Nick Clegg and the rise of celebrity politics in Britain (London Liberal Democrats)

London Liberal Democrats <info@libdems4london.org.uk>

Nick Clegg and the rise of celebrity politics in Britain

November 23, 2011 11:17 AM
Originally published by Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats

clegg • [Nov 19] NICK Clegg has occupied a significant place in the popular imagination of the British public since the General Election of 2010. The extraordinary character of politics has shone a more intense light on the Liberal Democrat party with its leader standing in its full glare. Katy Parry and Kay Richardson examine media coverage of 'Cleggmania' before and after the election and find an increasing personification of British politics with not-so-subtle undertones of homophobia and sexism.

The flurry of excitement provoked by Nick Clegg's very sudden emergence into public visibility in April 2010 and his rise to the heart of government as Deputy Prime Minister offered a unique opportunity to observe the hasty moulding of a new political persona, but the Nick Clegg that the public has grown to know over the past 18 months is little more than a construct assembled from a range of semiotic* resources distributed across the UK mediascape . .

During 2010, we audited a range of politically-inflected media outputs in the UK, across media platforms and genres, encompassing editorial cartoons, parliamentary sketch-writing, comedy panel shows, blogs, reality TV and political programming (such as Question Time, This Week). This research forms just one part of a much larger study on the media and Britain's cultural landscape that relates specifically to politics . .

Politicians routinely attempt to craft their public and mediated personas, aware of the high price paid for the 'wrong' kind of visibility in the mediascape, whether that is a perceived lack of authenticity, morality or political judgement. Cartoonists, journalists, comedians, bloggers and citizens can play a part in the co-creation and contestation of such personas. But there is a related question to consider. As the story of Nick Clegg continues and other politicians perform in the multifaceted glare of a hybridised media environment, will the media penchant for sharp-tongued appraisal, satirical playfulness and distortive caricature of political bodies' work to diminish or enhance democratic openness and public critique of the body politic?

This article is a shortened version of full-length article available from the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. It was originally posted on the LSE politics and policy blog.

2. Semiotics: The science of communication studied through the interpretation of signs and symbols as they operate in various fields, esp. language [OED]

• Nick Clegg and the rise of celebrity politics in Britain [opendemocracy.net Nov 19]