How have professional communicators transformed the business of politics? How do political bodies use the media to sell domestic and foreign policies to the public? This fully revised new edition of The Media and Political Process assesses the impact of spin doctoring and media activity in liberal democracies that are just as concerned with impression management and public relations as with policy.
Political processes never stand still, and this revised second edition explores the mediatisation of the political process in light of recent developments, from Vladimir Putin's growth into a political celebrity, to the activities of spin doctors in the 2008 US Presidential Elections.
Providing a comprehensive overview of the evolution, operation and terminology of political communication, this text is an accessible, lively resource for students of political communication and media and politics, and will be important further reading for students of journalism, public relations and cultural studies.
Introduction
Politics: Image versus Substance
What is Politics?
Politics: Hype and Substance
The Media as a Power Resource
The Game of Political Impression Management
What is Media-ized Politics?
Western Political Development: An Evolving Symbiosis of Media and Politics
The Origins of Liberal Democracy
The Early Anglo Model
The Massification of Liberal Democracy
Managing Democracy: Taming Western Publics
The Media's Evolving Role in Liberal Governance
Liberal Democracy and the Public Sphere
Political Media Practice: An Outline
From Fourth Estate to Sensationalized Watchdogism
News as Entertaining Spectacle
Constructing the News Window 1: Journalistic Practices
Constructing the News Window 2: Choosing Sources
Constructing the News Window 3: Newsroom Struggles
Institutionalizing the Media-Politician Relationship
Journalists: Watchdogs or Symbiotic Partners?
Journalistic 'Power'
Spin-Doctoring: The Art of Political Public Relations
The Rise of PR Professionals as Political Players
Changes to the Political Process
The Innovators of PR-ized Politics
The Normalization of PR-ized Politics
What is Political PR?
The Tools of Political PR
Selling Politicians and Creating Celebrity
Constructing Celebrity
The Game: Playing to a Televisual Audience
Genres of Political Celebrity
Selling Political Policies and Beliefs
Worldviews
Making Worldviews
Popularizing Worldviews
The Function of Worldviews
Selling War/Selling Peace
The Era of Mass Consent for Mass Killing
Vietnam: A Televised Non-censored War
The PR-ization of Warfare
Nintendo Warfare
The Iraq War
Selling Peace
The Media and Terrorism
Terrorism as Communication
Terrorist Audiences
Fighting Terrorism
Terrorism and the Media
The Media and Foreign Relations
The CNN Effect
Foreign Policy Making: The Players
The Media and Foreign Relations
The Media-ized Dimension of Foreign Relations
Conclusion: Searching for Answers (and Questions)
What is Media-ization
The Routines and Practices of Media-ized Politics
Creating Hype Politics
When Things Go Wrong for Spin-doctors
Hype-Politics: A System in Trouble or a System Re-Inventing Itself?
Is Media-ization Bad?
