Complementing, and sometimes driving, the mainstream media is the blogosphere. From ConservativeHome on the right to Left Foot Forward on the left, blogs have become essential reading. And old and new forms of political journalism are cross-pollinating: Iain Dale moves one way, Paul Waugh the other.
While newspapers face an uncertain future – their economic model under attack from the ubiquity of free news on the internet- the number of people who want to become journalists remains high. For those students – and the general reader – Sheila Gunn has produced an excellent and highly readable primer on what the job actually entails. The iron rule of journalism is never to lose any contact details – from the days of the Rolodex to Gmail, keeping track of telephone numbers, and now emails, has been essential. And as befits someone who has been a journalist, a councillor, a parliamentary candidate, the prime minister’s official spokesman, and a lecturer and consultant, Gunn has an extensive contacts book which she has drawn on for this collection.
So, we have doyens of the lobby – Michael White and Chris Moncrieff – contributing typically amusing and well-written pieces. Experienced voices guide newcomers through the complexities of the Lords and the Commons. Select committees rightly get their own attention – some of the best, if most unglamorous, parliamentary work is done there. The book usefully distinguishes institutions – the Westminster and Whitehall villages – from individuals – members, civil servants and advisers.
Gunn contributes nearly half the book in chapters at strategic points that explain clearly and simply important parliamentary jargon from one-line whips to Chatham House rules (properly the Chatham House rule, as she points out).
With a light touch throughout, this is a book that can be read or skimmed with profit by those who want to be journalists, those who read them, and those who pursue – or sometimes are pursued by – them.