When, Where And Who Was The First 'spin Doctor ... - The Guardian

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SEMANTIC ENIGMASWhen, where and who was the first 'spin doctor'? Who coined the term?

  • 'SPIN doctor' developed in the jargon of US politics. It is a senior political spokesperson employed to promote a favourable interpretation of events to journalists. The phrase was first used in print in October 1984 in an editorial in the New York Times about the aftermath of the televised debate between US presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. Donald Regan, former White House chief of staff, was informally known as the Director of Spin Control. The term 'spin doctor' is formed by compounding. In US politics 'spin' is interpretation, the bias or slant put on information when it is presented to the public or in a press conference; all information can have positive or negative 'spin'. This is a sporting metaphor (for example, spin put on a ball in cricket or baseball). 'Doctor' comes from the various figurative uses of the verb 'to doctor', ranging from 'patch up' or 'mend' to 'falsify'.

    Nicholas E. Gough, Malmesbury, Wilts.

  • William Safire suggests the term "spin doctor" is based on the 1950s slang "to spin" which is a shortened version of "to spin a yarn". John Maltese (in "Spin Control: the White House Office of Communications and the Management of Political News") identifies the origin of modern political spin control to the Nixon Whitehouse.

    Andrew Cutler, Wellington, New Zealand

  • Surely the first spin doctor was the Serpent in the Bible for convincing Adam and Eve that Apples were the next Big Thing.

    Caritas Charles, Swindon

  • He appears in 'The Game Players of Titan' by Philip K Dick. (1969)

    Keith Mills, Alne, Yorks

  • Fair point about the serpent, but how about Aaron, who covered for Moses's rhetorical deficiencies and relayed things so the Israelites would leave all that singing, dancing and golden calf stuff? (As it is so elegantly expressed in the Pentateuch.)

    Louis Dunn, Glasgow, Scotland

  • John the Baptist. See the bible - he prepared the way for the Lord!

    Zadie Hendrich, Bath

  • I always thought it was W G Grace.

    Geoff H., Toronto, Canada

  • Arguably it was Joseph Goebells who was the first spin doctor who was the first to use colour based imagry for political purposes.With reference to the flag used by Hitler the red was for colour of revolutuion to appeal to the working and middle classes and to signify change, in a similar way to which Tony Blair used rebranding. The black and white to appeal to the upper classes to represent the old imperial flag.

    Andy Bouskill, Doncaster, England

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