Political CommunicationAn Introduction

Rhetoric Paradigm

PoliticPolitics: Who Gets What, When, and How.

Harold D. Lasswell

A political system can be designated as those interactions through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society.

(David Easton)

A political association exists if ... the enforcement of its order is carried out continually within a given territorial area by the application and threat of physical force."

(Max Weber)

Definitionspure discussion about the allocation of public resources (revenues), official authority (who is given the power to make legal, legislativeand executive decision), and official sanctions (what the state rewards or punishes).

(Denton & Woodward, 1990, p. 14)

“the exchange of symbols and messages between political actors and institutions, the general public, and news media that are the products of or have consequences for the political system”

(Meadow, 1980)

one of three intervening processes (political leadership, and group structures being the other two) by means of which political influences are mobilized and transmitted between formal governmental institutions, on the one hand, and citizens voting behavior, on the other

(Nimmo & Sanders, 1981, p.21)

Definitions

Political Communication is concerned with the interplay of communication and politics, including the transactions that occur among citizens, between citizens and their governments, and among officials within governments.

International Communication Association

Short history of political communication • Plato and Aristoteles Era

• Walter Lippman and Public Opinion

• Harold Lasswell and Propaganda Analysis

• Paul F. Lazarsfeld and the Erie County Study

• World War II and the Beginnings of Communication Study• RESEARCH ON MEDIA EFFECTS

• Agenda-Setting

• Diffusion of News Events

• NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Rogers, E. M. (2004). Theoretical diversity in political communication. In Kaid, L. L. (Ed.). (2004) Handbook of political communication research, 3-16.

Purpose of communication about politics

1. All forms of communication undertaken by politicians and other political actors for the purpose of achieving specific objectives.

2. Communication addressed to these actors by non-politicians such as voters and newspaper columnists.

3. Communication about these actors and their activities, as contained in news reports, editorials, and other forms of media discussion of politics.

(McNair, 2011, h. 4)

Traditional Model of Political Communication

(McNair, 2011)

Elements of political communication

Current Model

Lilleker, D. G. (2006). Key concepts in political communication. London: Sage.