Political Communication (Communication)

Modern political communication: mediated politics in uncertain times

by James Stanyer

The Creation of Political News: television and British party political conferences

by James Stanyer

BOOK CHAPTER - Posting Nationalism: Postage Stamps as Carriers of Nationalist Messages.

by Henio Hoyo

In Burbick, Joan and William R. Glass (eds.) Beyond Imagined Uniqueness: Nationalisms in Contemporary Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010 pp. 67-92.
--- Published with the permission of Cambridge Scholars Publishing ---

Items like coins, banknotes and political posters have been regarded as useful sources for research on the diffusion... more Items like coins, banknotes and political posters have been regarded as useful sources for research on the diffusion of nationalist messages. In contrast, postage stamps have been largely ignored for such purpose. My hypothesis is, stamps are “carriers” of an official national imaginary about the history, features, composition and development of the issuing nation. A first section of the paper develops this argument by presenting some key features and paradoxes of stamps, explaining how states manage and intervene in stamp design, and presenting a typology of messages about the nation that can be found on them. A second section will test my arguments by means of both a synchronic and a diachronic comparison. The first uses a sample of stamps issued by Germany on two contrasting periods (Nazi vs. Federal Republic) to find how the political and ideological changes were presented. The second comparison utilizes a sample of stamps issued by Spain and Mexico to commemorate 500 years of the arrival of Columbus to the American continent. It analyzes if, and how, those stamps offer contrasting visions regarding an episode that is so crucial for the national narratives of each.

The Politics of U.S. Television Coverage of Post-Communist Countries

by Ivan Katchanovski

Ivan Katchanovski and Alicen R. Morley, Problems of Post-Communism, Volume 59, Number 1, January/February 2012, pp 15-30.

A link is to an earlier version of the paper which was presented at the Post-Communist Politics and Economics Workshop at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University

An analysis of the coverage of post-communist countries by the major U.S. television networks from 1998 to 2009... more An analysis of the coverage of post-communist countries by the major U.S. television networks from 1998 to 2009 reveals that U.S. allies receive more positive coverage than do non-allies or adversaries and that there are systematic biases in the representation of many post-Soviet countries.

Political debate on weblogs: a virtual public sphere for deliberation?

by Gil Ferreira

REPRESENTATIONS OF 11/9 IN FOUR GREEK NEWSPAPERS; A FRAMES PERSPECTIVE

by Athanassios N. Samaras

English translation of the essay :
Samaras Ath.N. (2005) “Représentations du 11-Septembre dans Quatre Journaux Grecs. Une Question de Cadrage”, Questions De Communication, Vol. 8 (p.367-388).

The  terrorist attack on the Word Trade Center on the 11/9 led to the development of the War of Terrorism master... more The  terrorist attack on the Word Trade Center on the 11/9 led to the development of the War of Terrorism master frame in the USA. The message of the  military operations as well as all the other measures taken by the Bush administration in response to 11/9 has been coded according to this master frame. In Greece these events have been filtered by the Anti-Americanism master frame that has already been formulated by the Greek media in respond to Kosovo bombing. This paper examines the framing of the 11/9 and of the consequent reactions of the Bush administration in the editorial columns of four  Greek newspapers. This paper is divided in three sections. The first section presents the tool kit of frame theory and relates it with the domains of foreign policy and international communication . The second one explores the development of the War on Terrorism and the Anti-Americanism master frames and the third analyses the attributes of the editorials of the Greek newspapers.
Contrary to the  War on Terrorism master frame which decontextualizes the terrorist activity from its conditions and focuses on the terrorists, the victims, the future dangers and the punitive actions. The Anti-Americanism master frame contextualizes the terrorist attack; focuses on the wider conditions and by doing so it  explains terrorism. The responsibility for 11/9 is directed mainly to the USA for creating the conditions that resulted to the terrorist attack. The reactions of the USA to the 11/9 and the USA attack to Afghanistan are framed in terms of dominance rather than defense. The USA is presented predominantly as acting rather than reacting while its acts are largely framed by the strategic frame and more specifically the geo-strategic frame.

Television Political Advertising Spot In Greece; A Quantitative Analysis. Book in Greek

by Athanassios N. Samaras

Σαμαράς Αθ.Ν. (2003) “Τηλεοπτική Πολιτική Διαφήμιση, Μία Ποσοτική Προσέγγιση για την Ελλάδα”,  Αθήνα: Ινστιτούτο Οπτικοακουστικών Μέσων. Σελ.140

Campaigning under the Shadow of the Annan Plan: The 2004 EP Elections in Cyprus'

by Athanassios N. Samaras

Samaras Ath.N. and Kentas G. (2006) “Campaigning Under the Shadow of the Annan Plan: The 2004 Elections in Cyprus”, in Maier M. and Tenscher J. (Eds.) Campaigning in Europe – Campaigning for Europe, (p.171-187), Bonn:Lit Publishers.

This paper deals with the European Parliament (EP) elections in Cyprus. In the first section, we present the Cyprus... more This paper deals with the European Parliament (EP) elections in Cyprus. In the first section, we present the Cyprus crisis. In the second section we portray Cyprus’ route to EU accession, as well as the political attitudes and expectations toward that accession. In the third section, we examine the political milieu surrounding the June 2004 EP elections. In the fourth section the political campaign is presented. Finally, we briefly describe the election’s results.
The post elections discourse in Cyprus, framed by the horse-race, masks the actual story of the EP campaign in Cyprus, which is the challenge that the “pro-anti Plan” cleavage poses to the “right-left” cleavage. In the post-referendum era the party system was given the opportunity for realignment, and the EP campaign was the critical incident for this to happen. However, what happened instead was that the party system absorbed the pressures created by the referendum without extensive restructuring occurring.

POLITICAL ADVERTISING IN GREECE: BETWEEN PARTISANSHIP AND MEDIA LOGIC

by Athanassios N. Samaras

Samaras Ath.N. and Papathanassopoulos S. (2006) “Political Advertising in Greece: Between Partisanship and Media Logic” in Kaid L.L. and Holtz-Bacha C. (Επιμ.) International Handbook of Political Advertising, (p.211-226) Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

This paper examines television political advertising spot in Greece. The content of the political advertising spots is... more This paper examines television political advertising spot in Greece. The content of the political advertising spots is being analyzed quantitatively with a version of the “elements of videostyle” codebook that has been adapted to the peculiarities of the Greek case and the necessities of a party-centric system. The analysis includes the partisanship or the spots, issue vs. image, specificity of issue references, positive vs. negative and prospective vs. retrospective focus.
The erosion of partisanship at the level of the electorate -both as a positive sense of affect upon a party and as an antithesis against a party - have affected negatively the partisanship in the content of the spots. This took place not because the parties lost control of the format but due to the fact that they have incorporated the new developments into the formulation of their campaign strategy. Moreover the rise of new leaderships in both major parties and its actualization for reasons of re-branding the party affected negatively the partisanship of the spots. The transfer of positive attributes from the image of the new leader to the image of the candidacy and eventually to the image of the party led to a decline in the emphasis of the party. This is not tantamount to the rise of personality politics according to the US model. The party leader personifies the party and thus, he operates within the partisan context.
The gradual erosion of partisanship at the level of the audience affected the capacity of the parties to activate partisanship through negativity. This affected certain attributes of the spot: there has been a decrease in retrospection and in the negative references to the opponent party as well a decrease in the use of the anonymous announcer, who operated as the party voice. On the other hand, there was an increase in the use of ordinary people in order to deliver the attack. It seems that the vocabulary of binary opposition that shaped negativity in the early and middle 1990s has been gradually wearing off.

The 2004 Parliamentary Elections in Greece: Chronicle of a Defeat Foretold

by Athanassios N. Samaras

Samaras Ath.N. (2005) “The 2004 Parliamentary Elections in Greece: Chronicle of a Defeat Foretold” in Election Time – The European Yearbook of Political Campaigning 2004, (page.105-132),  Austria: European Association of Political Consultants.

This paper presents a detailed and thorough analysis of  the party campaigns for the elections of  2004 in... more This paper presents a detailed and thorough analysis of  the party campaigns for the elections of  2004 in Greece. The paper includes:  analysis of the Greek party system and its historical transformations; analysis of the electoral law in Greece and its impact on campaigning; presentation of the campaign events and analysis of parties’ strategies. Focal points of the analysis are: the interplay between the image of the party leader and the party tag in formulating the image of the campaign, the failure of the politico-economic cycle to carry the particular election for the PASOK administration and the strategic employment of negative campaign in order to prime divisive lines in Greek society (the “hard-rock strategy”).  Moreover Incumbent and challenger strategies are analyzed and the phenomenon of the pseudo-challenger is identified.

REPRÉSENTATIONS DU 11-SEPTEMBREReprésentations du 11-Septembre dans Quatre Journaux Grecs. Une Question de Cadrage

by Athanassios N. Samaras

Samaras Ath.N. (2005) “Représentations du 11-Septembre dans Quatre Journaux Grecs. Une Question de Cadrage”, Questions De Communication, Issue 8 (page.367-388). (in French)

The  terrorist attack on the Word Trade Center on the 11/9 led to the development of the War of Terrorism master... more The  terrorist attack on the Word Trade Center on the 11/9 led to the development of the War of Terrorism master frame in the USA. The message of the  military operations as well as all the other measures taken by the Bush administration in response to 11/9 has been coded according to this master frame. In Greece these events have been filtered by the Anti-Americanism master frame that has already been formulated by the Greek media in respond to Kosovo bombing. This paper examines the framing of the 11/9 and of the consequent reactions of the Bush administration in the editorial columns of four  Greek newspapers. This paper is divided in three sections. The first section presents the tool kit of frame theory and relates it with the domains of foreign policy and international communication . The second one explores the development of the War on Terrorism and the Anti-Americanism master frames and the third analyses the attributes of the editorials of the Greek newspapers.

Aspectos metodológicos en la investigación sobre medios, juventud y actitudes políticas: estudios cualitativos y cuantitativos. Ponencia presentada en el XXIII Encuentro nacional AMIC; Pachuca, Hidalgo, 2011

by Isabela Corduneanu

The Polarizing Influence of Fragmented Media: Lessons From Howard Dean

by Benjamin Warner

Co-authored with Ryan Neville-Shepard

This article argues that digital media, by fragmenting people into ideologically homogeneous interest groups,... more This article argues that digital media, by fragmenting people into ideologically homogeneous interest groups, polarizes society. Further, this polarization risks the transformation of agonistic
political engagement into antagonistic ideological combat. As evidence of this danger, the authors examine the case of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential primary blogs. In these blogs, a rhetorical vision emerges of a dramatic fight between Dean’s heroic supporters and the villainous Republicans, media elite, and Democratic challengers. Examples from Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign blogs are offered as a counterpoint to the antagonism found in Dean’s blogs. The authors argue that the type of political drama evident in the Dean blogs invite antagonism that undermines cross-group cooperation and thus weakens democratic culture.

Segmenting the Electorate: The Effects of Exposure to Political Extremism Online

by Benjamin Warner

Who’s in Charge? Reflections of News Management in the Portuguese Newspapers. Governments’ Real and Alleged Intervention

by Ricardo Cruz

Co-authored with Ricardo Fernandes.

Several studies in the field of media and political power deal with the relationship between media and democracy,... more Several studies in the field of media and political power deal with the relationship between media and democracy, highlighting pluralism as an important aspect in democracies (Karppinen, 2007: 495). However, as far as the relations of political power and media are concerned, the main issue is whether politicians define the political reality, or the media set their own vision of the political events. Whoever wins this duel controls public opinion (Schörder and Phillips, 2007: 890). This notion of the way the world is understood represents, as far as media is concerned, the way journalists understand events and convey that understanding to their audiences (Canel et al., 2007: 1).

This study is an analysis of how media reflect a supposed attempt of intervention by the political powers. To do so, a qualitative and quantitative approach of media framing studies will be carried out, rooted on a supposed attempt of intervention by the political powers. The object of analysis are the main Portuguese newspapers, during a specific timeframe after an alleged intervention of the state in the media ecosystem.
The reaction observed by the media may be one of the following: on the one hand, the media adopt an interpretative form of journalism, reflecting a strategy to counteract an alleged intervention of the political powers, associated to a specific attitude of interference by the government; on the other hand, a conformist attitude towards alleged or confirmed state intervention may also be observed, demonstrated by a predominance of a descriptive form of journalism.

Mightier than the sword

by Dan Binns

Composed for a Public Relations subject assessment in 2008.

We live in a society of speed. From the short black to the Big Mac to the humble two-minute noodle, modern society has... more We live in a society of speed. From the short black to the Big Mac to the humble two-minute noodle, modern society has become a blur of thrift and alacrity. With the advent of the internet people have also created a need for connectedness; wireless networks, mobile phone internet and 24-hour net cafes provide such communication opportunities. And for an allegedly growingly apathetic populace, we seem to consume an awful lot of news and media services. But just how much do the mainstream media dictate the subjects that arise in our interactions with other people? By examining existing research on political rhetoric in the late Twentieth and early Twenty-First Centuries, and the effects the mainstream media can have on contemporaneous social discourse, this essay will posit that socio-political agendas are integrated not only into political language, but permeate every aspect of modern life. In addition, society’s obsession with speed has had an effect on the modern vernacular. This will be explored, and furthermore, these examinations will be justified via an assessment alongside time-honored public relations theory.

Introduction: Field theory as a work in progress

by Rodney Benson

Field theory in comparative context: A new paradigm for media studies

by Rodney Benson

Shaping the Public Sphere: Habermas and Beyond

by Rodney Benson

What makes for a critical press? A case study of French and US immigration news coverage

by Rodney Benson