Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

Eleni Kioumi

MA in Communication Policy Studies – City University London, UK Member of the board and representative of the Public Relations

Association of Northern Greece Smirnis 14, 55236 Panorama Thessaloniki

Tel. +30 2310 345983Fax. +30 2310 341835

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Refereed paper presented to the 4th International Political Marketing Conference

Sinaia, Romania19 April – 21 April 2007

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of aLeader

ABSTRACT. Political communication and political marketing

techniques are nowadays an important part of every

political campaign, in national or local level, in most

of the contemporary western democracies. The influence of

the public opinion is a primary goal of every political

communication campaign. Given the fact that the media are

the main source of information for the majority of the

public, they play a crucial role in most of the

campaigns, especially those in national level. In Greece

the use of political communication consultants has

developed radically the last few years, a fact that will

also be thoroughly presented.

[Keywords: political communication, political marketing,

media, Greek elections, media use in campaign periods,

political communication in Greece.]

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Introduction

Political communication is nowadays one of the most

crucial elements for politicians and political parties.

Political communication advisors play an important role

in the effective leadership activities of a modern

democratic country. It is a fact that most political

actors, in national or local level, consult on a

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permanent basis political communication companies, which

in turn develop strategies based on the person’s or

party’s needs. Given the rate of media penetration,

particularly television, their importance should be

obvious for political communication advisors.

The link between media and political communication

is much more evident during an election period, when all

the attention is focused on politicians, political

parties, their positions, and their actions. Generally,

though, apart from election periods, media are able to

promote, construct and even destroy the profile of a

leader and/or governmental policies.

Greece doesn’t seem to be an exception in either of

the cases suggested above. It seems that the role of the

media and political communication has in fact become more

crucial throughout the years.

At first, political communication was largely

connected by the public to the attraction of media

attention, publicity and advertising. Nowadays, most

election campaigns in Greece are planned in detail,

according to the principles of one, or segments of

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numerous, political marketing strategy. Furthermore, the

influence of political communication advisors has evolved

and is beginning to affect leadership activities.

Despite the fact that the role of political

communication consultants in leadership activities can be

characterised as highly controversial, it is unrealistic

to suggest that such phenomena can not be identified in

recent Greek administrations, national or local.

In this paper we will try to explain in what ways

political communication techniques, especially those that

involve media, are affecting political campaigns and the

creation of the profile of a leader. First, we shall

present the social environment of contemporary political

communication. Second, basic terms in political

communication and political marketing will be explained,

along with the presentation of techniques and strategies.

Third, the special role of the media will be determined

in relation to political communication and election

campaigns. Next, we will present the Greek phenomenon,

namely how and in what extend do political communication

advisors in Greece use the media. Finally, the case of a

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Greek politician and candidate in the local elections in

2006 will highlight recent evolutions in the field of

political communication in local elections in Greece.

The social environment of contemporary political

communication

Political communication can not be characterised as

a recent phenomenon. Politicians around the world have

always had a type of political communication consultant,

in the form of someone trustful to give them advices and

make suggestions. Even though main characteristics and

techniques have changed radically, the fact is that

political communication has always been there. The

political communication consultant of our time may be

totally different from a consultant from another age, but

his importance could be considered higher.

The social, technological, economic, political

changes have very much affected the practice of political

communication. According to Blumler and Kavanagh (1999)

recent social trends, such as modernization – social

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fragmentation and the emergence of identity politics;

individualization – emphasis on the personal needs and reduced

interest for politics; secularization – decreased status of

politicians and party loyalty; economization – increased

power of economic factors that now may influence the

political agenda and other social areas; aestheticization –

people are more preoccupied with image, fashion and

style; rationalization – everything is based on research and

the use of techniques; and “mediatization” – increased

influence of the media – have a strong effect on

political communication.

Another key notion of contemporary political

communication and election campaigning that question many

scholars (Kavanagh, 1995, Negrine, 1996, Swanson and

Mancini, 1996, Negrine and Papathanassopoulos, 1996,

Blumler and Gurevitch, 2001) is “Americanization”, which

supports the idea of a leading country, based on the fact

that most political communication strategies originate in

the US. The particular notion may not be quite new, but

“it has gained greater currency as the mass media, and

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television in particular, have moved to centre stage in

social and political life”, (Negrine, 1996, p.149).

For Blumler and Gurevitch (2001, p.380), the notion

“Americanization” is globalization’s “junior brother”.

Swanson and Mancini (1996, p.4) define the term based on

the hypothesis that “campaigning in democracies around

the world is becoming more and more Americanized as

candidates, political parties, and news media take cues

from their counterparts in the United States. Many

campaign methods and practices that have been adopted by

other countries developed first in the United States, so

Americanization suggests itself as an easy

characterization of this pattern of innovation. The

appropriateness of the term is contested, however, by

some who argue that surface similarities obscure

important national adaptations and variations”.

It is a fact that there are similarities in the

political communication practices in the countries that

they are used. We may also stress that most of the

practices first appear and develop in the US. All these,

of course, do not imply that we are facing a complete

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imitation of American practices. The cultural, political

and legal differences between the countries lead to the

adaptation of practices according to each country’s

characteristics. Campaigning practices may present

similarities but they couldn’t be exactly the same.

(Blumler and Gurevitch, 2001)

As a general comment we will state that the notion

of Americanization can not fully describe or explain the

changes in the field of political communication. In fact,

scholars tend to discard this notion as highly

controversial and oversimplified. For instance,

Plasser’s, Sheucher’s and Senft’s (1999) research tries

to examine whether there is a European style of political

marketing and if so, how it has evolved. Probably, the

most important similarity is the actual use of political

communication and political marketing in every election

campaign in most of the developed and developing

countries. Still, the techniques and practices are

employed according to the special characteristics and

needs of each country.

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Discarding the notion of Americanization, Swanson

and Mancini (1996) suggest that the more general process

of “modernization”, which as we stated is also adopted by

Blumler and Kavanagh (1999), is primarily responsible for

the changes. Modernization is responsible for

developments and changes in the society that go far

beyond politics or communication. Consequently, “the more

advanced is the process of modernization in a country,

the more likely we are to find innovations in campaigning

being adopted and adapted”, (Swanson and Mancini, 1996,

p.6). Let us now see how modernization relates to

political communication.

A structural characteristic of modernization is the

increasing social complexity. By that we mean the intense

procedure of social differentiation and fragmentation and

the development of citizens’ identities. As we have

already seen the creation of social groups affects the

political process leading to the decrease of party

loyalty and the personalization of politics, with

emphasis on politicians rather than parties. Media, also,

play a significant role in this evolution. Especially

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television favours and promotes personalization, a fact

evident in every contemporary political advertisement.

(Mancini and Swanson, 1996) “Increasing social complexity

and its associated transformations in politics and

government and in the status of mass media produce what

amounts to an epochal change in all spheres of community

life that formerly performed political function” (Mancini

and Swanson, 1996, p.12)

The key elements of modern, or modernized,

campaigning, according to Swanson and Mancini (1996) are:

the personalization of politics; the “scientificization”

of politics, a term first used by Habermas in the 1960s

and is related to the increasing role of political

communication consultants, advertisers and technical

experts, which resulted to a candidate centered campaign;

the detachment of parties from citizens, and; the

autonomous structures of communication. Modern media are

more powerful, more independent and more focused on their

interests and needs. This makes politicians more depended

on them, since the media set the issues of the agenda.

Media are also responsible for the last element of modern

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campaigning, which is spectatorship instead of

citizenship. This is highly connected to infotainment and

the fact that contemporary campaigns are seen as

spectacles, rather than part of the political and

democratic process.

So far we have determined the social environment in

which political communication has evolved. This

environment seems to apply to most of the western

democracies, developed and developing. Next, we shall

present the ways the new environment affects political

communication and the techniques and strategies of

political marketing.

Political communication and political marketing:

Techniques & Strategies

Political communication, a “purposeful communication

about politics” according to McNair (2003, p.4), and

political marketing techniques and strategies have

experienced several evolutions throughout the years and

given the social changes.

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According to Blumler and Kavanagh (1999, p.213)

political communication is now at its Third Age. This new

age is still emerging and “is marked by the proliferation

of the main means of communication, media abundance,

ubiquity, reach, and celebrity”. The multiplication of

television channels and radio stations – with cable and

satellite technology, and the still evolving digitization

of the signal – as well as the multiplication of

television and radio sets in houses and cars made it

possible that people constantly receive vast information.

Computers and the Internet made it even easier for the

circulation of ideas, political news and messages. Blogs

and social networks are a whole new platform for the

politicians and their advisors.

This new circumstances led to the emergence of a

more complicated political communication form.

Politicians and journalists were forced to keep up with

the continuous news creation, they had to comment on or

present. Blumler and Kavanagh (1999) distinguish five

trends that could reshape political communication during

this age.

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First is the Intensified Professionalization of Political

Advocacy. As we have already stated, politicians and

political parties become even more depended on political

communication professionals, mostly to manage the media

and avoid their constant pressure. In an era, where the

control of the media messages that will be delivered to

the audience is crucial and political actors try to

remain in public eye, we may easily adopt the notion of

the “permanent campaign”, which we will present in the

next chapter. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999, Nimmo, 1999)

Second, the new circumstances led to Increased

Competitive Pressures. Even though, in Europe the existence of

public television may partly ensure equal media

presentation for all subjects, the fact is that private

media seem to prefer programmes like talk shows and

tabloid news, rather than political conversations. The

emergence of “infotainment” has changed the way

politicians present themselves and their arguments.

(Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

All this resulted to the third trend, Anti-Elitist

Popularization and Populism. The public sphere is much more

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different than what it used to be. The language and the

presentation of news have been altered, so that they are

closer to the language and the experiences of everyday

people. This development had its own effect on political

communication, since messages should be adapted to what

ordinary people find interesting, engaging and

accessible. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

Fourth, Centrifugal Diversification is the result of the

multiplication of channels and the fragmentation of the

audience. Everyone has a chance to be heard. Politicians,

with the help of political communication consultants,

must be very careful on how, when, how often and where

they express their opinion. Political messages are very

carefully distributed and declared, and some times need

to be focused on a special group. (Blumler and Kavanagh,

1999)

Fifth and final, the Audience Reception of Politics is

utterly different than what it used to be. According to

what we have already presented, the media messages

regarding political issues, and not only, have

experienced multiple alterations. This of course changed

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the way the audience perceives political messages that

are now more negative, sensational and populistic.

(Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

Based on the above, we have tried to define

political communication and identify the main

characteristics that shape the form of political

communication in our age. We shall now come to the

presentation of key features of political marketing and

its strategies.

Many scholars (Kotler and Kotler, 1999, Scammel,

1995, Johansen, 2005) identify a close relation between

political marketing and marketing in the business field.

Businesses give out products and services and they take

money and costumer loyalty in return. In campaigns,

politicians give out promises, favours and policy

preferences in exchange for votes or contributions.

(Kotler and Kotler, 1999) Even though there are obvious

similarities between political and business marketing,

there are also many differences. Political marketing may

indeed apply techniques based on business marketing, but

there is always a political basis. (Scammel, 1995) In

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addition to that, in politics, characteristics such as

emotions, conflicts, beliefs and partisanship are highly

important, while they do not exist in the business field.

As we have seen before, today people seem to show limited

interest in politics and politicians, therefore political

marketing strategists examine ways and techniques to

attract the public’s attention. Politicians, with help

from their consultants, need to build an attractive image

for the voters and keep their attention with messages

that interest them. (Kotler and Kotler, 1999)

Media, as we have already stated, seem to be an

important part of our social environment and it is

obvious that they play an important role to every

political communication campaign and political marketing

strategy. We can determine that this is the case by

taking a glance at the strategies suggested by Kotler and

Kotler (1999) and Stamatis (2005), which are similar.

According to Kotler and Kotler (1999), there are

six stages in a political marketing strategy. First is

the Environmental Research. This stage is very important

since it sets the basis for the development of the

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strategy. In this phase we examine the state of the

economy, the mood, the demographics and the critical

concerns and issues of the electorate. Another

environmental factor is the “personality” or profile of

an electoral district. It is very important for the

politician to know all the characteristic of the

electorate and its environment in a district, so he is

always advised to invest money and time in this stage.

The second stage is the Internal and External

Assessment Analysis. It defines the candidate’s, the

campaign organization’s and the opponent’s strengths and

weaknesses. It also discovers the possible opportunities

and threats for a campaign or a candidate. Next, at the

third stage, comes the Strategic Marketing. At this

point, the different voter segments are identified and it

is determined which of these segments will be primarily

targeted. Additionally, the candidate is positioned in

relation to his opponent. According to this positioning

his strategist will then construct his image and the

concept of his campaign. This process will continue in

the fourth stage, Goal Setting and Campaign Strategy,

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where the personal style of the candidate is developed,

related to issues and policy preferences. Furthermore, a

set of messages is build and transmitted, based on the

politician’s image and the campaign’s philosophy. (Kotler

and Kotler, 1999)

The fifth stage, Communication, Distribution, and

Organization Plan, entails the use of marketing tools,

such as advertising and publicity. At this point, the

candidate decides upon issues relevant to fundraising,

media appearances, personal contacts and allocation of

his resources. Finally, at the sixth stage, Key Markets

and Outcomes, the candidate’s key markets, for example

the voters and the donors, are reached and his media

exposure and publicity are planned. (Kotler and Kotler,

1999) “In this final stage, the candidate and his or her

campaign organisation are focused on outcomes – the

number of messages necessary to mobilise voter turnout,

the number of votes needed in the various precincts of an

electoral district, and so on”, (Kotler and Kotler, 1999,

p.10).

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The plan proposed by Stamatis (2005), a Greek

political communication consultant is quite similar to

Kotler’s and Kotler’s (1999). He also suggests as a first

step, an environmental research, which will identify the

strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities, the threats

and the problems for the completion of a successful

campaign. The next step is the creation of the image of

the political actor, the positioning and the allocation

of the campaign funds. The main goal is to attract the

attention, to create interest, to stimulate desire, to

convince and lastly, to act in favour of the political

actor. The third step is the formation of the messages

based on the preceding steps. At the fourth step the

timetable for every move is set and the budget is

decided. At the final and fifth step, there is the

quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the actions

taken.

One of the most crucial elements for a successful

political communication strategy is political advertising

in all of its forms. Political advertisements, as all

other advertisements, have a main purpose, which is to

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inform the public. During an election period, people are

called to make rational choices based on the information

given by journalists and advertisements. Political

advertising offers an idea about “who is standing and

what they are offering the citizenry in policy terms”,

(McNair, 2003, p.98). Additionally, negative advertising

is part of every contemporary political campaign and has

as its main purpose to undermine the opponent. It is

indicative that 30% to 50% of all political advertising

produced could be described as negative, especially in

the US. (Johnson-Cartee and Copeland, 1991) The case is

the same in the UK.

After the theoretical background of political

communication and political marketing we shall now

present the leading role of contemporary media.

The Media

So far we have several times underlined the

importance of contemporary media for the society, and

political communication, of course. The effects after the

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emergence of television and the wide spread of mass media

were obvious since the 1980s, at least. Scholars (Trent

and Friedenberg, 1983, Lang and Lang, 1984) identified

the power of contemporary media and its influence on

politics, a fact that was also recognised by most

academics studying political communication (Kavanagh,

1995, Negrine, 1996, Swanson and Mancini, 1996, Negrine

and Papathanassopoulos, 1996, Papathanassopoulos, 1999,

Blumler and Gurevitch, 2001, Chairetakis, 2002,

Demertzis, 2002, Palmer, 2002, Papathansopoulos, 2002).

Lang and Lang (1984, p.13) recognised, that “although

television could be used for elevating the political

consciousness of the public, many feared that politics

would now be marketed much like toothpaste”. Perhaps this

is not exactly the case, but it did show that technology

has very much affected the way campaigns are conducted.

The media abundance has affected politics in many

ways. Nowadays there is a wide range of information and

sources of information that enable citizens to choose the

information closer to their beliefs and needs. The

constant flow of information led to a frequent change of

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issues and themes that interest the public. Politicians

have to be well prepared in order to stay in public eye.

They have to work hard to maintain a certain image, from

their opinion on different issues till their clothes and

gestures. The formats in which political information and

issues are presented through the media are different than

what it used to be. This includes “the depth or detail of

presentation, the employment of tabloid and entertainment

styles, and the relative uses of narrative, analysis, and

ideology”, (Bennett and Entman, 2001, p.6). In addition

to these, there is a need for a balance in the political

messages between the social and the personal identity.

Finally, in this era, the way citizens engage with and

communicate their reactions to political messages they

have received from the media is far more direct and

interactive, especially after the emergence of new

information technologies, such as the Internet. (Bennett

and Entman, 2001)

The time when politicians had the power to control

the content of public, then, media is long gone. Today,

some media industries are international and more powerful

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than ever. Scholars tend to characterise contemporary

politics as mediated (Bennett and Entman, 2001), since

political communication techniques are partly, if not

principally, focused on the management of the media in

order to reach, inform and form public opinion, for

example on issues and policies. During an election period

the need to shape part of the media content is a primary

goal for the professional political communication

consultants. A political communication strategy is

considered to be successful when a candidate has enough

media attention, through advertising, but also news

coverage, and can still preserve the interest of the

public without becoming tiresome. Citizens these days

seem to have limited interest in policies and political

information, a situation that led to the evolution of

infotainment, which is informing with means borrowed from

entertainment. As a result political actors try to create

new ways to attract the public’s attention.

We have several times presented the key

characteristics of our time. Notions like the growing

professionalisation in the political communication field,

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the dominance of populistic politics, the multiplication

of media outlets and the constant information flow

through 24-hour television and radio channels and the

Internet, have been already introduced. “Modern elections

have become mass-media elections”, (Kavanagh, 1995,

p.39).

We have identified the key notions of our era

related to political communication and the media. Next,

we will see how all these have embodied in the Greek

reality.

Political Communication and the Media in Greece

i. Historical background

The political environment in Greece transformed

utterly after the political changeover in 1974 with the

elimination of the dictatorship, king’s Constantine

pieta, and the establishment of a constitutional

democracy. Nowadays, the Greek citizens elect a new

government every four years along with 300 parliamentary

representatives from all over the country, according to

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the population of each prefecture. (Greek Constitution)

After the 1980s the two largest political parties

claiming the office are PASOK (the Greek Socialist Party)

and Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy, the conservative

party). Other parties that usually elect representatives

are KKE, the Greek communist party, Synaspismos

(Coalescence), another left party, and recently LAOS, an

extreme conservative party.

Political communication also first appeared around

that time. (Demertzis, 2002) The politicians’ image was

ever since important. The two central political figures

of the first period on the re-established Greek democracy

were Constantine Karamanlis, leader of the conservative

party, and Andreas Papandreou, leader of the socialist

party. They were responsible for the foundation of New

Democracy and PASOK respectively. Karamanlis presented

the profile of the stable and traditional political

leader, while Papandreou represented change and reform.

These differences between the two politicians were

obvious from the way they addressed to the public till

their clothes. Characteristically, Karamanlis seemed

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unapproachable and preferred classic suits, while

Papandreou had a more popular profile and wore high

necked pullovers, jeans and hardly ever ties. In general,

the first was an icon for the old generation and the

latter a representative of the younger generation. Both

of them probably had some kind of political advisor. They

both had experience from the political situation in other

countries, and Papandreou in particular was familiar with

the political system in the US. Therefore we may easily

assume that they might have been partly influenced by

other political communication practices.

It is very difficult to determine when politicians

turned to political communication professionals. Most of

them have always had volunteers and supporters willing to

assist them in anyway. The application of political

communication techniques and political marketing

strategies by professionals is a phenomenon of the last

years. Political parties, and politicians in the capital,

acknowledged the use of political communication practices

much earlier than politicians from other smaller cities,

more likely due to the highest competition.

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Coming now to the media, the Greek television

market was a public monopoly until 1989, when the first

private channels appeared. Until then, newspapers had a

large influence to the citizens. The liberalisation and

privatisation of the media market and the end of the

state monopoly supposedly would ensure plurality and

information diversity. But, as it happened in most of the

other countries, in Greece the media are owned and

controlled by powerful businessmen that use them

according to their interests. The relationship between

media and politics in Greece has always been very close

and it will be presented in a following section. The

importance of the use of political communication became

even more essential due to the new media environment.

The changes in the media market and the

establishment of television as the leading medium in

Greece assisted in the growth of political communication

businesses. Political advertising, televised debates and

political talk-shows made it essential for politicians

and political parties to create and establish their image

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that would not conflict with the trends first presented

in television.

After these historical background information we

shall now present the current status of political

communication in Greece, with information provide by the

Greek political communication consultants, Mr. George

Flessas, Mr. Spiros Rizopoulos, Mr. George Stamatis and

Mr. Antonis Zairis.

ii. Current status: Media environment

As we have indicated several times political

communication in Greece is at a much earlier stage than

in other countries, such as the US and Britain. This fact

may be responsible for the confusion around the role and

the work of political communication consultants.

According to Mr. Flessas (04.07.2006), the last few years

large parties and well-known politicians prefer and

acknowledge the work of professional political

communication consultants. “People understand that there

is the right person for every job. When they don’t feel

well they go to a doctor. When they have a legal problem

or they need to make a contract they go to a lawyer. When

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they need a planned and organised political image they

should address to a professional political communication

consultant” (George Flessas, 04.07.2006).

Let us next examine the close relationship between

politics, and politicians in particular, with the Greek

media. Media owners are considered to be the most

influential people now in Greece. It is indicative that

most Greek media owners are principally successful in

other fields. For instance, Ch. Mpompolas, one of the co-

owners of the Mega Channel and one newspaper, has a

constructing business and V. Vardinogiannis, another co-

owner of the same station, has a large shipping company

and is involved in several other companies. The owner of

ANT1 television channel and radio stations, M. Kyriakou,

has also a shipping company, a record firm and is

involved in other businesses and organisations. Finally,

D. Kontominas, the owner of Alpha channel, is also the

owner of a large insurance company and has interests in

other companies. And these are the largest national

television channels in Greece.

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It is highly questionable why these people, who own

very successful businesses in other fields, choose to own

a television channel or any media firm, which has limited

economic profit in a small market. The fact is that by

owning media, e.g. television, radio, newspapers,

magazines, Internet portals, publishing firms, the Greek

businessmen primarily aim in exercising pressure on

politicians. This pressure, or its possibility, is

extremely important and useful when they want to obtain a

public contract of large economic value for another of

their companies. The ability to shape public opinion

seems to be a quite helpful business tool for the Greek

media proprietors and television is the leading medium

for such purposes. (Papathanassopoulos, 1999,

Papathanassopoulos, 2001)

According to this model, Greek politicians may be

manipulated by the economic powers they helped to be

developed. The government seems to be unable to control

the large private stations, but the stations are able to

affect the work of politicians and governmental

officials. Of course, even if they do have the power,

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media owners hardly ever, actually, harass politicians,

since they have great interests coming from public

constructing contracts and other public affairs. Still,

politicians try not to provoke them and they prefer their

other businesses for the public contracts. This balance

forms the quality of information and the public opinion

in Greece. (Sims, 2003, Papathanassopoulos, 2001)

We can easily conclude that Papathanassopoulos

(2001) identifies that the relationship between political

actors and media owners is based on the principal of

‘give and take’. In the small Greek media market the

media owners are actually able to use the media

businesses in order to succeed the goals of their other

businesses. “It is obvious that Greek media owners want

to have the means to put pressure on politicians because

of the huge financial interests they hold, such as

telecommunications, shipping, refining, etc. […] This is

due to the structure of the Greek economy, in which the

state plays a much larger role than in developed

capitalist countries and so many important decisions

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affecting entrepreneurs rest in the hands of politicians”

(Papathanassopoulos, 2001, p.519).

In addition to all the above and given the

relationship between media owners and the media, we may

easily understand the close relationship between

politicians and journalists. Greek journalism has changed

radically after 1989. Journalists, who were considered

neutral, critical, objective and independent, are

actually market oriented, and part of the entertainment

industry with television leading the way. Regarding now

their relations to politicians, as Papathanassopoulos

(2001, p.513-514) argues, most Greek journalists “have

aligned themselves to political parties and are very

close to becoming active politicians themselves. […] In a

country where politics and the media maintain a very

close relationship, politics has not been a terra incognita

for Greek journalists, nor can one distinguish journalism

from politics or vice versa”. It is indicative that a lot

of former well-known journalists become members of the

parliament or governmental officials, such as Theodore

Roussopoulos the government’s spokesman, and others work

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for politicians or a party while maintaining a job in a

newspaper and/or a television channel.

As a general conclusion, we may state that

journalists in Greece represent and defend the interests

of the party and the politicians they are affiliated

with, while the media proprietors use their media in

order to profit from their other businesses.

iii. Current status: Political Communication

Political communication consultants in Greece are

well aware of the contemporary media environment and the

existing inter-relations. All political communication

consultants that were interviewed acknowledge the

importance of having close personal relationships with

journalists. Characteristically, Mr. Flessas stated that

in Greece the relations between politicians and the media

are weird, because “the low level of journalists’ ethics

leads politicians to compromises in exchange to

publicity. Politicians are then media ‘hostages’ by

either withholding their true positions or adjusting them

to what the media and the journalists expect to hear so

that they don’t come to direct conflict of opinions and

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remain popular. By that they ensure media attention and

invitations to good television panels” (our translation:

George Flessas, 04.07.2006).

At this point we should make a very significant

separation. In a small country like Greece where large

national media are based in the capital there are

important differences in political communication

practices for politicians that are elected in small

districts than those in the capital. This distinction was

highlighted by all the consultants interviewed. Even

though we could suggest that these differences do exist,

there are also examples to support the opposite. For

instance, the Ionian Islands elected as their

representative in the 2004 national elections a former

actress and wife of a famous Greek singer, Angela

Gerekou, while the former Minister of Agriculture and

candidate in the same prefecture for many years, George

Drys, lost his place in the Greek parliament.

“Greece is a country where the image is more

important than the essence”. This was stated by Mr.

Stamatis during his interview (05.07.2006), but he

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pointed out that this only relates to some cases. Still,

it is indicative that in elections people prefer

politicians that are one way or another famous or have an

attractive image. For example, Panagiotis Fassoulas,

former basketball player, and Elena Koundoura, former

model, were both elected as representatives, even if they

had no prior relation to politics, just because they were

well-known public figures. Mr. Rizopoulos (05.07.2006)

also acknowledged the importance of image, while Mr.

Flessas (04.07.2006) indicated that in Greece

“politicians confuse politics with life style”. The star

system in Greece is very much influential not only in the

capital, but in other cities. Except from Mrs. Gerekou in

Corfu, Thessaloniki, the second largest Greek city, has

developed a tradition of electing attractive women as

representatives, such as Elena Rapti, and famous people,

such as John Ioannidis, a former basketball player and

basketball coach. It seems that political parties

encourage the candidacies of well-known people, such as

actors, models, athletes, since they ensure media

attention with low cost, or even no cost at all. Still,

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according to Mr. Zairis (05.07.2006), behind an

attractive image there should be essence in order for the

politician to hold a position.

Even if well-known people are most likely to get

elected, in the majority of small cities and other

regions than the capital, media have limited influence

regarding the promotion of local representatives.

Political communication consultants state that in these

cases the most essential form of communication is the

personal contact with the voters, as indicated by Mr.

Zairis, Mr. Stamatis and Mr. Flessas.

Another key characteristic of the Greek political

scene, identified by Mr. Zairis (05.07.2006), is that

politics has evolved to a ‘heritable business’. The

access to parliament and a government position is much

easier for the relatives of older politicians. The most

indicative example is that both the leaders of the two

largest parties in Greece, New Democracy and PASOK,

namely Kostas Karamanlis and George Papandreou, are

respectively nephew and son of the founders of these

parties.

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One of the main reasons for the preceding

characteristics of Greek politics could be the fact that

it is not very easy for most candidates to gather

adequate funds to compete with other candidates that

already have access to the media, one way or another,

especially in the capital. The campaign funding problem

has also occupied the Greek parliament several times.

Many representatives raised questions regarding campaign

funds. (http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/showfile.asp?

file=Es010222.txt) Most of them acknowledge that their

expenses are more than what the law and the constitution

foresee.

Political communication consultants acknowledge

this fact and even though they suggest the use of a

strategy that contemplates all forms of communication,

such as advertising, public relations and personal

contacts, they are forced to shape their plan according

to the candidate’s needs and funding abilities. It is a

fact that for candidates in the capital the cost of an

election campaign is larger than the cost for a candidate

in another region. In Greece media are preferred by the

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parties, especially for political advertising, while

politicians depend on other promotional techniques, such

as posters, banners, leaflets, and rarely radio ads.

Therefore we should state that political communication

consultants adopt different strategies depending on

whether they represent a person or a party. Generally,

parties have the ability to spend larger amounts of money

for a campaign, while politicians individually have

limited funds.

All consultants stressed a few focal points of

every political communication strategy. First, all forms

of communication should be used in a well planned

campaign strategy, but always according to the economic

ability of the party or the politician. They identified

that it is much more difficult for a young person to

enter the political scene, especially if he has no

political family background or if he is not part of the

star system. Second, it is best if a party or a

politician has well developed and strong media relations.

Even politicians in smaller regions need their names to

be heard by the local, and even better, the national

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media. A consultant needs to be prepared to provide the

right news to the media. This situation is also valid for

parties; along with their organised advertising strategy

in all the media, there is the need for strong and

carefully planned media relations.

We have thoroughly presented the contemporary

political communication and media environment in Greece,

based on recent examples from the last national elections

in 2004 and on the knowledge and experience of well-known

Greek political communication professionals. Next, we

shall examine the case Mr. Karamanis, who was a candidate

for Prefect of Pella in Northern Greece in the local

elections in Greece in 2006. His campaign was very

successful and he is determined to use his political

communication advisor in other leadership activities.

The case of Michael Karamanis:

The “creation” of a leader

Michael Karamanis, Prefect in the Prefecture of

Pella in Northern Greece, was elected in October 2006

with a significant difference from his opponent. Before

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we present the most important steps of his campaign, let

us provide some background information.

Mr. Karamanis was elected as a member of the

council of Pella’s Prefecture in 1998, and after the

resignation of the Prefect in 2000, he replaced him for

the rest of his incumbency. In 2002 he was candidate for

Prefect as a representative of PASOK, which was then

governing the country. At that time, Mr. Karamanis choose

to disregard most of the strategic moves suggested by his

political communication consultant, namely Mrs. Anastasia

Tsochantaridou, and lost the elections. Most of the Greek

politicians blame their consultants for any loses,

especially in the local elections. Mr. Karamanis

acknowledged the fact that he held the largest part of

the responsibility for the course of his campaign, since

he wouldn’t accept the strategic advices from the

consultant.

Before the local elections in 2006 Mr. Karamanis

consulted his political communication advisors, namely

Mrs. Anastasia Tsochantaridou and Mrs. Elpida Simeonidou,

on whether he should be candidate given the political

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scene in the Prefecture of Pella. Mr. Karamanis was again

supported by PASOK, which was now the opposition, and his

opponent by the New Democracy, the party that was now in

government. The candidate supported by New Democracy

wasn’t accepted by many of his fellow members of the

party in Pella and that was one important factor in

favour of Mr. Karamanis. It is indicative that some

actually expressed their support to Mr. Karamanis in

public.

It is a fact that the people who were in Mr.

Karamanis’ political coalition were very carefully

selected to ensure unity. As we have seen, and as

political communication advisors indicated, it is

extremely important for politicians in Greece to have

good personal contacts. In the case we are presenting,

the candidate developed personal contacts with members of

the opposing party, important members of the society that

were campaign contributors, owners of local media and, of

course, simple people. As Mrs. Tsochantaridou underlined,

people in small cities all know each other, and is very

important to befriend the right people who can support

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the candidate in many levels. The people of Pella

sympathised Mr. Karamanis for some personal problems he

had experienced and due to the fact that he has always

been friendly and easy to talk to.

The candidate’s campaign was based on political

alliances and a very good advertising program. His

presence in local television channels was carefully

selected and seldom. Still, his policy suggestions and

thoughts were frequently published in the local press,

with articles and interviews. Banners and leaflets were

strategically designed and distributed. It is indicative

that two leaflets were designed, from which the one

targeted only young people and was thought to be the most

successful one.

Mr. Karamanis, with the assistance from his

political communications consultants, succeeded in

building the profile of a friendly, approachable and

decisive leader, who was able to distinguish and solve

the problems of the people and the Prefecture of Pella.

His victory was correctly predicted by the poll that took

place one month before the elections. In fact the results

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after the elections gave Mr. Karamanis a clear lead of

10% from his opponent.

The new Prefect of Pella, Michael Karamanis,

acknowledged that political communication techniques and

the construction of a political marketing startegy is

very important during an election period. Political

communication is a crucial factor of the contemporary

democratic process and the application of political

communication techniques are needed even after an

election period, especially when the candidate aims to

build a successful political career. Given this fact, Mr.

Karamanis expressed interest in consulting his political

communication advisors often as a Prefect, especially in

important issues.

Conclusion

We may easily suggest that political communication

and the media are closely related. It is extremely

important for the successful completion of a political

marketing strategy the proper use of the media,

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regardless it involves a party or a person. Many well-

known politicians were characterized as leaders after the

careful management of their profile by political

communication specialists. The most indicative example is

Lady Margaret Thatcher, who with the assistance of

Saatchi & Saatchi changed utterly her outside appearance

and “created” the Iron Lady. A most recent case is G. W.

Bush, whose political communication consultant Karl Rove

prepared a careful campaign for the nomination for the

presidency and after the nomination the campaign that led

to the White House. Bush was in the eyes for millions of

Americans, and for many still is, an ideal leader. The

example of the new American president, Barack Obama,

should also be mentioned, although it hasn’t been

examined earlier in this paper.

Coming now to the case of Greece, there are several

social factors that largely affect the nature of Greek

political communication. Indicative is the fact that the

bond between Greek media, politicians and political

parties is very strong. It is commonly acknowledged that

politicians and parties rely heavily on their affiliation

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with certain media. The emergence of private television

has strengthened this relation. These evolutions

influenced political communication in Greece. Political

communication, political marketing and political

advertising are part of every party’s campaign.

Politicians in the capital and most of the other regions

depend highly on their professional political

communication advisors. Still, the notion of permanent

campaign is not part of the Greek campaign reality.

Parties and politicians, according to the political

communication professionals interviewed, are not ready

yet to realize the importance of permanent campaign.

The nature of the relations between the political

scene and the media lead to the point where a great deal

of political communication plans depends heavily on the

media relations, especially if the client is a large

party. “A politician should know, preserve, protect,

develop and expand his personal contacts with media

people, so that he is invited to participate in political

shows and panels” (our translation: George Stamatis,

05.07.2006). It seems that for Greek political

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communication professionals personal contact with people

from the media and the voters is the most crucial part of

a campaign.

Political communication advisors adapt their

strategies according to the needs and goals of their

client. After a careful environmental research they plan

the political communication strategy. Media are an

essential part of every strategy. Television can be used

for campaign purposes largely by parties, especially when

we are referring to political advertising. Politicians

individually rely on their personal contacts and the

contacts of their consultants to ensure media publicity.

Relations with journalists or other media people are the

only way that can provide access to the media for a

candidate.

A deciding part of a candidate’s political

communication campaign is the personal contact with the

voters of a region. All political communication

consultants interviewed were absolute on their statement

that personal contact and discussion with the voters is

the most important practice during a campaign in Greece,

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especially in smaller cities. For the Greek people the

ability of personal communication with their

representatives is a decisive point for their voting

behaviour.

As it seems, Mr. Karamanis understood the need to

consult a political communication specialist, who could

estimate the social environment in Pella and suggest the

correct moves to build the profile of the winner. We have

already stated that he will in fact ask the assistance of

political communication advisors. Perhaps this event will

signal the arrival of the notion of permanent campaign in

Greece.

As a general conclusion we could state that

political communication does not actually create leaders.

What it does is that it can project to the people those

characteristics of a candidate that make him the most

suitable person for the position. And in order for the

elected politicians to sustain their position they would

probably need to use political communication consultants

in other leadership activities. The US and the UK are

leaders in all the evolutions related to political

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communication, but as it seems country like Greece, even

at a local level, are following closely.

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http://www.media.net.gr/diaploki.pdf


Newspaper articles :

Παπακωνσταντίνου, Π. (2004). Τι θα θυμόμαστε από αυτές

τις εκλογές. Καθημερινή, 07.03.2004 [our translation:

Papakonstantinou, P. (2004). What we shall remember from

these elections. Newspaper “Kathimerini”, 07.03.2004],

http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_670

648_07/03/2004_96244, last accessed, 22.08.2006

Sites:

http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/showfile.asp?

file=Es010222.txt, Greek Parliament proceedings, last

accessed 25.08.2006

Personal contacts:

Athens, 04.07.2006: Mr. George Flessas – President &

Managing Director of Civitas Consultants

Athens, 05.07.2006: Mr. Antonis Zairis – Managing

Director of the Greek Retail Businesses Association and

Lecturer in Athens University of Economics

Athens, 05.07.2006: Mr. George Stamatis – Managing

Director of Source – Marketing and Communication

Consultants

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http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/showfile.asp?file=Es010222.txt

http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/showfile.asp?file=Es010222.txt

http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_670648_07/03/2004_96244

http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_670648_07/03/2004_96244


Athens, 05.07.2006: Mr. Spiros Rizopoulos – Managing

Director of Spin Communications

Thessaloniki, 11.2006: Mrs. Anastasia tsochantaridou –

Owner & Managing Director of ALPR Communication &

Research

Note:

The interviews were condusted as part of the dissertation

for the completion of the MA in Communication Policy

Studies of Eleni Kioumi titled “The Use of the Media by

Political Communication Professionals in Greece”.

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Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

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Transcript of Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader