Key Concepts in Journalism Studies

Spin Doctor

Contributors: By: Bob Franklin, Martin Hamer, Mark Hanna, Marie Kinsey & John E. Richardson
Book Title: Key Concepts in Journalism Studies
Chapter Title: "Spin Doctor"
Pub. Date: 2005
Access Date: September 8, 2019
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications Ltd
City: London
Print ISBN: 9780761944829
Online ISBN: 9781446215821
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446215821.n210
Print page: 253
© 2005 SAGE Publications Ltd All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the pagination of the online
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Spin Doctor
The phrase spin doctor entered British political vocabulary during the late 1980s and its meaning is captured
broadly by the entry in Chambers 21st Century Dictionary as ‘someone, especially in politics who tries to in-
fluence public opinion by putting a favourable bias on information presented to the public or to the media’.
The term has a strongly pejorative implication suggesting that the spin placed on information is misleading
and may be consciously intended to be so: spin doctors manipulate rather than merely manage news agen-
das (Gaber, 2001; Jones, 1995). Consequently, Clare Short, while a minister in the Labour Government, de-
nounced the ‘black arts’ of the spin doctors in her own party, designating them ‘the people who live in the dark
shadows’ (Blick, 2004).

The first printed appearance of the phrase spin doctor was on 21 October 1984 in a New York Times editorial
previewing a presidential debate. ‘Tonight at about 9.30, seconds after the Reagan-Mondale debate ends’,
the editorial claimed,

a bazaar will suddenly materialize in the press room. A dozen men in good suits and women in
silk dresses will circulate smoothly among reporters, spouting confident opinions. They won't be just
press agents trying to import a favorable spin to a routine release. They'll be spin doctors, senior
advisers to the candidates. (Safire, 1993: 740–1)

The phrase conjoins the words ‘spin’ – signalling the interpretation or particular meaning placed on an event
– and ‘doctor’ implying not the medical sense of the word, but rather to ‘falsify’ (as in doctoring the evidence)
(Esser et al., 2000: 213).

In the UK setting, the phrase spin doctor is particularly associated with the growing body of special advisers,
who are hired by government (especially New Labour) to manage and advise about press relations (Blick,
2004). One such adviser/spin doctor, Jo Moore, triggered widespread opprobrium among journalists, politi-
cians and the public when she emailed her colleagues in the press office at the Department of Transport on
11 September 2001, the day of the attack on the World Trade Center, claiming that today was ‘a good day to
bury bad news’.

Further Reading
Esser, F., Reinemann, C. and Fan, D. (2000) ‘Spin Doctoring in British and German Election Campaigns’,
European Journal of Communication, 15(2): 209–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267323100015002003
Gaber, I. (2001) ‘Government by Spin: An Analysis of the Process’, Media, Culture and Society, 22(4):
507–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/016344300022004008
Jones, N. (1995) Soundbites and Spin Doctors. London: Cassell.

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