This week, I listened to a podcast in which former government adviser turned substacker Sam Freedman complained about the relationship between government and media.
Newspapers don’t give enough thought to the effects of policy, he said, and are only interested speeches and announcements.
“The government have tried to make use of that by feeding that beast with a lot of trivial stuff that allows them to control the media agenda,” Freedman said.
“But over time you’ve seen it shift to the comms becoming the whole point and government starting with the comms – what can we announce, what can we say – and working back towards the policy.”
Shortly after listening to this, a press release from the government’s tech department, DSIT, arrived in my inbox....