Obscure scribblers : a history of parliamentary reporting /

In this readable history of British political reporting--the first since Michael MacDonagh's The Reporter's Gallery (1913)--Sparrow (correspondent, London Daily Telegraph) shows that political reporting has changed little since it began in the mid-17th century. In today's age of 24-hour television news, British political reporters and politicians share much the same love-hate relationship as in the days of the Long Parliament's prototype spin-doctors. There have, of course, been major functional and stylistic mutations over the years. Reporting of debates, omnipresent in the 19th century, has all but disappeared, especially since being upstaged by television in the 1980s, and confidential briefings of favored correspondents by the Downing Street press secretary have given way to the prime minister's open press conferences. The newsworthiness of Parliament itself has declined as prime ministers have become "presidential." Sparrow has thoroughly researched archives of the parliamentary press gallery as well as journalists' diaries, memoirs, and biographies, and documents his sources. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All British history collections at all levels. D. M. Cregier University of Prince Edward Island