THE BLOG – POLITICAL PR TOOL IN THE 2009 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN

Abstract

The article The blog – political PR tool in the 2009 presidential electoral campaign is the outcome of monitoring the blogs of the 12 candidates during the 2009 presidential elections. This article presents the results of the research Electoral Communication in Romania after 1989. Old and New Technologies in Presidential Campaigns, which is part of the post-doctoral program POSDRU/89/1.5/S/62259, applied social, human and political sciences. Post-doctoral training program and post-doctoral research scholarships in the field of the social, human and political sciences. The research hypothesis was that populists paid more attention to new media. The radicals understood better the advantages of online communication, so they used the blog for image improvement. I monitored whether the speech of the blogger politicians aimed to promote a certain self-image (by conveying electoral messages) or to depict a bad image of the competitors (attacking the opponents’ statements). I also inventoried the candidates' replies to the readers’ comments.