POLITICAL COMMUNICATION & JOURNALISM EXAM 2024-2025
political communication
the interactions between politics, media and the "public" (power relations)
Political communication evolves
Evolutions go together with larger societal trends (individualisation, depillarization, the
crisis of parties, increased voter volatility, commercialisation)
Mediatization
4 phase process of the media gaining power in message conveyence with finally
influencing the politics :
1. media most important source of information
2. media mainly independent of political institutions
3. media content mainly governed by media logic
4. political actors mainly governed by media logic
1st phase of mediatization
media most important source of information (mediation)
2nd phase of mediatization
media mainly independent of political institutions
3rd phase of mediatization
media content mainly governed by media logic (media taken into account but not taking
over politics)
4th phase of mediatization
political actors mainly governed by media logic (politicians adapt media logic as their
logic)
moderation of mediatization
depending on political system, media system, strength of parties, make sure
mediatization doesn't go too far
5 functions of media in a democratic society
1. Information (monitoring, inform the citizens)
2. Education (explaining what events and facts mean)
3. Platform function: Exchange of ideas -> Public sphere
,4. Watchdog function: Control over politics, publicity for what politics does (wrong)
5. Channel function: Political, ideological opinions needs to find their way to the people
Threats to performing media functions
1. Politics controlling media content (lack of pluralism and independence)
2. Commercialisation, leading to decreased news quality
3. The audience not being able to process the information provided, or distinguish news
from misinformation
Conditions for performing media functions
Political communication needs to be present in the news media coverage (all political
views), while at the same time it needs to be accessible and understandable for the
public.
Control over media content
- Lack of independence of media
- Lack of internal and external pluralism
e.g. censorship, state broadcasters, political decisions over the newsroom
internal pluralism
pluralism achieved within each individual media outlet or organisation (balances political
viewpoints)
external pluralism
pluralism achieved at the level of the media system as a whole, through the existence of
a range of media outlets or organisations reflecting the points of view of different groups
in society
quality of the news media information
about commercialism, about attracting an audience as large as possible
sensational news
news which causes public excitement or interest attracting larger audience
- inclusion of sensational elements in the news
- elements of entertainment enter the news
Full News Standard
A full overview of everything that happens in the political and societal arena. Not
realistic but good starting point.
, Burglar Alarm Standard
Sensationalism so people pay attention. Threat of burglar alarm that keeps of ringing so
no one pays attention anymore.
Videomalaise
Watching information on television has negative effects on the public.
E.g. Cynicism, low trust in political institutions, low sense of "political efficacy"
serious, conventional news
political, relevant, informative
popular news
not really informative or relevant, sign of bad quality news
"public quality" news
journalists focus on the audience as citizens
proportional relevance
all groups in society should find relevant news in the news coverage
Personalisation
a prominent form of mediatization, focus on people, on indivisual politicians rather than
parties, institutions and porganisation/ a process of shift of focus form parties to
individual politicians
why personalisation?
- weakening of traditionally strong ties between voters and political parties,
depillarization, party fragmentation
-evolutions in the media environment, commercialisation, technologies, social media
who can be personalisation done by?
- people: voting for a person, rather than a party
- politics: putting individual politicians or leaders center stage
- media: representation of politics as a battle of individuals
two aspects of presonalisation
- individualisation
- privatisation
Individualisation
political communication
the interactions between politics, media and the "public" (power relations)
Political communication evolves
Evolutions go together with larger societal trends (individualisation, depillarization, the
crisis of parties, increased voter volatility, commercialisation)
Mediatization
4 phase process of the media gaining power in message conveyence with finally
influencing the politics :
1. media most important source of information
2. media mainly independent of political institutions
3. media content mainly governed by media logic
4. political actors mainly governed by media logic
1st phase of mediatization
media most important source of information (mediation)
2nd phase of mediatization
media mainly independent of political institutions
3rd phase of mediatization
media content mainly governed by media logic (media taken into account but not taking
over politics)
4th phase of mediatization
political actors mainly governed by media logic (politicians adapt media logic as their
logic)
moderation of mediatization
depending on political system, media system, strength of parties, make sure
mediatization doesn't go too far
5 functions of media in a democratic society
1. Information (monitoring, inform the citizens)
2. Education (explaining what events and facts mean)
3. Platform function: Exchange of ideas -> Public sphere
,4. Watchdog function: Control over politics, publicity for what politics does (wrong)
5. Channel function: Political, ideological opinions needs to find their way to the people
Threats to performing media functions
1. Politics controlling media content (lack of pluralism and independence)
2. Commercialisation, leading to decreased news quality
3. The audience not being able to process the information provided, or distinguish news
from misinformation
Conditions for performing media functions
Political communication needs to be present in the news media coverage (all political
views), while at the same time it needs to be accessible and understandable for the
public.
Control over media content
- Lack of independence of media
- Lack of internal and external pluralism
e.g. censorship, state broadcasters, political decisions over the newsroom
internal pluralism
pluralism achieved within each individual media outlet or organisation (balances political
viewpoints)
external pluralism
pluralism achieved at the level of the media system as a whole, through the existence of
a range of media outlets or organisations reflecting the points of view of different groups
in society
quality of the news media information
about commercialism, about attracting an audience as large as possible
sensational news
news which causes public excitement or interest attracting larger audience
- inclusion of sensational elements in the news
- elements of entertainment enter the news
Full News Standard
A full overview of everything that happens in the political and societal arena. Not
realistic but good starting point.
, Burglar Alarm Standard
Sensationalism so people pay attention. Threat of burglar alarm that keeps of ringing so
no one pays attention anymore.
Videomalaise
Watching information on television has negative effects on the public.
E.g. Cynicism, low trust in political institutions, low sense of "political efficacy"
serious, conventional news
political, relevant, informative
popular news
not really informative or relevant, sign of bad quality news
"public quality" news
journalists focus on the audience as citizens
proportional relevance
all groups in society should find relevant news in the news coverage
Personalisation
a prominent form of mediatization, focus on people, on indivisual politicians rather than
parties, institutions and porganisation/ a process of shift of focus form parties to
individual politicians
why personalisation?
- weakening of traditionally strong ties between voters and political parties,
depillarization, party fragmentation
-evolutions in the media environment, commercialisation, technologies, social media
who can be personalisation done by?
- people: voting for a person, rather than a party
- politics: putting individual politicians or leaders center stage
- media: representation of politics as a battle of individuals
two aspects of presonalisation
- individualisation
- privatisation
Individualisation
