Another result of the increased power of the media is the idea of “media management”. This idea is related to how the government uses the media to achieve its goals. In countries where there is limited freedom of the press, governments can mange the media by simple propaganda and censorship. However, in countries where the government cannot control the media directly, a complicated relationship has developed between the media and the government and between the media and political parties.

Staying in power is very important for a politician, party or government. This requires a good media image, so the support of the media is very important. The aim of media management is to ensure that:

• Good news is presented very loudly and clearly so that more people are exposed to it.

• Average news is presented in a way that makes it sound like good news.

• Bad news is presented very quietly, and in a way that makes it sound like average news.

Spin

The practice of manipulating the news is often called spin. Spin has become a very important part of politics in most democratic countries. Political parties employ thousands of staff to work on spinning news stories to make their party look good in the media.

Some of the most important strategies for “spin doctors” are:

• Checking information before it is given to the news media, to make sure that it does not make the government look bad.

• Making sure that all the politicians in their party give the same message to the media.

• Leaking; A “leak” is when political actors give secret information to the media. This information usually makes their opponents look bad. So the aim of “leaking” is to become more popular, by making your opponents less popular.

• Only giving information to media organisations that are friendly with the government/your party.

• Releasing “bad” news to the media at a time when there are a lot of other important events happening. This means that people do not pay a lot of attention to the bad news stories because they are focusing on the other news.

• Rewarding journalists who write good things about the government (e.g. by giving them information before other journalists) and punishing those who write bad things (e.g. by not inviting them to press conferences) (McLaughlin 2013: 128)