| |
Media Relations |
 |
Media have always been an important element in the cycle of shaping public opinion. They decide which topics are on the agenda or not and who is given broadcasting time or publishing space. By featuring certain points of view and neglecting others media have the ability to influence public opinion and thus also political decision-making to a significant extent.
Therefore, besides educational and publishing programs, media are an essential element in the dissemination strategy of think tanks. To spread their respective ideology they provide print media with masses of op-ed's and their top staff regularly appears on television and radio shows as political advisers or policy experts.
Table: Media Citations: Spectrum of Major U.S. Think Tanks
Think Tank Ideology
| Media Citations 1995
| Media Citations 1996
| Media Citations 1997
| U.S. Conservative or right-leaning
| 7792 (51 %)
| 7706 (54 %)
| 7733 (53 %)
| U.S. Centrist
| 6361 (42 %)
| 4392 (30 %)
| 4623 (32 %)
| U.S. Progressive or left-leaning
| 1152 (7 %)
| 2177 (15 %)
| 2267 (16 %)
| Total
| 15305
| 14212
| 14623
| |
|
|
Edward Heath
Conservative prime minister of Great Britain from 1970 to 1974. Of modest origins, Heath was educated at Oxford, where he was elected president of the University Conservative Association in 1937. In 1938, as chairman of the Federation of University Conservative Associations and president of the Oxford Union, he actively opposed the policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany pursued by the Conservative prime minister Neville Chamberlain. He served in the army during World War II, worked in the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1946-47, was editor of the Church Times from January 1948 to October 1949, and then became a member of a merchant banking firm.
|
|
|
