Between mediatisation and politicisation: The changing role and position of Whitehall press officers in the age of political spin

Despite widespread critiques of ‘political spin’, the way governments engage with the mass media has attracted relatively little empirical attention. There is a small but growing body of research into bureaucracies’ responses to mediatisation from within which have identified tensions between bureaucratic and party political values, but this has not included the United Kingdom. There are concerns that the traditional dividing line between government information and political propaganda has come under increasing pressure as a higher premium is placed on persuasion by both journalists and politicians battling for public attention in an increasingly competitive market. Within Whitehall, the arrival of Labour in 1997 after 18 years in opposition was a watershed for UK government communications, allowing the government to reconfigure its official information service in line with the party political imperative to deploy strategic communications as a defence against increasingly invasive media scrutiny. Public relations, in government as elsewhere, has grown in scale, scope and status, becoming institutionalised and normalised within state bureaucracies, but how has this affected the role, status and influence of the civil servants who conduct media management? Within the system of executive self-regulation of government publicity that is characteristic of Whitehall, government press officers must negotiate a difficult path between the need to inform citizens about the government’s programme, and demands by ministers to deploy privileged information to secure and maintain personal and party advantage in the struggle for power. Taking 1997 as a turning point, and through the voices of the actors who negotiate government news – mainly press officers, but also journalists and special advisers – this article examines the changing role and position of Whitehall press officers in what has become known as the age of political spin, finding that profound and lasting change in the rules of engagement has taken place and is continuing

RESISTIVITY OF TERNARY CHEVREL-PHASE SUPERCONDUCTORS

Nous avons avons mesure la résistivité entre 4.2 K e t 400 K d'une série de phases de Chevrel qui sont des composés supraconducteurs. Tous montrent une courbure très négative (d2ρ/dT2) au-dessus d'environ 60 K, semblable à ce qu'on observe dans les composés A-15. Les résistivités à la température ambiante sont é1evées, de l'ordre de 10-3 Ω cm.We have measured the resistivities of a series of superconducting Chevrel-phase compounds from 4.2 K to 400 K. All show strong negative curvature d2ρ/dT2 above about 60 K, similar to that observed i n the A-15 compounds. Room temperature resistivities are high, in the 10-3 Ω cm range

MAGNETIC AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF CoNiCr THIN FILM MEDIA

Thin Co62.5Ni30Cr7.5 films were rf-sputtered onto glass and Cr/glass. Magnetic anisotropy, coercivity and magnetization were compared with inferences from structural characterization. For CoNiCr/glass narrow FMR line widths ƊH, low coercivity Hc and effective anisotropy field Hkeff values close to 4πMs were observed. For CoNiCr/Cr/glass broader ƊH, larger Hc and Hkeff deviating from 4πMs were observed. Crystal texture and grain growth depended on the presence/absence of a Cr underlayer

Metabolism of levormeloxifene, a selective oestrogen receptor modulator, in the Sprague-Dawley rat, Cynomolgus monkey and postmenopausal woman

1. The metabolic fate of levormeloxifene in the Sprague-Dawley rat, Cynomolgus monkey and postmenopausal volunteer has been investigated. 2. Two doses of [14C]levormeloxifene, 0.7 and 50 mg/kg, were given to the male and female rat and monkey, and a single 20-mg dose to the postmenopausal volunteer. 3. The primary route of excretion in all three species was the faeces. Metabolism was similar in all three species, with demethylation forming the major metabolite in the rat and postmenopausal volunteer. One of the major metabolites in the monkey involved an oxidative ring opening of a pyrrole ring. 4. The main site of metabolism of levormeloxifene is the liver and the majority of the drug and its metabolites is excreted via the faecal route. Metabolic pathways appear to be similar in the three species studied