A LOT of nonsense is talked about ’spin’ and so-called ’spin doctors’.
But now, thanks to the beloved Guardian, you can see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
Step Inside the Spin Room at the New Hampshire primary in America, earlier this year.
It was the development of these ’spin rooms’ in US Presidential TV debates which first gave rise to the term ’spin doctor’.
Supporters would gather to give their own, usually intensely loyal, verdict on their favoured candidate’s TV performance.
The phenomenon grew out of the demands of the mass media - and has now become a household term of abuse.

Notice the number of journalists gathered in the ‘Spin Room’.
No revolt against ’spin’ here - rather the journalists appear to be hanging on every word that is uttered.
Every cough and splutter is taken down. Every soundbite recorded. Every muttered aside captured.

Journalists appear to be queuing up to hear what the ’spin doctors’ have to say.
That’s because, in these days of 24 hour news coverage, any media organisation worth its salt - and that includes traditional newspapers and magazines, as well as broadcasters and bloggers - are constantly demanding fresh angles, unique quotes, new pictures, different perspectives.
News has become a beast which needs to be constantly fed. And fast.

Of course, in the middle of a major election campaign, it is impossible to satisfy all these demands and provide every news outlet with the instant access they demand.
(Otherwise, our politicians - perish the thought! - would spend all their time just talking to the media.)
So The Spin Room has come to pass. Here gather a phalanx of stand-ins - supporters, friends, associates, colleagues, out-riders, campaign chiefs and general hangers-on - ready and eager to give the media what they want.
Fresh quotes, exclusive interviews, new pictures, film and audio. A different slant, an unusual angle, an interesting summary, a surprising reaction.
Anything to feed the insatiable appetite.

And, when reporters get bored with the ’spinners’ and start looking for another angle, we witness the slightly surreal, almost Pythonesque diversion, of reporters reporting what reporters are being told. And then reporting how they are reporting it!
Whoever said the media was prone to navel-gaving?
It’s perhaps no wonder that politics is now perceived as increasingly remote from the lives of ordinary people.
And no wonder that candidates like Barack Obama are making a huge pitch for ‘authentic engagement’ with voters.
Quite what the media will make of that, remains to be seen.