ABSTRACT
Many occupations are unhappy with their coverage in the news media. In the past, most complaints alleged superficiality or distortion. Now the demands of promotional culture (Wernick 1991; Fairclough 1991) can make no news even worse than bad news. A high 'corporate profile', often used by government as a key indicator of effectiveness in the quasi-market competition for public funds, has become crucial for public sector agencies and organisations. Whi le high-visibility groups like the police try to improve their image, lowvisibility players like H M Customs and Excise work to establish their social importance through 'fly-on-the-wall' documentaries (Schlesinger, Tumber and Murdock 1991).
