POLICING THE PUBLIC SPHERE - THE BRITISH MACHINERY OF NEWS MANAGEMENT

The area in which popular consent had to be upheld had widened constan tly since the 1930s, as matters such as the supply of capital or wage bargaining, once regarded as outside the scope of government, became p oliticised. But since governments' performance could now be measured m ore easily against their own pretensions to manage the economy, the re turns from official propaganda in a more sceptical, open society, stea dily diminished. (Keith Middlemas, 1979:424)