POWERS IN THE LAND?

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.

Keywords:

• British press
• columnists
• information society
• political process
• power
• sources

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for substantial financial support of the fieldwork for this research.