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Political communication
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Political communication
Political communication is the practice or study of political messaging, e.g. in political campaigns, speeches and political advertising, often within the mass media. As an interdisciplinary subfield it is located between communication studies and political science. Political communication is concerned with ideas such as information flow, political influence, policy making, news, and public opinion. The subfield also focuses on the study of political social media, propaganda, political economy of communication and non-profit organisations that communicate to affect political processes. Modern societal changes that have affected the subfield include the digitization of media, polarization and a movement towards a post-truth media environment.
Political communication has existed since antiquity. During this era it was common for rulers to use symbols and monuments to communicate power and authority to the masses. In ancient Greece, public speeches such as those delivered by Pericles in Athens, played a crucial role in shaping political discourse and rallying public support for war efforts.
During the era of the Roman Empire, political communication took on a more sophisticated form with the use of propaganda, rhetoric, and public spectacles in order to try and influence public opinion. Figures famed for their political communication skills include Cicero.
After the creation of the print media with the dawn of the modern printing press in modern industrial Britain, this led to the ability to create modern mass media in the 20th century, which transformed political communication, giving rise to new forms of propaganda, advertising, and public relations. Political leaders such as Winston Churchill and Franklin. D. Roosevelt utilized radio broadcasts to reach millions of listeners during times of crisis and war. Edward S. Herman notes that the expensive nature of the printing press meant that early on in the technology's existence, labour and co-operative organisations were easily priced out of the press media market due to capital constraints, meaning that corporations obtained an early grip on the market. Herman therefore argues that this meant early on in the mass media of Britain, corporate right-wing voices would self-select editors to run their newspapers, stopping organised working class and left-wing voices from participating in the mass media market.
During the 1990s and the early 2000s political spin had become common place as a form of political communication, with these political communicators known as spin doctors . For example governments like Tony Blair's in The United Kingdom and George W. Bush were known for this. Tony Blair's Press Secretary Alistair Campbell, who was previously a journalist, had the job of spinning bad situations that showed the British government in a bad light, by using press briefings with the British media. Campbell became an influential and controversial addition to the political communication toolkit of Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom. This practice became standard in subsequent governments in Western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, with dedicated 'briefing rooms' whereby members of government address and communicate with the countries' press, which have came to be known as spin rooms.
Today, due to the diversification of media during the digital age, political communication now also includes online platforms like social media, free online news channels on services like YouTube, X (previously Twitter), Meta platforms and online News Websites. This has changed how the public and voters receive their political news and information. For example Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 are notable for mobilizing supporters, as they helped innovate the use of social media to engage voters and raise funds. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's successful 2019 Presidential Campaign also featured heavy usage of social media posts.
Today, Political communication continues to evolve quickly, as new technologies such as AI and big data analytics have begun to reshape how campaigns can target and persuade voters. However, this has led to large concerns regarding misinformation, echo chambers, and online polarization. Recent election manipulation events like the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal have now become an issue. The company was found to have assisted Donald Trump's election campaign by unethically mining user's Facebook data, exemplifying increased levels of distrust of corporate and political institutions by the public.
There are several actors that can participate in political communication. John Zaller states that there are three key actors within the political communication public environment that compete with each other to obtain their own goals: citizens, journalists (via the news media) and politicians. Specifically Zaller states that there are three key tensions: between the journalists and citizens whereby journalists want to produce news that is too sophisticated for citizens, between politicians and journalists whereby both actors want to control the content of the news, and politicians and the citizens whereby citizens want accountable politicians and politicians may want to dodge that responsibility.
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Political communication
Political communication is the practice or study of political messaging, e.g. in political campaigns, speeches and political advertising, often within the mass media. As an interdisciplinary subfield it is located between communication studies and political science. Political communication is concerned with ideas such as information flow, political influence, policy making, news, and public opinion. The subfield also focuses on the study of political social media, propaganda, political economy of communication and non-profit organisations that communicate to affect political processes. Modern societal changes that have affected the subfield include the digitization of media, polarization and a movement towards a post-truth media environment.
Political communication has existed since antiquity. During this era it was common for rulers to use symbols and monuments to communicate power and authority to the masses. In ancient Greece, public speeches such as those delivered by Pericles in Athens, played a crucial role in shaping political discourse and rallying public support for war efforts.
During the era of the Roman Empire, political communication took on a more sophisticated form with the use of propaganda, rhetoric, and public spectacles in order to try and influence public opinion. Figures famed for their political communication skills include Cicero.
After the creation of the print media with the dawn of the modern printing press in modern industrial Britain, this led to the ability to create modern mass media in the 20th century, which transformed political communication, giving rise to new forms of propaganda, advertising, and public relations. Political leaders such as Winston Churchill and Franklin. D. Roosevelt utilized radio broadcasts to reach millions of listeners during times of crisis and war. Edward S. Herman notes that the expensive nature of the printing press meant that early on in the technology's existence, labour and co-operative organisations were easily priced out of the press media market due to capital constraints, meaning that corporations obtained an early grip on the market. Herman therefore argues that this meant early on in the mass media of Britain, corporate right-wing voices would self-select editors to run their newspapers, stopping organised working class and left-wing voices from participating in the mass media market.
During the 1990s and the early 2000s political spin had become common place as a form of political communication, with these political communicators known as spin doctors . For example governments like Tony Blair's in The United Kingdom and George W. Bush were known for this. Tony Blair's Press Secretary Alistair Campbell, who was previously a journalist, had the job of spinning bad situations that showed the British government in a bad light, by using press briefings with the British media. Campbell became an influential and controversial addition to the political communication toolkit of Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom. This practice became standard in subsequent governments in Western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, with dedicated 'briefing rooms' whereby members of government address and communicate with the countries' press, which have came to be known as spin rooms.
Today, due to the diversification of media during the digital age, political communication now also includes online platforms like social media, free online news channels on services like YouTube, X (previously Twitter), Meta platforms and online News Websites. This has changed how the public and voters receive their political news and information. For example Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012 are notable for mobilizing supporters, as they helped innovate the use of social media to engage voters and raise funds. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's successful 2019 Presidential Campaign also featured heavy usage of social media posts.
Today, Political communication continues to evolve quickly, as new technologies such as AI and big data analytics have begun to reshape how campaigns can target and persuade voters. However, this has led to large concerns regarding misinformation, echo chambers, and online polarization. Recent election manipulation events like the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal have now become an issue. The company was found to have assisted Donald Trump's election campaign by unethically mining user's Facebook data, exemplifying increased levels of distrust of corporate and political institutions by the public.
There are several actors that can participate in political communication. John Zaller states that there are three key actors within the political communication public environment that compete with each other to obtain their own goals: citizens, journalists (via the news media) and politicians. Specifically Zaller states that there are three key tensions: between the journalists and citizens whereby journalists want to produce news that is too sophisticated for citizens, between politicians and journalists whereby both actors want to control the content of the news, and politicians and the citizens whereby citizens want accountable politicians and politicians may want to dodge that responsibility.
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