Party Political Broadcasts Research Articles

Discourse, music and political communication

Abstract Political communication is expressed in politicians’ speeches, campaign advertisements and government statements. Politics are also articulated in music, in both traditional political contexts such as anthems and party political broadcasts as well as less traditional contexts including songs, promotional videos and live performances. There is a wide spectrum of opinions as to exactly what are relations between music and politics, though most scholars acknowledge it can communicate meanings, though again, what these are remains contentious. One way to better understand relations between music and politics and meanings expressed in music is to closely examine these issues through the prism of discourses analysis. Through such an examination, not only what is being communicated becomes clear, but also how this is done, contributing to the fields of political communication, musicology and discourse studies.

Book Review: Political Communication in the Republic of Ireland, edited by Mark O’Brien and Donnacha Ó Beacháin

Political Communication in the Republic of Ireland. Mark O'Brien and Donnacha O Beachain, eds. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2014. 255 pp. $120 hbk. $34.95 pbk.Political Communication in the Republic of Ireland is an apt reminder that we should not judge a book by its cover. Because of the title, U.S. academics are likely to dismiss it as too narrow and therefore of little interest or value to their students.That would be a mistake.Through a series of essays and case studies, almost all written by Irish academics, the book examines how Ireland has retained some of its traditional political communication strategies while blending new media and new technologies into campaign efforts. The potential to compare what happens when the Irish go to the polls to when Americans do could be a fascinating exercise for U.S. college students. Similarly, the ability to demonstrate why Ireland still believes in face-to-face contact between candidates and voters should resonate with young adults in the United States who might never hold a substantive conversation with a national political figure.The need to remain visible to and respected by the local community is one of the more intriguing themes to this book. Donnacha O Beachain, one of the book's coeditors and a research director at Dublin City University, notes that in the early years of the Irish republic, the figures responsible for securing Irish independence were viewed as national heroes. But as these people faded from the political scene, Ireland's new wave of politicians first had to secure consistent success at the local level before moving into a national position in Dail Eireann, the lower house of Parliament, or Senead, the upper house. In addition, these politicians had to work within the system to bring about change; the revolutionary ideas of the politicians before them have been replaced with a more moderate approach to governance.This history of local success and connecting with the voters in the home district might explain why nationally televised debates, a staple of U.S. politics, have never been critical in Ireland. In fact, it was not until the 1980s that political debates began airing on Irish television. Saying that, it would be a mistake to assume that Ireland's political parties do not reach out to the electorate on television. Party political broadcasts (PPBs) have been an integral part of the Irish political campaign for almost fifty years. Because of the country's ban on paid political advertising, these programs allow a party's leaders and candidates to promote their policies and plans for the nation while urging people to vote for them. Kevin Rafter, an associate professor of communications at Dublin City University, reports that there are two clear trends in these PPBs: increased attention to production values and a sharper focus on the politician. …

Populist rhetoric in politics and media: A longitudinal study of the Netherlands

Many claim that populism in the Netherlands has grown over the last 10 years; that it spreads among mainstream parties; that its success has to do with the media, who pay more and more attention to populist parties and immigration issues; but that it is difficult to distinguish between political populism intended for the media and populism by the media. In a longitudinal content analysis of newspapers, television news, talk shows and party political broadcasts, covering seven elections in nearly 20 years, these claims are put to the test. The picture that emerges is far more ambiguous than publicized opinion suggests, with no clear trend but a downward one in 2012.

Het mysterieuze voortbestaan van de ZENDTIJD POLITIEKE PARTIJEN

This article researches the origin of party political broadcasts (ZPP/ZENDTIJD POLITIEKEPARTIJEN) and endeavours to find an answer to the questions: why does it exist in the first place,and why does it continue to survive despite the low viewing figures, the low ratings and the bad experiences of the political parties involved? The article shows that the ZPP is, on the one hand, an unintentional and, for the large parties, unnecessary inheritance from the time ofpillarization and the resulting allocation of broadcasting time, yet, on the other hand, is very important for smaller parties. Furthermore, the ZPP is a special opportunity to make controlled publicity available in a time when ‘media logic’ is increasing in political debates. Lastly, the article considers the attitude of Dutch politics to the introduction of new kinds of media.

The 2011 Scottish Election: Are we all Nationalists Now?

Did ever an election campaign as lacking in excitement as the Scottish parliamentary campaign of 2011 produce a more astonishing result? Perhaps, but I can't recall one. Nor, already, can I recall much from this election that is truly memorable apart, that is, from some of the declarations, various postcount reproductions of the new political map of Scotland, almost entirely yellow from top to bottom, and of course the overall result. From the campaign itself? One moment each for the four biggest parties is about the best I can do: Iain Gray pursued by placard-bearing protesters into a Glasgow sandwich shop; Alex Salmond imploring a Question Time audience in Liverpool not to let 'these three parties' destroy 'your National Health Service'; Tavish Scott peevishly warning the electorate that a vote for the SNP was a vote for independence (as if!); and Annabel Goldie in chocolate heaven at the Tunnock's factory in Uddingston. Also lurking in the memory vault is an image of the Greens' Patrick Harvie making a coherent case for sustainability and social justice, and the opening minute of the considerably less impressive Scottish Socialist 'helmet-heid' party political broadcast. Chuck in a few opinion polls showing voter intention drifting like snow in Dmmochter towards the SNP, and that's about it. No terrible blunder captured by an unnoticed microphone, no unforgettable rhetoric captured by any microphone, no dramatic confrontation between politicians that seems, in retrospect, to have been the turning-point, or at least the moment when everybody recognised that something big was afoot. Remember Jim Sillars vs. Bob Gillespie on 'additionality' in the 1988 Govan by-election? No? That was another political age, right enough, and, looking back from now, almost a foreign country. They did things differently there and then.

Run Out of the Gallery: the Changing Nature of Irish Political Journalism

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE evolution of parliamentary and political reporting in Ireland and builds on earlier work by Foley () and Horgan (). It considers the changing nature of Irish political journalism and the loss of influence of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and its constituent part, the Political Correspondents Group. This analysis takes place against a backdrop of continuing very high interest in politics in Ireland. During the  general election, the television debate between Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny, the leaders of the two main political parties, had an average audience of , – a national audience share of . per cent and a reach during the programme of .m viewers. The debate between the leaders of the other political parties – broadcast the previous evening to the main debate – had a national share of . per cent or , viewers. In addition, the RTE website, which had a dedicated area for election material, received just over .m hits on the day of the main leaders’ debate. Party political broadcasts, regardless of their impact, were also watched by sizable audiences – the  broadcasts had an average viewership of , people. Opinion poll research undertaken in  showed that six in ten of all adults could recall party political broadcasts from the previous general election (Rafter, ). These are all significant figures. While the leaders’ debate is a unique political event linked to a general election with heightened public attention, there is ongoing evidence from continuing high viewership figures for current affairs programmes in non-election periods to suggest that the Irish public continues to turn to the mainstream media for information on politics. However, the journalistic practices which generated this political news for viewers, listeners and readers have changed significantly. After several decades of little development in the structure of the Irish media market – and also in the nature of reporting – more media outlets and increased competition have over the last  years introduced considerable diversity into Irish political journalism with different priorities in different organisations. For example, research has shown that the three main daily tabloids – the Irish Sun, the Irish Daily Star and the Evening Herald – devoted few front page headlines to the  election campaign and for no more than half of the campaign these newspapers made no mention at all of the election on their front pages. The broadsheets – the Irish Times and the Irish Independent, and to a lesser extent the Irish Examiner mentioned the campaign on their front page on most days during the campaign. (Brandenburg and Zalinski, :) The discussion below seeks to analyse the changing nature of Irish parliamentary and political

Did the Media Matter? Agenda-Setting, Persuasion and Mobilization Effects in the British General Election Campaign

Did campaign communications contribute towards changes in voter preferences in the 2005 UK general election through priming, persuasion and mobilization effects? And, if so, which communication channel proved most influential? To examine this topic, Part I summarizes the literature on the impact of campaign communications and develops the theoretical framework. Part II discusses the data and indicators, drawing upon the 2005 pre–post campaign British Election Study (NatCen) to compare the impact of exposure to mass media channels (newspapers and party political broadcasts on television), people-intensive channels (the effects of local party contact activity) and new technology channels (campaign information available on the Internet). Part III analyses the results, focusing upon pre–post campaign changes in issue salience, perceptions of government competence, and voter participation among those using these different communication channels. In Part IV the conclusion summarizes the main findings and considers their implications.

The value of party election broadcasts for electoral engagement

Within the UK, party election broadcasts (PEBs) and party political broadcasts (PPBs) continue to be the only means through which parties can communicate directly with the electorate through TV and radio – as such, they are an important part of the political communication process. In 2003 the Electoral Commission made strong recommendations for the continuation of PEBs rather than opt for paid-for ad spots. The Commission called on all interested parties to ensure future PEBs fulfilled their potential as a mechanism to engage the electorate. It is in this context that this paper presents the results of a content analysis of all 14 British PEBs aired during the 2001 British General Election by the three main political parties: Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat. We also compare our findings with previous research on the PEBs used in the 1992 and 1997 British General Elections. While similarities emerge in terms of demonstrating a dominance of issues over image, the tone of the PEBs indicates that advertising in the 2001 General Election was far less negative than in those of 1992 and 1997. In conclusion we offer some pertinent thoughts on why British political parties currently use their allotted PEB airtime in ways that do not necessarily exploit their electoral engagement potential, and how both audience viewing and engagement of the electorate might be enhanced with judicious use of PEBs in the future.

Les spots politiques télévisés britanniques : de l’anecdote télévisuelle à la mémoire collective

At the beginning of the 1950s the Party Election and Political Broadcasts (PEBs and PPBs) first started as a mere anecdote. They are now the parties’ major medium to address the voters directly and political communication has entered a “television era”. As a matter of fact, this evolution implies certain consequences and constitutes a new step in the chronology of Britain’s political history. The first expression of this evolution is a shift of the space of political representation towards television. In this respect, PEBs and PPBs can be regarded as a prism through which it is possible to assess the different histories that they are part of, i.e. that of the British media , that of political communication and that of society and its changes. Yet Party Broadcasts have a bipolar relation to History. On the one hand, their message is meant to be circumstantial and linked to an election. On the other, their linguistic and iconic discourse aims at leaving a lasting print in collective memory.

Campaigns and Information Seeking

This article explores citizens' political information seeking, which constitutes the `demand side' of political communication during election campaigns. In order to look into what motivates a voter to seek political information, the article formulates a model drawing on ideas from the uses and gratifications tradition, the rational choice framework and the seminal studies of the Columbia and Michigan schools of electoral research. Among the determinants of political information seeking investigated are: social expectations to be politically informed; a personal duty to stay politically informed; a desire to express one's political orientations through voting; and the entertainment aspect of politics. Regarding the dependent variable of campaign information seeking, its overall intensity and the particular sources used (e.g. newspaper, television and radio reports, party political broadcasts, bulletin boards) to gain this information are examined. The article analyses a study of a local German election, which contains a wide variety of measures suitable to test our hypotheses. The empirical analysis shows that campaign information seeking can be explained fairly well ( R2 up to ≈ 22 percent). Among the determinants, social expectations to be politically informed exerted the greatest influence in our model. The influence of the determinants on the specific information sources varies substantially across the different sources. Therefore, explaining the decision to seek particular information sources during an election campaign demands the general model be more specialized.

Persuasion by Inference

Preview this article: Persuasion by Inference: Analysis of a party political broadcast, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/bjl.11.07juc-1.gif

Political communication today

Part 1 Theories, organization, partisanship and effects: theoretical approaches radio and television the press the media overall - ownership and regulation the news and current affairs effects of the media. Part 2 Parties, politicians and the media: the role of the media in the political process - pressure groups, local government and privatization governmental manipulation selling politicians - the parties and publicity - a history to 1992, market research and opinion polls, presenting the candidates and the message, party political broadcasts, political advertising, recent trends - a reflection politicians selling themselves - political speeches, the election debate, the televizing of Parliament, the political interview, politicians and the broadcasters - a reflection. Part 3 The media, democracy and the future: the media and democracy future trends.

‘Imagine if Labour won the Election’: the Conservative Party's political broadcasts

‘Imagine if Labour won the Election’: the Conservative Party's political broadcasts

Scotland as a place: An analysis of the SNP's 1992 party political broadcasts

Abstract The study explores Scotland's place image as presented by the Scottish National Party in their 1992 general election broadcasts. I explore the SNP's contemporary image of Scotland using qualitative techniques, and an interview with the producer of the later broadcasts, Pete Martin. These are compared to the stereotypical image of Scotland which has evolved over centuries. The conclusions suggest Scottish consciousness of place is still structured around the discourses of Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydesidism, a trio the SNP struggled to overcome.

Campaign Activities and Electoral Outcomes in Britain 1979 and 1983

Political broadcasting through the electronic media has largely displaced two older methods of influencing voters-canvassing and advertising in the press-as the dominant party campaign activity during elections. This article utilizes survey data collected during the 1979 and 1983 British general elections to estimate the reported effects of these three types of campaign activity on electoral outcomes. The results show that few voters report being influenced by canvassing and advertising, and the net effect on the vote is either small or nonexistent. By contrast, around 1 in 6 report being influenced by a party political broadcast, and those most influenced are eventual Liberal-Alliance voters. The net electoral effect of political broadcasting can range as high as 3.4 percent, but gains for the Conservatives and Labour are offset by the political broadcasting of competitors. The main exceptions are the Liberals in 1979 and the Alliance in 1983, who made a net gain of 1.5 percent and 3.3 percent of the vote, respectively. Ian McAllister is Professor and Head of the Department of Government, Faculty of Military Studies, University of New South Wales, Australia. The data utilized in this analysis were made available by the SSRC Survey Archive at the University of Essex and were originally collected by Gallup on behalf of the BBC. Neither the original collectors of the data nor the disseminating agency bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented herein. The author is grateful to Ivor Crewe, Anthony Mughan, Frank Jones, and two anonymous referees for their comments on an earlier draft. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 49:489-503 ? by the American Association for Public Opinion Research Published by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 0033-362X/85/0049-489/$2.50 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.13 on Thu, 25 Aug 2016 06:11:23 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

"Agenda setting" in de verkiezingscampagne van november 1991 in Vlaanderen

Voters probably do not take a series of relevant issues into consideration but rather vote on the basis of the few issues that happen to be on their minds at the moment of the decision. Issue salience, i.e. the availability of issue-schema's, is to a certain extent determined by the political communication during the election campaign. A content analysis of the debates during the 1991 campaign shows that the socio-economic issues, the ethnic issue and the immigrant issue were on top of the agenda. A similar analysis of the party political broadcasts and the ads in the national newspapers indicates that the parties tried to focus the campaign on the socio-economie issues (christian-democrats, socialists), the functioning of the political system (socialists, liberals) and to a much lesser extent on the environmental issue (greens) and the communal issue (left-wing and right-wing Flemish nationalists). Only the latter nationalist party attempted to prime the immigrant issue. Survey data show that this issue was exceptionally salient in the electorate, as were the ethnic issue and the political system issue.