Modern Political Communication Research Articles

The Art of the Spiel: Analyzing Donald Trump's Tweets as Gonzo Storytelling

This article examines the rhetorical structure of Donald Trump's Twitter communications during the 2016 presidential campaign. The analysis identifies several recurring frames and themes and traces how these elements intersect with one another to build a narrative that depicts a world overrun with dire threats and institutional failures, providing a symbolic context for outlandish rhetoric, self‐praise, and espousal of far‐reaching punitive policies portrayed as necessary to protect idealized morality and social order. Findings suggest new ways to assess the content of Trump's frequent tweets while also considering what the success of his “gonzo” story may reveal about modern political communication and the media ecosystem.

СОЦІАЛЬНО-ПОЛІТИЧНИЙ ДИСКУРС У КОНТЕКСТІ ВИКЛАДАННЯ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ

The article considers some aspects of the use of social and political discourse in teaching English. In the article, social and political discourse means all the messages that are related to social and political issues. The new trends of modern media development are considered. Some aspects of use of mass media in education have been considered. In particular, special attention has been paid to the main peculiarities of mass media as a source of educational content. The didactic potential of newspapers, radio, television and the Internet have been shown. It has been demonstrated that the use of politically charged lexicon (not only politically correct words and expressions but also pejorative once) broadens students` outlook and trains them to work in different social and political conditions. For example, euphemisms should be used in the modern political communication in order to avoid conflicts. It has been proved that newspaper texts can help us study history of the countries of the languages being learnt. The difference between the quality press and tabloids has been explained. A table of headlines is given to illustrate historical events in the USA and the world. The activity of English mass media in facilitating English learning has been considered. It has been demonstrated that some materials issued by the BBC are aimed at familiarizing the audience with the English language. E.g., the English Express project contains video materials and some brief data about the English grammar as well as tests. The author has emphasized that media often contain wrong, biased or fake information. Fake news is considered as a threat to the stability of communication. It is shown that the students should try to verify all the messages they use in their activities. All types of communication on the Internet and wherever else should meet both legislation and ethical principles. Special attention is paid to blogs as alternative sources of information. The authors of blogs express different opinions and they do not have to follow any editorial lines. It has been shown that working with webpages increases the level of media literacy of the students. Special attention is paid to the sources created intentionally for language exchange, e.g. Interpals and Duolingo. It is underlined that the students should not only perceive but also create media content. The use of Facebook, Youtube, Wikipedia, Livejournal etc. can facilitate the publication of the students` achievements. The author has paid attention to activities that can be done using media materials, e.g. project work, simulations and others.

Символічний аспект іміджу держави в політичній комунікації

Kormych L. I., Savon K. V. Symbolic aspects of a state’s image in political communication. – Article.The article considers the image of the state as a part of political communication. Modification of politicalcommunication has a strong interconnection with technical development. The characteristics of communicationsubjects (i.e., political institutions, media, and citizens) reveal the ultimate goal of political communicationthat consists of receiving appropriate reactions and actions from consumers of this communication. Theperception of information changes and the reflection and reaction to the respective information. The specificsof the term political communication are revealed, and such types of communication as visual communication,verbal communication, performance communication, mythological communication, and artistic communicationare given. All these communications are reflected in the construction of the image of the state. The focus ison the symbolic component of the state's image, divided into formal and informal. The formal symbols includethe symbols enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine, and the informal symbols include the citizens, the leaderof the state, and the name of the state. The significance of the Ukrainian State Flag colors and the historicalsubtext of the Ukrainian Coat of Arms, which consists of the Grand Duke Volodymyr Coat of Arms and theCoat of Arms of the Zaporizhia Cossacks Army, are revealed. The research of the Ukrainian President’s communicationwith the audience is grounded upon the study conducted by RMA: “Communication of the Presidentof Ukraine on Facebook and Instagram in comparison with Western leaders”. The main conclusion is thatthe President possesses the vast potential to attract attention to the state as a symbol of a democratic state withfree elections. Research also convincingly proves that social networks are now a communication platform forpolitical activity. The implementation of modern political communication affects the emotional component,affecting the irrational conceptualization of information primarily. In addition to simulacra, which affects thestate's image, there must be specific actions to obtain a positive perception.

ДИПФЕЙК КАК ФЕНОМЕН ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

The development of digital technologies, coupled with progress in the development of self-learning programs based on AI (Artificial Intelligence), has obvious advantages in improving the effectiveness of information impact on people around the world. During the 2010s, researchers have documented trends in the use of artificial intelligence for the construction and distribution of media content to indirectly manipulate political discourse at the national and global levels. Special interest in the context of this issue is how the rapid development of AI technologies affects political communication. The object of consideration within the framework of this article is the deepfake technology. Based on this, as a subject, the authors define deepfake as a phenomenon of modern political communication. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to describe and predict the impact of deepfake technology on political communication at the global and national levels. The paper presents the definition of deepfake, assesses its characteristics depending on the methods and purposes of its distribution, and analyzes the prospects for using this tool to influence political discourse in modern Russia. To study the subject field of the research, methods of systematizing theoretical data, classification, analysis of a set of factors and forecasting have been applied. The practical significance of the work is presented by the authors’ definition and typology of the phenomenon of deepfake and describes its significance as a factor of political communication on the example of a particular country. The results of the work will be useful for researchers studying the problems of digitalization of the media space and modern means of disinformation in politics, both at the local and global levels

The main theoretical approaches to the study of Internet meme as a tool of modern political communication

The main theoretical approaches to the study of Internet meme as a tool of modern political communication

Election reporting and githerinization of Kenya’s media

Kenya’s media landscape has greatly transformed since the reforms of the 1990s, resulting in increased private ownership of media. The relationship between the media, politics and the citizen has been the most affected by these transformations. Using examples from Kenya’s 2017 elections, this article attempts to show how this relationship has changed and the opportunities and challenges for modern political communication. This article argues that although new trends in political communication have resulted in complex and dynamic political campaigns, they have also resulted in the atomization and alienation of the citizen in the democratic enterprise. This analysis is made against the backdrop of the political economy of the media theoretical perspective and, to an extent, emerging literature on media and globalization and attendant forces on the Kenyan society in general.

The Concept of the “Truth Decay” in a Digital Society (an Analytical Review)

The emergence of the “posttruth” phenomenon as the dominance of emotions and opinions over facts, the widespread dissemination of false information, and the rapid growth of fake news in the modern political communication space are the external manifestations of a more complex system of challenges, the basis of which lies in the changed nature of the media environment and ways of processing information by people’s minds, which, in turn, are caused by prevailing political and economic relations. This system of challenges is called “Truth Decay” and characterized by a set of four interconnected and interdependent trends in the contemporary political communication processes: the increase of the contradictions between facts and interpretations of these facts; the erasure of the differences between facts and opinions; the amplification of the opinions and personal points of view influence on the perception of facts; the drop of the mass audience confidence to the sources of information that were previously considered as authoritative. It is obvious that the indicated tendencies were appeared earlier, but their impact on the public consciousness becomes especially more significant and noticeable with the advent of the “digital era”. There is reason to consider that this indicated impact in a certain extent may be due to the premeditated efforts of some political actors pursuing their own interests. The authors are analyzed the recently published results of studies conducted by specialists of the RAND Corporation, which are clearly demonstrated the erosion of the civil discourse and con- vincingly explain it from the standpoint of the “Truth Decay” concept. This research area is innovative for the modern political science and is so far based solely on the analysis of the materials concerned to American realities. However, the authors are believed that the results reached by the scientists from the USA are more general and this conclusions can be used for the study of the modern political communication in processes other countries.

See Me, Like Me! Exploring Viewers’ Visual Attention to and Trait Perceptions of Party Leaders on Instagram

The use of visual self-personalization by politicians to shape perceptions of their character and personality is a prominent form of modern political communication, especially on social media. Yet, little is known about the effect these portrayals have on the visual attention of voters and their impressions of the traits of the politicians depicted. This exploratory study examines the effects of visual self-personalization (professional vs. private focus) by Finnish political leaders of both genders on Instagram. Through a pilot laboratory study, viewers’ visual attention was measured using eye-tracking technology and, in combination with this, leader trait impressions were experimentally examined. The results indicate that photos depicting politicians in professional settings are more attention grabbing and effective in shaping trait impressions than photos showing politicians in private life. Among the recommendations for future research, it is noted that gender aspects should be further explored as this study, by focusing on a gender-egalitarian country, had a limited scope in that respect.

ПРИНЦИПЫ ЭФФЕКТИВНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ И СТИЛИСТИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНОГО ДИСКУРСА НА ПРИМЕРЕ СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ДЕБАТОВ

Statement of the problem. Under the conditions of the globalization growing process, English language became one of the leading languages of intercultural interaction and under expanding the influence of the public information exchange it is becoming necessary to consider the modern political communication as the most effective kind of rendering lingocultural and lingosocial reality of western mentality. The special interest presents specific verbal and extra linguistic devices adherent to English political discourse and lingo-stylistic peculiarities of debates, the participants of which are certain representatives of a specific political establishment. Certain lexis and definite construction of pre-election speeches of American politicians have served as an object for the linguistic analysis and were the most effective in helping to influence the electorates’ opinion with the purpose of winning over the opposing party. From the position of discourse, debates reflect a dynamic process of linguistic activity imprinted into its social context. The corresponding constructions of discourse give the borders of communication and organize the way of thinking, cognitive and communicative activity, expressing the authority of the subject within the discourse and his managing and manipulation of the object. The purpose of the article is in pointing out some definite communicative and stylistic devices in the discourse constructions and building methods of lexical-grammatical constructions for achieving the effectiveness of the communicative act in debates conducting technology. The methodology of study includes using the method of rhetorical analysis as well as content analysis of definite speeches by D. Trump and H. Clinton who participated in presidential elections during 2016. Also the method of the purposeful search for examples, used in different kinds of debates which represent a discourse as a complex communicative phenomenon. Research results. The researched linguistic material allows to conclude that there is clear correspondence of the used techniques, speech-cognitive patterns, technologies and strategies with definite political parties presented in the communicative field while conducting debates. The Democrats demonstrated the strategy of using “soft power” and appealing to the rational part of mind along with these tactics: “name calling” in which during the dispute the real names of existing people are drawn to call inner emotional reflection within the minds of electorate, tactic of “solidarization” in which the public representative correlates himself with the civic community and identifies it as a “big family” that has to have a leader with “true democratic values”. With a main motto of “Make America Great Again” republicans were following the line of aggressive strategy opposing the achievements of democrats. In the field of tactics there was appearance of ruthless attempts to get initiative advantage through blaming for ineffective migration policy, uncertain actions in the foreign affairs, on top of that the tactic of “playing on conflicts” to force the opposing figure out of balance was imposed. Speech-cognitive patterns of each party reflected the character of the process of debates as well. Democrats neatly and methodically conducted the discussion, revealing their positions through well-made arguments, while republicans were constructing the image of a “self-made businessman” and built the verbal attitude according to the picture using simple sentences with repetitions, vulgar lexis towards the opponent, emotional extra linguistic signals and exploiting mistakes made in argumentative line of democrats for refutation. Conclusion. The technology of “debates” represents itself as a communicative event between a speaker, a listener (a viewer) in the process of communication within a definite time, space and other context. This communicative act can be oral or written and have verbal and extra linguistic parts which provide effectiveness in achieving persuasion.

Fake Claims of Fake News: Political Misinformation, Warnings, and the Tainted Truth Effect

Fact-checking and warnings of misinformation are increasingly salient and prevalent components of modern news media and political communications. While many warnings about political misinformation are valid and enable people to reject misleading information, the quality and validity of misinformation warnings can vary widely. Replicating and extending research from the fields of social cognition and forensic psychology, we find evidence that valid retrospective warnings of misleading news can help individuals discard erroneous information, although the corrections are weak. However, when informative news is wrongly labeled as inaccurate, these false warnings reduce the news’ credibility. Invalid misinformation warnings taint the truth, lead individuals to discard authentic information, and impede political memory. As only a few studies on the tainted truth effect exist, our research helps to illuminate the less explored dark side of misinformation warnings. Our findings suggest general warnings of misinformation should be avoided as indiscriminate use can reduce the credibility of valid news sources and lead individuals to discard useful information.

The image of man and the visualization of political communication in the postmodern era

The article is devoted to anthropological problems of the human image in the history of culture and philosophy of the twentieth century and in processes of visualization of political communication in the postmodern era. In the first part of the article, it is proposed to consider the transition from the modern era to the postmodern era in the context of the main stages in the history of the relationship between word and image, language and visuality in European culture of the XX century. The understanding of the visual image as defined by discursive practitioners and understood as a text in the semiotic paradigm of the mid-twentieth century, primarily in the works of R. Barth, is analyzed in detail. The liberation of the visual image from language discourse, which begins at the end of the last century, leads to the active development of visual anthropology, and radical changes in the reproduction technology to a change in the ways of perceiving the world. The article examines the features of the functioning of human images existing in the public space, problems of perception and modern visual communication. The second part of the article examines the tendencies of the development of political ideologies in the postmodern era. The authors describe three coordinates of system of postmodern political ideologies: the disappearance of traditional political ideologies, the revolution of technology, the political changes of the 1980s and formation of “monotonous politics”. It is shown that in the postmodern era political ideologies are forced to minimize the theoretical justification of their fundamental principles, turning instead to new visual and virtual forms of promoting their ideas. The main tendencies are change of the form of political practices, rejection of traditional methods of formulating political ideas, visualization and virtualization of the theoretical and practical components of political activity. The specific features of theatricalization of political and art activism are revealed in the article. In addition, the main aspects of modern political communication are highlighted: functionality, superficiality, and network character.

Three faces of Trickster in modern politics: Donald Trump, Alexey Navalny and Julian Assange

Concerning current situation and media ecology actors of political communication should be fl exible to adapt their PR strategies to the fl uid agenda and mosaic thinking of their audience. The following article aims to describe one of the most multi-faceted archetypes used in political communications - the archetype of Trickster. Using the method of case study, the author argues that concerning information society and digital culture Trickster gains better opportunities to hold a successful PR campaign and to build a solid political image. The author describes the following archetype with the address to three fi gures of international and Russian politics that appear in agenda in 2010-2018: Donald Trump, Alexey Navalny, and Julian Assange. Using the notions of narrative politics and theory of archetypes, the author concludes vast potential of Trickster archetype in modern political communications, that can be even stronger than the traditional images of Hero or Wise Ruler. The author assumes that Trickster fi gure in modern politics became wider than classical image of Fool and Jester and now is also widely used in the aspects of “noble thug” and Shaman.

Cognitive Script of Verbalization of Concept "Threat" in Media Discourse (as Exemplified in D. Trump's Statements)

The paper presents such basic units of cognitive linguistics as frame, script, and concept from the perspective of theories and concepts introduced by leading scientists. It introduces some results of the construction of the nominative field of the concept "threat". The research featured the concept "threat" in the political mass media discourse as a universal means of speech influence. The lexical units under analysis belonged both to the core and periphery of the nominative field of the concept. The authors defined the most frequent scripts of the concept "threat", both general and particular, e. g. direct threat, indirect threat, explicit threat, and implicit threat. Their structural characteristics were based on the examples from D. Trump’s statements. The most characteristic attributes of the concept "threat" proved to be verbs of destructive semantics, nuclear lexemes of the concept field, etc. This article reflects the features of the verbal representation of the concept "threat", as well as the purposes of the speech act of threat as a universal leverage in the modern political communication.

Digital Demagoguery or Political Discourse of the New Era

The article presents such a form of political discourse as demagoguery. Digital is a modern tool of influence needed for the implementation of internal and international policy in modern political communications. At the same time, it seriously discredits the modern political landscape, as the language and style of communication offered to users turn out to be overloaded with entertaining, comic and demagogic elements, which, on the one hand, attracts the attention of the addressee/elector, and, on the other hand, undermines their trust. The scope of the given study covers digital demagoguery, which is considered a discrediting factor in political discourse. The urgency of research is associated with the increasing role and demand for the digital space, which has become a new public platform for political struggle/game and an important channel for self-expression and self-differentiation for politicians. The aim of the research is to actualize a new form of political discourse of demagoguery in the context of the mediatization of political practices and the formation of a new rhetorical culture. The task of the study is to understand why electronic communication resources influence political rhetoric and why digital demagogy has become one of the most powerful means of achieving the goal for modern politicians, a real tool of manipulation used to legitimize political decisions. The theoretical basis of the study is formed by the works in the theory of political discourse and linguoculturology. Some conclusions and results of the study can contribute to a more comprehensive view on political discourse in the context of modernization of communication means, as well as transformation and intensification of political communications in Internet space.

Debate as a form of political communication in modern Russia

The paper discusses debates in modern political communication as a form of public exchange of opinions between two or more parties on topical issues; the dynamics of the attitude of Russians towards political debates from 2003 to 2018; social and political and cultural prerequisites for their role and place in the political life of modern Russia are also analyzed. The purpose of the research is to reveal the role and place of political debates as a form of political communication in modern Russia. Achieving this goal requires consideration of the characteristics and functions of debates, analysis of the reasons and nature of the audience's attitude to political debate. The methodological basis of the research is systemic and structural-functional approaches, sociological, logical and comparative methods. The empirical base is the data of the participant observation. As a result of the research, we came to the following conclusions: - Political debates in modern Russia did not become an active tool of political practice; the interest of Russians in such kind of political communication as a political debate is being reduced. - Socio-political and cultural reasons for this attitude are: the nihilistic attitude of Russians towards political elections as such; features of political culture; the existing political system and the role of the party of power in it; disunity of the opposition; lack of taste for discussion among the majority of the population. - Characteristic features of political debates in modern Russia are the absence of discussion (monologues instead of polemics) or the extremely low professional and ethical nature of their conduct; political debates in many ways take the form of a talk show, or a conversation program. The main feature of the debates in Russia is the non-participation of the main competitor in political debates.

Putting a Number on Preferences: How Numerical Attitudes Are Shaped by Ideology and Equivalency Framing

AbstractNumbers are ubiquitous in modern political communication and discussions. The relationship between numbers and policy attitudes is therefore a key issue for public opinion research. This article explores the degree to which voters can translate their ideological predispositions into numerical policy preferences. Further, we theorize and investigate how numerical framing can affect this translation of ideology into numerical preferences. Using a survey experiment, we show that voters’ ideological differences are reflected in their numerical preferences, but that they are also highly affected by numerical framing, specifically gain–loss framing and unit framing. These results have implications for our theoretical understanding of framing effects, and they suggest that politicians can markedly affect the attitudes of voters through strategic use of numerical framing.

ДИСКУРСИВНЫЕ ТЕХНОЛОГИИ В СОВРЕМЕННОЙ НЕМЕЦКОЙ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

The article reveals the specificity of discursive technologies application in the modern political communication of Germany, which has conditioned the necessity to analyze the technological effectiveness parameter as one of the prototypical parameters of political discourse. The discursive technologies that are characterized by closed nature and inaccessibility are an instrument of increasing influence that means that the German politicians, with the help of political technologists as intermediaries, can conduct effective political communication and achieve both communicative and post-communicative goals in the struggle for power.

Modern Political Communication and Web 2.0 in Representative Democracies

During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the social media has facilitated interactive communications between the political elites and public. In the 2016 UK Referendum, the social media became a vehicle for contested political arguments and post-truth positions defined the Remain and Leave camps. For instance, it was claimed that the United Kingdom Independence Party former leader Nigel Farage’s anti-migrant tweets influenced many voters. In the 2016 US Presidential election, the victorious celebrity property tycoon Donald Trump maintained a controversial online presence. He posted tweets about his campaign and engaged in a blatantly hateful online discourse aimed at his political opponents. Therefore, does such a usage of the social media aid democratic representation or contribute to a greater destabilisation of modern politics?

Cybergenic Presidential Candidates of Third Parties in the United States: The Analysis of Selected Political Campaigns with the Key Role of New Media

This article focuses on selected political campaigns of the Third Parties in the United States. The main purpose of this work is to present how these candidates promote themselves and communicate with voters. Traditional and new media are playing a crucial role in public life during presidential elections. Not only do they inform society but also are a tool of political communication. Voters can get to know a candidate and his/her election program via the media. Journalists are conducting interviews with main candidates, especially the Democrats and Republicans, which are leaders in the polls. But what should the candidates from other parties do? Those who do not appear very often in the mainstream media? How do they gain public support for their ideas? Do we insist on a telegenic president, as William F. Buckley indicated, or a cybergenic president in the contemporary world? Considering the increasing role of the Internet in modern society, these candidates use new new media to promote themselves. Therefore, in this article I will describe the importance of new media, their effectiveness in presidential campaigns and a cybergenic candidate as a standard of modern political communication

Bring Back Equality

Abstract This article makes the case for considering political equality as a compelling government interest in establishing campaign finance laws. The article considers the historic role of equality from the Declaration of Independence through the Fourteenth Amendment and then its more recent limitation as a valid basis for campaign finance regulation. The author argues that equality is closely related at the root to other interests such as fighting corruption or supporting discursive democracy, but that equality must also be considered on its own. The article proposes a concept of bounded equality, rather than perfect equality, to be applied in the campaign finance context. Even with a valid interest in equality, campaign finance laws must be respectful of the First Amendment and the important role of money in modern political communications. Equality can be a basis for upholding reasonable campaign finance laws, but not outright bans, very low limits, or felony penalties that are too restrictive of spee...