet press. Just recall the…

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Republican Convention may be postponed

Republican Convention may be postponed

I’m at Denver International Ariport, and have just met up with an Executive Producer of a large corporate news channel. In the course of our conversation, he intimated (and said I could publish on condition of anonymity) that there is a reasonably strong chance that the Republican National Convention due to begin in Minneapolis-St-Paul, MN, next week might be postponed. Apparently, some members of the McCain campaign and the RNC are concerned that, after the criticism over Hurrican Katrina and…

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Advertising and campaign tactics

Advertising and campaign tactics

What is dictating McCain’s media strategy? In the advertising war waging across the water, John McCain is positively hammering Barack Obama. The Arizona Senator has ploughed significant money into attacking his counterpart from Illinois on a number of fronts; from his advice on inflating tyres to his ‘celebrity’ status, apparently comparable to that of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Two elements of his campaign’s assault on Obama have raised eyebrows. Firstly, why is McCain criticising Obama on such spurious grounds…

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Aug 6th 2007: the day Gordomania hit its peak

Aug 6th 2007: the day Gordomania hit its peak

Would PM Miliband get the same fawning treatment? Exactly a year ago today the Guardian asked breathlessly whether any previous incoming prime minister had had such a first month in office having to deal with one “crisis” after another. To recap there had been some storms, a failed terrorist attack in Glasgow and some animals had got ill. Out of the ordinary? To a limited degree but nothing on the scale that several other incoming prime ministers had had to…

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In the Sunday papers

In the Sunday papers

The main polling news on the big drop in Lib Dem support in the latest ICM survey is covered in the previous post. The Mail on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph, and Observer all strongly feature the leaked memo containing Blair’s thoughts on Brown. Fullest coverage is in the Mail, which received the leaked memo, written in the aftermath of the Labour conference last autumn. ‘There has been a lamentable confusion of tactics and strategy. Tactically, it was thought clever to define…

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Sunday papers round-up

Sunday papers round-up

Grim reading for Gordon today – is the endgame finally approaching? The newspapers are dominated by moves to unseat the Prime Minister – with the battle lines for the succession being drawn up between Jack Straw’s “Lancashire Mafia” and the Miliband/Burnham/Purnell “Primrose Hill Pact”. The Independent reports that Andy Burnham and James Purnell, in echoes of the Granita deal, will give David Miliband a free run for the leadership in the event of a contest, allowing him to emerge as…

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Is this the only BBC coverage of YouGov over 6 years?

Is this the only BBC coverage of YouGov over 6 years?

Why does the Corporation operate as though the firm doesn’t exist? Each month the BBC’s political research editor, David Cowling, “reviews the political opinion polls published in the UK”. It’s a moderately interesting piece but there’s one oddity – polls from the internet firm YouGov which put the traditional pollsters to shame in the London Mayoral race never seem to get a mention. I’ve scanned through each of his pieces for every month this year and I cannot find any…

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In the Sunday papers

In the Sunday papers

SNP internal poll shows them just 4 points behind in Glasgow East Four days ahead of Glasgow East, the Sunday Herald is reporting SNP internal polling that shows them behind by just 4 points, while Labour internal polling shows that it will be “as tight as hell” – a 3-figure majority now looks likely. Latest Glasgow East prices are here. The Scotland on Sunday considers the impact that the Glasgow Fair is having on the campaign, while Geoffrey Wheatcroft portrays…

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