ABSTRACT
The power of the media has increased considerably in recent years, perhaps especially where there has been change in the provision of public services designed to enhance consumer choice. Against that background, media of different kinds, from social media platforms like Mumsnet to broadcast media and the popular press carry information and discussion of school inspection. Research on the media's role in policy is long established, but there has not been so much attention to the relationship between inspectorates and media. The media strategies of the inspectorates are, a sophisticated mix of multimedia presentations as well as engagement with conventional media outlets. The Scottish inspectorate's web communication strategy reflects its developmental approach; rather than segmenting communication aimed at parents and that aimed at professionals as in the Ofsted website, it employs an integrative approach in which terminology, key documents and other reports are expressed in terms aimed at both lay person and professional.
