Lecture 1
Five Principles in Political Communication:
1. Political power can usually be translated into power over all forms of media.
2. When the powerfull lose control over the political environment they also lose control
over all forms of media.
3. There is no such thing as objective journalism (nor can there be). ‘Every political story that
appears in every form of media is biased’
4. All forms of media are dedicated more than anything else to telling a good story. This can
often have a major impact on the political process.
5. Many of the most important effects of the various forms of media tend to be unintentional
and unnoticed.
Media and politics: competitive symbiosis/ mutual dependence: publicity vs information: each side of the
relationship attempts to exploit the other at the minimum cost (Wolfsfeld)
Political power = media power
Front door: the powerful are always relevant and thus get more/ automatic media access and positive media
coverage. (also the elites)
Back door: the ‘powerless’ have to work hard/ make themselves relevant/ interesting to get into the media.
Side door: civil disobedience.
Be aware that all media have to be funded. Some are funded by governments: they have a lot of resources
but are ‘blinded’ because they are heavenly controlled. Others don’t have as much resources and are
therefore chained at the foot, they cannot write everything they want.
Herman and Chomsky describe US media as a business who sells a product to other businesses, the
consumer = audience:
They sell you: your time, your data, your attention
è US media fails to perform democratic tasks and are basically akin to propaganda systems in
totalitarian states
è Media is an essence against democracy
è Self-censorship: if you have an opinion against the elite, you don’t get a stage, you cannot talk (about
that) on tv
è News is just a ‘filler’ to get the privileged audience to see advertisements
Media as ‘democratic watchdog’
- Media takes initiative
- Investigative reporting
- Independent scrutiny (streng toezicht)
- Documenting, questioning and investigating
- Provide public and officials with timely information
Michel Foucault:
‘Power is everywhere’: diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and ‘regimes of the truth.’ Norms
are embedded beyond our perception – causing us to discipline ourselves without any willful coercion from
others. Panopticism: the systematic ordering and controlling of human populations through subtle and often
unseen forces (surveillance technique).
, è The truth is the truth of the powerholders: dominant theories
Power = the intentional production of causal effect. The ability to overcome opposition. It’s always
hierarchical
You can’t change power systems when staying inside, you must create a new system to change the old one
Power relations are hierarchical relations between principle and subaltern
Ideological hegemony: most news that’s being broadcasted has been filtered to express a dominant
ideology: 5 filters:
1. Size and ownership: powerful actors want control over the media: musk buying Twitter, Warner
Bro’s & Disney owning multiple broadcasting companies.
2. Advertising: news media cater to economic interests of advertisers.
3. Sourcing: er moet nieuws blijven flowen, powerful actors know how to make this news: hapklare
brokken sturen en het wordt gepubliceerd, daarom is er ook bijna altijd nieuws over koningshuis of
tweede kamer, want dat is lekker makkelijk
è Consequences; non-routine news often not reported & deviant opinions become marginalized.
4. Flak: afweergeschut, bedreigingen schieten ze neer. Aka negative responses to a media statement.
5. Anti-ideology and fear: artificial fears are created, because when people are frightened, they listen to
authority. e.g. Europe and extreme Islam/ terrorism
Artikel Mullen & Klaehn: The Herman- Chomsky Propoganda Model: A Critical Approach to
Analyzing Mass Media Behavior
Understanding society, politics and the media:
- Liberal-pluralist view:
o There exist different opinions, worldviews etc. most popular ones will be reflected in laws
and policies adopted by the political system.
o Media as fourth estate/ watchdog of those who exercise power.
- Critical-Marxist view:
o Reflects the class-based nature of societies and the laws and policies that are enacted are
those that serve to bring about and to maintain ruling class domination and exploitation.
o The media use frameworks that are interesting to the dominant classes and media audiences
(Addition to lecture 1)
There is a 6th filter element: the ‘buying out’ of individual journalists or their media by intelligence agencies,
other government bodies and/ or special interest groups.
Marginalization of the model:
- First wave of criticism: dismissal (80’s & 90’s)
- Second wave of criticism: engagement (2000’s)
- People accept it more, very useful, but still a lot of criticism
They also changed model from news media to all forms of media.
,
, Lecture 2
A cause-and-effect type of relationship: An event alters the political landscape which the media is forced
to respond to. Politics are then further impacted by the media’s coverage of the initial event. Politicians react
again and so on…
Consider framing & mutual dependence
è Mediatisation theory: influence of the media is increasing: actors adapt to ‘media logic’ as a
strategy, media logic influences political behavior
o Self-mediatisation: tailor message offering. i.e., bringing bad news on a Friday, because
there is (almost) no news coverage in the weekend (media impacts the news)
o 4-dimensional conceptualization of the mediatisation of politics (goes 1à 2à 3à 4 so 1à
4)
o Political logic:
§ Polity: the institutional and formal framework of politics
§ Policy: Policy- and decision-based production of politics
§ Politics: Power-and publicity-gaining presentational politics
o News media logic:
§ Professionalism: News production according to distinctively journalistic norms and
criteria
§ Commercialism: News production according to economically motivated rationales
§ Media technology: News production according to different media technologies’
affordances
o Consequences mediatisation:
§ Increased complicity (medeplichtigheid)
§ High rhythm of (shallow) news production
§ Dramatic incidents: reporting context-less of one-off failures
§ Stereotyping minorities and other vulnerable groups
§ Distorted depiction of reality: i.e., crime and violence, people think it has increased,
but it has decreased
è Indexing theory: source dependency causes focus on political elite: range of views in media
‘indexed’ by elite views. Powerful politicians can most easily get good media attention (they need it)
o ‘News media are major agents for maintaining and intensifying the power gaps in society’
Five Principles in Political Communication:
1. Political power can usually be translated into power over all forms of media.
2. When the powerfull lose control over the political environment they also lose control
over all forms of media.
3. There is no such thing as objective journalism (nor can there be). ‘Every political story that
appears in every form of media is biased’
4. All forms of media are dedicated more than anything else to telling a good story. This can
often have a major impact on the political process.
5. Many of the most important effects of the various forms of media tend to be unintentional
and unnoticed.
Media and politics: competitive symbiosis/ mutual dependence: publicity vs information: each side of the
relationship attempts to exploit the other at the minimum cost (Wolfsfeld)
Political power = media power
Front door: the powerful are always relevant and thus get more/ automatic media access and positive media
coverage. (also the elites)
Back door: the ‘powerless’ have to work hard/ make themselves relevant/ interesting to get into the media.
Side door: civil disobedience.
Be aware that all media have to be funded. Some are funded by governments: they have a lot of resources
but are ‘blinded’ because they are heavenly controlled. Others don’t have as much resources and are
therefore chained at the foot, they cannot write everything they want.
Herman and Chomsky describe US media as a business who sells a product to other businesses, the
consumer = audience:
They sell you: your time, your data, your attention
è US media fails to perform democratic tasks and are basically akin to propaganda systems in
totalitarian states
è Media is an essence against democracy
è Self-censorship: if you have an opinion against the elite, you don’t get a stage, you cannot talk (about
that) on tv
è News is just a ‘filler’ to get the privileged audience to see advertisements
Media as ‘democratic watchdog’
- Media takes initiative
- Investigative reporting
- Independent scrutiny (streng toezicht)
- Documenting, questioning and investigating
- Provide public and officials with timely information
Michel Foucault:
‘Power is everywhere’: diffused and embodied in discourse, knowledge and ‘regimes of the truth.’ Norms
are embedded beyond our perception – causing us to discipline ourselves without any willful coercion from
others. Panopticism: the systematic ordering and controlling of human populations through subtle and often
unseen forces (surveillance technique).
, è The truth is the truth of the powerholders: dominant theories
Power = the intentional production of causal effect. The ability to overcome opposition. It’s always
hierarchical
You can’t change power systems when staying inside, you must create a new system to change the old one
Power relations are hierarchical relations between principle and subaltern
Ideological hegemony: most news that’s being broadcasted has been filtered to express a dominant
ideology: 5 filters:
1. Size and ownership: powerful actors want control over the media: musk buying Twitter, Warner
Bro’s & Disney owning multiple broadcasting companies.
2. Advertising: news media cater to economic interests of advertisers.
3. Sourcing: er moet nieuws blijven flowen, powerful actors know how to make this news: hapklare
brokken sturen en het wordt gepubliceerd, daarom is er ook bijna altijd nieuws over koningshuis of
tweede kamer, want dat is lekker makkelijk
è Consequences; non-routine news often not reported & deviant opinions become marginalized.
4. Flak: afweergeschut, bedreigingen schieten ze neer. Aka negative responses to a media statement.
5. Anti-ideology and fear: artificial fears are created, because when people are frightened, they listen to
authority. e.g. Europe and extreme Islam/ terrorism
Artikel Mullen & Klaehn: The Herman- Chomsky Propoganda Model: A Critical Approach to
Analyzing Mass Media Behavior
Understanding society, politics and the media:
- Liberal-pluralist view:
o There exist different opinions, worldviews etc. most popular ones will be reflected in laws
and policies adopted by the political system.
o Media as fourth estate/ watchdog of those who exercise power.
- Critical-Marxist view:
o Reflects the class-based nature of societies and the laws and policies that are enacted are
those that serve to bring about and to maintain ruling class domination and exploitation.
o The media use frameworks that are interesting to the dominant classes and media audiences
(Addition to lecture 1)
There is a 6th filter element: the ‘buying out’ of individual journalists or their media by intelligence agencies,
other government bodies and/ or special interest groups.
Marginalization of the model:
- First wave of criticism: dismissal (80’s & 90’s)
- Second wave of criticism: engagement (2000’s)
- People accept it more, very useful, but still a lot of criticism
They also changed model from news media to all forms of media.
,
, Lecture 2
A cause-and-effect type of relationship: An event alters the political landscape which the media is forced
to respond to. Politics are then further impacted by the media’s coverage of the initial event. Politicians react
again and so on…
Consider framing & mutual dependence
è Mediatisation theory: influence of the media is increasing: actors adapt to ‘media logic’ as a
strategy, media logic influences political behavior
o Self-mediatisation: tailor message offering. i.e., bringing bad news on a Friday, because
there is (almost) no news coverage in the weekend (media impacts the news)
o 4-dimensional conceptualization of the mediatisation of politics (goes 1à 2à 3à 4 so 1à
4)
o Political logic:
§ Polity: the institutional and formal framework of politics
§ Policy: Policy- and decision-based production of politics
§ Politics: Power-and publicity-gaining presentational politics
o News media logic:
§ Professionalism: News production according to distinctively journalistic norms and
criteria
§ Commercialism: News production according to economically motivated rationales
§ Media technology: News production according to different media technologies’
affordances
o Consequences mediatisation:
§ Increased complicity (medeplichtigheid)
§ High rhythm of (shallow) news production
§ Dramatic incidents: reporting context-less of one-off failures
§ Stereotyping minorities and other vulnerable groups
§ Distorted depiction of reality: i.e., crime and violence, people think it has increased,
but it has decreased
è Indexing theory: source dependency causes focus on political elite: range of views in media
‘indexed’ by elite views. Powerful politicians can most easily get good media attention (they need it)
o ‘News media are major agents for maintaining and intensifying the power gaps in society’
