Modern political communications / James Stanyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stanyer, James.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication in politics.

Physical Description:

xii, 222 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Polity, 2007.

Summary:

Political communication in advanced industrial democracies is in a state of flux. Traditional political communication systems, with limited and regulated media channels, stable patterns of media consumption, and identifiable party loyalty, which characterized much of the twentieth century, are giving way to ones that are less ordered and increasingly unpredictable. This book provides an accessible and comprehensive account of how governments, political parties, established media organizations and citizen audiences, in the US and the UK, are adapting to this systemic change. Against the background of audience fragmentation and widening social and political divisions, James Stanyer provides a critical appraisal of the evolving relationship of political communicators and their audience. He argues that such divisions influence citizen communicative engagement and are increasingly exacerbated by the strategic activities of political advocates and media organizations. Modern Political Communication is required reading for anyone who wants a fuller understanding of the transformation of political communication and the repercussions for democracy.

Contents:

Introduction: Actors, Systems and Systemic Trends 1

Democratic national political communication systems 2

Political communication systems in second modernity 4

The political communicator-audience nexus 7

Part I Exclusion, Intimacy and the Drive for Popular Support

1 Data-Driven Electioneering and the Costs of Exclusive Campaign Communication 19

The rise of the floating voter 20

Market research and the electorate 21

Targeted communication 26

The rising cost of campaign communication 31

The included and the excluded voter 37

2 Governing and the Push for Effective Promotion 42

The all-encompassing promotional rationale 43

Hitting the ground running 45

The unpredictable nature of governing, and worsening media relations 53

Rebutting and bypassing the news 61

The rise of 'process coverage' 65

Selling the removal of Saddam and support for the invasion of Iraq 66

3 Personalized Politics and the Erosion of Privacy 72

The rise of the recognizable politician 72

Intimate politicians 79

Disclosing and exposing the personal 81

Part II News and the Politics of Market-Driven Media

4 The News Media, their Audiences and Changing Organizational Roles: From Informing Citizens to Pleasing Consumers 95

News audiences as citizens 96

The end of the old order 100

Reconceptualizing the role of news in uncertain times 105

Serving the voter? 114

5 The Media and the Populist Political Impulse 120

Political populism 121

The media and political populism 124

Talk radio: the voice of the people or channels of resentment? 126

The British press and reactionary populism 131

The European Other 133

Part III Communicative Engagement and the Exercise of Political Voice

6 Turning On, Tuning Out? 139

A diverse but unequal citizenry 140

The interested and the disinterested citizen 141

Communicative engagement gaps 146

The vicious circle 154

7 The Rise of Self Expressive Politics 157

Opportunities for self-expression 158

'Let us know what you think': encouraging attitude expression 161

The communicating public? 166

The loudest and quietest voices 170

Young people and political attitude-expression 172

Conclusion: Political Communication in an Uncertain, Divided and Unequal Age 176

Responding to uncertainty 176

Exacerbating exclusion and division 179.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780745627977

0745627978

0745627986

9780745627984

OCLC:

74967317