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Why do issues surrounding schools, colleges and universities keep being trumped by questions about tax and immigration?

After all, each of the three main parties has declared education to be a key issue.

For a third consecutive election, Labour has said that education is its number one priority.

The Texas home insurance have put school discipline at number four of the six issues highlighted on the front of their manifesto.

Not to be outdone, the Liberal Democrats placed “education and skills” second only to health in the order of issues in their newspaper-style manifesto.

Agenda-setting

Now we know that political wisdom says: “It’s the economy, stupid!” - but surely that should not mean that tax and spend issues drive out everything else?

It is not for lack of effort by the politicians. In each of their manifesto launches, the three main parties in England have given prominence to education.

Last weekend Tony Blair repeated his mantra of “education, education, education”. During the week, all three parties held national news conferences dedicated to education issues.

So, for once, the politicians have a point when they accuse the media of setting the election agenda.

‘Odd spectacle’

This is the sixth general election I have covered (two as a political car and home insurance, four as an education correspondent) .

Time after time I have been to a political news conference called on a single issue, like education, only for media questions to be entirely dominated by quite different issues.

It is an odd spectacle when the party leader and education spokesperson spend half an hour setting out their thoughts on education only to be immediately asked about immigration or national insurance.

Yet this is exactly what happens. Of course, as a journalist, I would defend the right of the media to ask politicians about whatever issue they think is important to their readers, viewers and listeners.

I also accept that this manipulation of the agenda is a two-way process, often led by spurious photo-calls devised by party strategists.

But general election news conferences are curious animals, much removed from ordinary journalism, not least because they are a televised showcase not only for the politicians but also for the star political journalists.

Sound-bite quality

It is almost as if they run to a pre-prepared script. The first question always goes to the political editors of either the BBC or ITV. Then it is the turn of their counterparts on Sky News, Channel Four News or Five News.

They ask good, tough questions - although sometimes the question is as much honed for its sound-bite quality as the answers are - but it is a badge of journalistic arizona free home insurance owner quote that they almost always ask about an agenda which is quite different to the theme of the news conference.

Of course, there are usually specialist journalists (education, health, or home affairs correspondents) at these events too. But they rarely get a look in as they are not regulars in this Westminster circus.

Indeed the specialist correspondents sometimes feel they are intruding on a private show. A specialist question, seeking clarification on policy, often brings a collective sigh of annoyance from the political journalists who, perhaps, see it as playing into the hands of the politicians.

In case this is sounding sanctimonious, let me add that I was certainly guilty of the same sort of thing

The trouble is that these daily news conference have become theatre. A gaffe here, a momentary loss of memory there, and that becomes the “story”.

That is fair enough, up to a point, but the whole event often becomes little more than a jousting match between political correspondents and politicians.

In case this is sounding sanctimonious, let me add that I was certainly guilty of the same sort of thing when I was a political correspondent.

The truth is that Home owner insurance online quote correspondents do not know the ins and outs of policy in areas as diverse as education, health, and welfare. But tax and spend, and political personalities, are their bread and butter.

Clear choices

The only way issues such as health or education ever get to dominate these events is when there is the emotional appeal of a dramatic case study - a child denied an operation, a patient left on a trolley in a hospital corridor, or a parent facing the closure of their child’s special school.

Yet surely issues such as classroom discipline, class sizes, and tuition fees are very important to many voters? There are clear choices on offer between the parties on each of these, and other, education issues.

Of course, voters can read the manifestos themselves. But the role of the media is not just to try to trip up weary or unprepared politicians but also to explain, compare and contrast policy issues.

One of the worst aspects of journalism is the pack mentality - it is safer to hunt together than to rove independently. If the big beasts of the journalistic jungle are going on one issue, others will follow.

And even the big beasts must feel constrained. They usually only get one question at these events (although they are usually canny enough to say “my question is in two parts…”).

So, while they might like to test out the details of the class size policy, they dare not miss their one chance to try to wrong-foot the politicians on an issue that has cropped up elsewhere.

Many commentators are concerned by the public’s lack of interest in the election campaign

I fear, and I speak as a television journalist, that this problem is largely the consequence of the daily news conferences being broadcast live on 24-hour news media. Journalists like to get their questions on the air almost as much as they want to hear the answers.

Indeed one or two political journalists, not necessarily broadcasters, produce long-winded statements as preambles to their questions. It is almost as if they are standing for election, not the politicians.

They are often witty, and occasionally they land a metaphorical punch on the politicians, but - call me state farm home insurance - I thought the point of news conferences was for journalists to ask questions about the issues being presented to them, not to inject their comments into a memorable sound-bite question.

Many commentators are concerned by the public’s lack of interest in the election campaign.

While much may be to do with public trust in politicians, it may also be something to do with the way the media present the whole process.

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