How to Win an Election: The Panorama Guide
You don't need to tell you there is an election on the horizon in Britain.
But what we can tell you is there is not much new in the cut and thrust of the political game, especially if - like Panorama - you have been watching elections play out for more than . But what clearly changed is how we engage with our politicians in this new media world.
Looking back through the archive, How to Win an Election: The Panorama Guide, throws light on the way elections play out in today's 24-hour world. But the journey starts back when radio rules the waves.
It wasn't until the swinging 60s that television bothered with elections, or politicians bothered with television.
It was US President John F Kennedy's success across the pond that inspired Harold Wilson to embrace the medium, becoming Britain's first politician to try and deliver the TV X-Factor.
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The Americanisation of Britain's political stage was then, and still is today, a concern. With this year making their debut on our TV screens, the parallel with US campaigns is ever more clear. Harold Wilson's affinity for the camera drew much the same reaction in his day.
But it wasn't all good news for politicians who took a natural shine to the camera. was to prove himself a tough interrogator, bringing his lawyer's style of questioning to the Panorama studio. The age of deference was over and the steely gaze of the lens did not lend itself kindly to all who went before it.
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And it wasn't only those in front of the lens who were swept up in the changing world of television. Arguably, democracy itself and the voting public were also changing. The last election in which public hustings were the chosen platform for communicating with the electorate was in 1966.
The television studio replaced the soapbox and the living room became the place where voters came face-to-face with their candidates, rather than the town hall or Trafalgar Square.
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Not everyone was happy with a world where image seemed to come before policy, a complaint resonating down the years to today's world of soundbites and 24-hour news.
Perhaps hinting at the fickleness of telly, Ted Heath made a surprise transformation from car-crash TV to television's golden boy.
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But it was Margaret Thatcher who finally broke the back of television and made it work for her.
The 1983 election saw Mrs Thatcher perform her way through the campaign with walkabouts and photo shoots. Once in power, she maintained an iron grip on her image.
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It was a lesson media-savvy Tony Blair took on board and onto new heights. In Blair's hands, television became a question of how he portrayed himself, not how he was portrayed.
Television was, at least in part, being transformed from the scrutinising eye turned on politicians to the play-thing of the political class.
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But now it's not just television. In elections to come, just how will our leaders navigate the world of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the digital media yet to come. That's one thing Panorama can't tell you, but we'll be watching.
How to Win an Election: The Panorama Guide is on ±«Óãtv Four, Monday 29 March at 9pm.
