Political Scandal: Power and Visibility in the Media Age - Literature review Example

Review Political Scandal: Power and Visibility in the Media Age. By J.B. Thompson. Cambridge: Polity. 2000. 324 pp. Index. ISBN 0745625495. Thompson’s work on political scandal is the first scholarly treatment of the subject in a comprehensive and full-length text, and does not disappoint. He starts with the observation that political scandal has heretofore been the preserve of the gutter press and the tabloid newspapers, and in many ways has been thought unsuitable as a subject for academic study. Thompson bemoans this ‘dearth of serious scholarly literature on the subject’ (2000, p.5). In contemporary politics and wider society, the story of a reputation or career undone by the publication of a scandal is familiar, but a key question is whether or not this phenomenon should be left to the tabloid journalists. I am inclined to agree with Thompson that the field deserves serious study. He was writing in the aftermath of the Bill Clinton sex scandal, and given the huge implication of that affair on American confidence in the President, and the way in which it gripped the attention of readers and watchers worldwide, the presence of the political scandal as a cultural phenomenon is worthy of study. Thompson acknowledges that for many academics, scandal constitutes ‘the froth of social and political life’ (2009, p.5), and can obscure the ‘real’ political and social events – the things really worthy of study. As he goes on to argue, scandal is one of these events, and should be considered ‘a social phenomenon in its own right’ (2000, p.6). From this solid starting point, Thompson embarks on a survey which ranges widely chronologically, if not, and this is to be regretted, geographically, and raises important questions about the role of media outlets in shaping contemporary political and public debate, and the changes in communication media that have brought scandals to the forefront on political life. What could have dissolved into an encyclopaedic treatment of notable political scandals ends up as a tight and thoughtful analysis, as the author undertakes a thorough analysis of the nature and importance of political scandals, and develops some theories as to their consequences. In the first three chapters he deals with the nature of scandal, and for the duration of the work he analyses scandal as a phenomenon and tries to explain their prevalence. In doing so, Thompson is to be commended for the wide range of sources used. His research was clearly exhaustive, covering not only traditional print media, but also biographies and autobiographies of key players in scandals, and television broadcasts, committee reports, and historical works. His scholarship is formidable and evident throughout. Thompson openly concedes that his account is limited, by and large, to scandals in the Anglo-American world, but gives little justification for this. He certainly remains within his area of expertise at all times, but this study could have benefited from parallels drawn between scandals in the UK and America and those which have unfolded elsewhere. Certainly, the Anglo-American political scene seems peculiarly susceptible to political scandal, perhaps because of the nature of its intrusive media. However, the second part of this book, in which Thompson develops an analytical framework and reflects on the issues raised, would have benefited from some comparisons with scandals elsewhere. Perhaps the role of scandal in post-war Italian political instability, or its role in discrediting some African presidents, would have been pertinent subjects for further exploration. Nevertheless, within the parameters he sets for himself, Thompson produces an effective and comprehensive work, and the framework he sets out for classifying, identifying and theorising about political scandal could doubtless be applied beyond the Anglo-American experience. Thompson traces back the etymological origins of ‘scandal’ to its Judaeo-Christian roots, and carries it through to its first appearances in English in the 16th century. His discovery that it made its first appearances in a religious context are interesting, and he does not linger overlong on providing historical context, which allows the text to move on organically. Thompson sets out clear requirements for a scandal to arise, and suggests some conditions which an event or series of ongoing events need to fulfil in order to be discussed as a political scandal. While the drawing of general rules and conclusions is often a risky and necessarily imprecise business, Thompson manages to draw up a framework with which it is difficult to disagree in substance. These sensible conditions include, for example, that the events must involve a degree of secrecy and concealment, and that there must be a sense of public disapproval. His forensic analysis of what we mean by scandal is beneficial for the reader’s understanding, without being too formulaic or esoteric. In his discussion of mediated scandal, and the role of developing communication media, Thompson develops some thoughtful themes, but he overcomplicates the implications of mediated events. The graphics, for example, on pages 64-65 are inaccessible. In other places, the graphics provided are altogether more useful. In the discussion of the nature of political scandal, Thompson constructs, on page 92, a Venn diagram with an overlapping area labelled ‘The realm of political scandal’. Given the level of the subject matter in this section, it is questionable whether there was any need for an illustration, but it does, nonetheless, serve a useful purpose in summarising the section. The chapter on political sex scandals is particularly effective. Thompson uses case studies which, for British readers in particular, will be among the best-known scandals of all, including the Profumo affair and the rumours about Jeremy Thorpe’s homosexual relations, and makes a convincing case for the crucial role of the mass media in these episodes. Fro example, he emphasises the serialisation in the tabloids of Christine Keeler’s account. In this chapter, the author’s thoughts and conclusions are scarcely novel, but the full integration of the case studies into the text, and their constant relation to the analysis, makes it compelling reading. He also manages to link these scandals of yesteryear seamlessly with the sex scandal that so rocked the political scene just before the book was published – the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair. The chapter on financial scandals is just as effective, using examples ranging from the reign of James I to the 1990s. Finally, he deals with power scandals, again managing to use well-known examples, such as the Watergate Affair, without the analysis becoming at all stale. A final note about his classification of political scandals is that their division into these three groups – sex, financial, and power – proved particularly helpful. It seems like a simple enough division, but by making it, Thompson turned what could have been a tawdry mass of gossip into a full analysis. As a basic division, it works, and requires little justification on the part of the author. Thompson handles the mass of material with a deft hand. Perhaps he does not give us much new to think about, but he makes a comprehensive survey of the field as he finds it, and brings the subject matter firmly into the world of academia. Such writers, able to straddle the popular and the academic, make the most valuable contributions to scholarly literature. The concluding chapter on the rise of political scandal, reasons for this, and its implications, is well-planned and an apt conclusion to this expert book. However, it also ends with a warning about the negative impact of scandal and the way it is dealt with on public life. This warning is as poignant now as it was when written 11 years ago. The way in which Thompson is able to give advice both to political leaders and to the media reflects the full and comprehensive nature of the book itself. Read More