Powers in the Land?: British political columnists in the information era

Duff, Alistair S.

Abstract

The expansion of opinion is one of the key developments in the British press, as elsewhere. The article analyses the role of one of the most important types of commentator, newspaper political columnists, examining their credentials, sources, information society prospects, and putative impact. Using data from interviews with some of Britain’s leading journalists, the study is able to corroborate findings from a wide-ranging literature review. In addition, it formulates some preliminary hypotheses: that the effectiveness of a so-called pundit is a function of his or her willingness to remain focused upon a theme; that there is a positive correlation between a columnist’s political impact and the factual or informational content of the columns; and that a columnist is most powerful when complying with a broader newspaper campaign.

Citation

Duff, A. S. (2008). Powers in the Land?: British political columnists in the information era. Journalism Practice, 2(2), 230-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512780801999386

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2008-06
• Deposit Date: Apr 30, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 30, 2008
• Print ISSN: 1751-2786
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-2794
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 230-244
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17512780801999386
• Keywords: Political columnists; Punditry; British press; Sources; Factual information content; Power; Influence; Political process; Information society
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/2384
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512780801999386
• Contract Date: Apr 30, 2008