An inquest of media relations at The Millenium Dome.
"We will say to ourselves with pride: this is our Dome, Britain's Dome. And believe me, it will be the envy of the world" (Blair, 24 February 1998).
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted the Millenium Dome, a tent-shaped exhibition centre in Greenwich, to be a symbol of everything that was good about Britain. Instead, marred by financial problems, poor visitor numbers and a chaotic opening night, it turned out to be the opposite. In the British press, the Dome was almost always accompanied by a pejorative adjective: doomed, ill-fated, disastrous, costly etc.
Every day, media organisations analyse their coverage from the previous day. At the Daily Mail it is known as the ‘inquest.’ This essay could be seen as an ‘inquest’ of the media coverage of the Dome.
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