Spin Doctor Profile
Profile of a Political Spin Doctor: Craig Oliver
A spin doctor is an individual with the expertise to interpret the words and actions of prominent public personalities such as politicians. A political spin doctor is therefore someone who has specialized political journalism and political public relations. The nature of the competitive modern political environment necessitates the need for an experienced spin doctor
On February 2 2011, Craig Oliver was appointed Prime Minister David Cameroon as Director of Communications to replace Andy Coulson. Mr. Oliver started his rolel at 10 Downing Street on February 28.
The 41-year old Oliver has worked in the broadcasting Media for almost two decades. Prior to joining BBC, where he was the controller of English services at the BBC Global News, Oliver had worked for ITN (BBC, 2012).
His role at the BBC before resigning following his appointment by the Prime Minister was responsibility for the World Service, BBC World News and the News Website outside the UK. In light of this, it is evident that Oliver has a wealth of experience in dealing with the Media especially the more civilized parts of broadcasting.
However, his experience with newspapers, in particular tabloid newspapers is questionable. His appointment thus came as a shocker given that he never featured in the list of potential candidates for the position.
In appointing Craig Oliver, Prime Minister Cameron seems to have favored a less aggressive form of spin doctoring. Oliver is more of a backroom figure as opposed to a high profile appointment that synonymous with British Prime Ministers.
His predecessor such the famous Alistair Campbell under Tony Blair and Bernard Ingham for Margaret Thatcher were known for their robust or aggressive approach o journalists. Oliver fits well with Cameroon’s style of public by being polite instead of aggressive, overly restrained in what they say about the Prime Minister’s opponents and critiques, and trying as much as possible to stay out of the public eye.
The following weekend after his appointment as Cameroon’s spin doctor, Mr. Craig committed a political faux pas at the Conservative party Spring Conference by accidentally exposing his notes for the Prime Minister’s keynote address to photographers.
In June 2011, it was reported that a hoax Downing Street account had been created in Oliver’s name and used to give comedic remarks about journalists and politicians. Barely a year later, Oliver was mentioned in documents presented to the Leveson Inquiry into Media standards as one of the eight Downing Street advisers to have had contact with Frederic Michel, the News Corporation lobbyist.
It was shown that Oliver and Michel had dined together in July 2011 after the breakout of the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The fact that the two had split the bill saved Oliver from the requirement to make a declaration of the dinner on the commission’s register of interests.
A more recent scandal of the Prime Minister’s spin doctor emerged on 28 May 2012 when a video footage showing Oliver reprimanding Norman Smith, a BBC News correspondent was posted on the Internet. Oliver seemed unawares of the camera behind him during the exchange.
Mr. Oliver is a son of a former Chief Constable of Central Scotland Police and Grampian police, Dr. Ian Oliver (BBC, 2012). He received his education at a Scottish state school before proceeding to St. Andrews University. He earned his broadcast diploma from the Cardiff School of Journalism.
In 1992, he made his debut in the media as a cub reporter with STV in Scotland. One of his first assignments at STV was covering a fire outbreak in Glasgow’s Easterhouse district. His stay at STV was brief as he moved to ITN on a training arrangement after which he became a producer at ITV’s News at Ten (BBC, 2012).
In 1997, Mr. Oliver was appointed Program Editor when Channel Five launched its own news service. Two years later, he returned to ITV News in the capacity of Senior Program Editor for the early evening news program.
After a successful spell at Channel 4 News in 2002, Craig Oliver made a comeback at ITV News in 2003 in an official role as head of output and later as head of network news programs.
In 2006, Mr. Oliver joined the BBC in the capacity of editor for both One and Ten O’clock News. He later replaced Mary Hockaday as deputy head of the BBC’s multimedia newsroom in May 2009.
Mr. Oliver was also in charge of the BBC’s results coverage for the 2010’s general election before taking up his latest role at the corporation as controller of English, BBC Global News (BBC, 2012). He was responsible for multiplatform commissioning all of BBC Global News English output.
He was also involved in the preparation plans for the published cuts to the BBC World Service announced in January.
Mr. Craig Oliver is husband to Joanna Gosling, a presenter on the BBC News Channel. The couple has three daughters together. The family lives in their West London house purchased in 2004.
Reference:
British Broadcasting Corporation. (2012). Profile: Craig Oliver. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12346958
