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The policy of free movement—one of the core principles of the European Union—has become increasingly politicized. This makes it more important to understand how attitudes toward free movement are shaped, and the role of the media. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how news frames affect attitudes toward free movement, and whether education moderates framing effects. The findings from a survey experiment conducted in seven European countries show that the effects are few and inconsistent across countries. This suggest that these attitudes are not easily shifted by exposure to a single news frame.

One of the key democratic functions of the media is to provide people with the kind of information they need to be free and self-governing. This is equally important when it comes to the coverage of opinion polls. Thus far, there is however only limited research on the quality of the media’s coverage of opinion polls, including factors that might help to explain variation in the quality of opinion poll coverage. Against this background, the purpose of this study is (1) to investigate the extent to which news media take statistical uncertainties into account when covering opinion polls and making causal interpretations based on opinion polls, and (2) to explore some factors that might help to explain variation in the quality of opinion poll coverage. Among other things, the results show that journalists very often fail to take statistical uncertainties into account and that they, in about half of the cases, provide explanations for changes that are within the margin of error. The results also show that the...

In contemporary high-choice media environments, the issue of media trust and its impact on people's media use has taken on new importance. At the same time, the extent to which people trust the news media and how much it matters for their use of different types of media is not clear. To lay the groundwork for future research, in this article we offer a focused review of (a) how news media trust has been conceptualized and operationalized in previous research and (b) research on the extent to which news media trust influences media use, and (c) offer a theoretically derived framework for future research on news media trust and its influence on media use.

Political public relations as practice dates back to ancient times, but today, public relations strategies and tactics are probably more ubiquitous in political communication processes than ever. Still, there is only limited theory and research that focuses on political public relations which manages to bridge the gap between political communication, public relations, and political science theory and research. Against this background, this chapter reviews theory and research from different disciplines that are relevant to understand political public relations, maps the field of political public relations research, and offers a definition of political public relations. More specifically, political public relations is defined as the management process by which an actor for political purposes, through communication and action, seeks to influence and to establish, build, and maintain beneficial relationships and reputations with key publics and stakeholders to help support its mission and achieve its goals. The chapter ends by outlining the chapters in the book.

As shown throughout the chapters in this volume, the topic of political public relations is a vibrant one meriting additional theoretical development and empirical scrutiny. Based on the conceptualizations presented throughout the previous chapters, political public relations is clearly an interdisciplinary subject lying at the crossroads of public relations, political communication, political science, and adjacent fields. While much work in this area has been isolated and independent in the past, we continue to advocate for the integration and convergence of theories, concepts, and principles in contemporary and future research. This is largely based on the notion that political public relations has a rich scholarly history that has developed in isolation in multiple fields.

1. Making Sense of the Mediatization of Politics Jesper Stromback & Frank Esser 2. News Media Logic in a New Institutional Perspective Kent Asp 3. Mass Media Logic and the Mediatization of Politics: A Theoretical Framework Michael Meyen, Markus Thieroff & Steffi Strenger 4. Mediatization and Political Leadership: Perspectives of the Finnish Newspapers and Party Leaders Pekka Isotalus & Merja Almonkari 5. Opposing the Government but Governing the Audience? Exploring the Differential Mediatization of Parliamentary Actors in Switzerland Nono Landerer 6. The Mediatization of Political Accountability: Politics, the News Media Logic and Industrial Crises in the 1980s and 2000s Monika Djerf-Pierre, Mats Ekstrom, Nicklas Hakansson & Bengt Johansson 7. News Coverage of Politics and Conflict Levels: A Cross-National Study of Journalists' and Politicians' Perspections of Two Elements of Mediatization Peter Maurer & Barbara Pfetsch 8. Phases of Mediatization: Empirical Evidence from Austrian Election Campaigns Since 1970 Josef Seethaler & Gabriele Melischek 9. Jumping the Shark: Mediatization of Canadian Party Leadership Contests, 1975-2012 Shannon Sampert, Linda Trimble, Angelia Wagner & Bailey Gerrits 10. Metacoverage and Mediatization in US Presidential Elections: A Theoretical Model and Qualitative Case Study Paul D'Angelo & Frank Esser 11. Mediatization, Legal Logic and the Coverage of Israeli Politicians on Trial Anat Peleg & Bryna Bogoch 12. Media Logic and Political Logic Online and Offline: The Case of Climate Change Communication Jorg Hassler, Marcus Maurer & Corinna Oschatz 13. Passive Accomplice or Active Disruptor: The Role of Audiences in the Mediatization of Politics Tamara Witschge

In highly mediatized democracies, political parties and other political actors have to manage the news and adapt to the fact that news media have become largely independent and highly influential. In this chapter, the authors bridge theory and research on strategic party behavior, mediatization, and political public relations to analyze why and how political parties seek to manage the news to further their strategic goals. Based on a review of the literature, the authors suggest a typology of strategies and tactics that political parties can use to manage the news. One conclusion is that adaption to news media need to follow from the strategic goals of the party. Otherwise adapting to news media is not strategic but rather surrendering to news media and news media logic.

During the last decennia media environments and political communication systems have changed fundamentally. These changes have major ramifications for the political information environments and the extent to which they aid people in becoming informed citizens. Against this background, the purpose of this article is to review research on key changes and trends in political information environments and assess their democratic implications. We will focus on advanced postindustrial democracies and six concerns that are all closely linked to the dissemination and acquisition of political knowledge: (1) declining supply of political information, (2) declining quality of news, (3) increasing media concentration and declining diversity of news, (4) increasing fragmentation and polarization, (5) increasing relativism and (6) increasing inequality in political knowledge. © Taylor & Francis 2017

The transition from low-choice to high-choice media environments has raised new concerns about selective exposure. In this context, two types of selective media exposure are relevant. One is selectivity based on political ideological preferences, the other selectivity based on political interest. Evidence for both has been found primarily in an American context, while there is less research on European countries. This is problematic, as the opportunity structures for different forms of selectivity vary across media environments. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to investigate the two types of selective exposure in a country—Sweden—where the opportunity structures for selective exposure differ from the American context. This study investigates both types of selective exposure in relation to televised party-leader interviews. Based on panel survey data, the findings show that selective exposure based on political interest is substantially more important than selective exposure based on ideological preferences in explaining exposure to party-leader interviews. To substantiate this finding, the results are replicated with partisan learning as the dependent variable.

During election campaigns, the three most important sets of actors are voters, political parties and candidates, and the media. The purpose of this chapter is thus to describe and analyze Swedish election campaigns with a focus on four interrelated aspects: how voters learn about politics and the issues at stake during election campaigns; how the news media cover election campaigns; how the parties plan and run their election campaigns; and the importance of election campaigns in terms of campaign effects. Among other things, the analysis shows that the mass media are highly important for an understanding of Swedish election campaigns that the parties’ campaigning can be considered semi-professionalized, and that election campaigns have become more important as electoral volatility has increased. Overall, the analysis also suggests that Swedish election campaigns work quite well in terms of mobilizing voters politically.

In research on political campaign communication, it is often assumed that campaign strategies and tactics are highly important for explaining election outcomes. In contrast, most research in politi ...

This longitudinal study investigates whether the impact of political interest—a key motivational factor behind news consumption—on various forms of news consumption has increased over time. The ana ...

While the majority of previous research suggests there are positive relationships between digital media use and political participation and knowledge, most studies have relied on cross-sectional surveys and have thus not been able to firmly establish the chain of causality. Also, there is little research investigating use of different forms of digital media and their relative effects on political participation and knowledge. This study examines (a) the effects of digital media use on political participation and knowledge and (b) whether different forms of digital media use affect people differently. Drawing on two representative panel surveys, the study demonstrates that there are only weak effects of digital media use on political learning, but that the use of some digital media forms has appreciable effects on political participation.

This study investigates the linkages between presidential public relations activities—speeches and press conferences—and public opinion towards the presidency from 1961 to 1997. The results show that there is a positive linkage between presidential news conferences and foreign policy job approval, and between presidential speeches and general as well as foreign policy job approval. Overall, the findings reveal stronger linkages between presidential news conferences and job approval than between presidential speeches and job approval, but also that the topic of the information subsidies and the specific type of job approval matters.

The use of public relations strategies and tactics are ubiquitous in many areas of political communication. This is especially evident when considering the emerging field of political marketing. However, little application of public relations theory and research has been integrated into the study of political marketing processes. Thus, this work seeks to bridge two schools of thought and to identify some of the major conceptual perspectives from public relations theory that can be used to better understand and analyze the dynamics of political marketing processes. Specifically, the perspectives include relationship theory, contingency theory, situational theory of publics, and agenda-building theory.

Being politically interested is one of the most important norms from a democratic perspective, as it is a crucial antecedent for voting, political knowledge, civic and political participation, and attentiveness to political information. However, only limited research has focused on the relationship between media use and political interest, despite the notion that modern politics is mediated politics. Even more important is the fact that the causal relationship between media use and political interest still has not been firmly established. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to investigate the causal relationship between news media use and political interest.The results show that there are indeed causal and reciprocal relationships between political interest and attention to political news, and between political interest and exposure to some, but not all, news media. Overall these results lend stronger support to the perspective of media mobilisation theories than media malaise theories.

During the last few decades, political campaigns appear to have become increasingly professionalised. However, at present most of the evidence for the professionalisation of political campaigning comes from countries such as the United States and Britain, and there is less evidence with regard to countries with party-centred systems, proportional elections and multiple parties. Moreover, there is a noticeable lack of systematic and comparative research on the extent to which political campaigns have become professionalised. At present, the only theory of professionalised campaigning that has been operationalised to allow systematic comparisons is the party-centred theory of professionalised campaigning. However, so far it has only been applied once. Thus the usefulness and validity of the theory remains largely unclear. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to elaborate on the party-centred theory of professionalised campaigning, and to test this theory in the context of the 2006 Swedish election.

Even though we live in a global world cross-cultural comparisons of journalism practice remain rare. This study analyzed the use of sources in newspaper coverage in Sweden and the United States. Rather than focusing on one single event, the comparison utilizes data from a number of different events: the 2003 Iraq War, the 2002 national election in Sweden and the 2004 presidential election in the United States, and the 2005/2006 international controversy stemming from the publication of the Mohammad Cartoons. Some interesting patterns across the three events emerged for the use of government officials, academic experts and citizens as sources. The findings are discussed in the context of news reporting and journalism within a distinct national political and media system.

During the last decade a number of scholars have argued that political campaigning has become professionalized, and that political marketing has become the new dominant campaign paradigm. However, the conceptual relationship between political marketing and the professionalization of political campaigning is unclear. Furthermore, the distinction between political marketing, market orientation, and marketing techniques is often blurred. At the same time, most of the literature is dominated by either an American or British perspective. This makes it unclear as to whether these concepts should be viewed as general concepts, or as concepts relevant primarily for countries that share some specific set of political institutions. In this backdrop, the purpose of this article is to analyze (1) the conceptual relationship between political marketing, market orientation, marketing techniques, and professionalization of political campaigning, and (2) whether contemporary concepts of political marketing and t...

Mismanagement, mistrust and missed opportunities: a study of the 2004 tsunami and Swedish political communication : Editorial

The relationship between opinion polls and political leadership is both complex and multifaceted. The same holds true for the relationship between published opinion polls, news management and political leadership. While having acknowledged support by public opinion is a great asset for any political party or politician, signs of weak or declining support are a great liability. The key term here is acknowledged support: it matters less if a political party or politician has actual support if nobody knows about it. In many respects, published opinion polls thus matter more than opinion polls in general.

When we want to learn about the world around us, there are basically three perceptual sources of information: personal experiences, interpersonal communication and the media (Asp, 1986). We can learn things firsthand, by communicating with other people, or by taking part of different media.

The relationship between journalists and their sources has been described as an interdependent relationship where each part needs the other. For political actors, this relationship is particularly important during election campaigns, when their need to reach voters through the media is even more urgent than usual. This is particularly true with respect to European Parliamentary election campaigns, as these are often less salient and as people's need for orientation is greater than in national elections. However, there is only limited cross-national research on the media's use of news sources and whether there are associations between the use of news sources and media framing. This holds true for research on election campaigns in general and on European Parliamentary election campaigns in particular. Against this background, this study investigates cross-national differences and similarities in the media's use of news sources in their coverage of the 2009 European Parliamentary election campaigns and the extent to which the use of news sources is associated with the media's framing of politics and the EU. The study draws upon a quantitative content analysis of the media coverage in twelve countries. Findings suggest that there are both important similarities and differences across countries with respect to the use of news sources and that there are cases when the use of news sources is related to the framing of politics and the EU. Ciencias de la Comunicación II

One key concept in research on how the media influence political processes is mediatization, which denotes a long-term process through which the media have become increasingly independent from politics and through which political actors and institutions have become increasingly dependent on the media. While it is often claimed that politics has become increasingly mediatized, the process of mediatization has not yet been properly addressed in the literature. Against this background, and based on the literature on mediatization and strategic party behavior, the purpose of this article is to theoretically explore the processes through which political parties become mediatized, and to suggest a model of media adaptation by political parties.

The Financial Crisis as a Global News Event : Cross-National Media Coverage and Public Knowledge of Economic Affairs

How the media cover national election campaigns is both an important and popular object of study. While most research is still focused on singular countries, comparative research has become more common. A comprehensive framework for both investigating and explaining the media coverage of national election campaigns is however largely missing from the literature. This chapter reviews the most important independent and dependent variables as well as the most prominent frameworks used in comparative research on national election news coverage, and seeks to advance research in this area by outlining a theory-based, multilevel framework for investigating and comparing national election news coverage across political and media systems.

List of Tables and Figures Note on the Contributors The Media and their Use of Opinion Polls: Reflecting and Shaping Public Opinion J.Stroemback PART I: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES Public Opinion and Opinion Polling: A Complex Relationship S.Splichal Regulation of Opinion Polls: A Comparative Perspective T.Petersen Methodological Trends and Controversies in the Media's Use of Opinion Polls M.Traugott PART II: THE MEDIA'S PUBLICATION OF OPINION POLLS Opinion Polls and the Media in Germany: A Productive but Critical Relationship C.Holtz-Bacha Opinion Polls and the Media in the United States K.Francovic Opinion Polls and the Media in Brazil F.Biroli, L.F.Miguel & F.Ferreira Mota Opinion Polls and the Media in Australia S.Mills & R.Tiffen Opinion Polls and the Media in South Africa R.Mattes The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Public Opinion Polling in Taiwan L.Willnat, Ven-hwei Lo & A.Aw PART III: EFFECTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF PUBLISHED OPINION POLLS Attitudinal and Behavioural Consequences of Published Opinion Polls P.Moy & E.M.Rinke Published Opinion Polls, Strategic Party Behaviour, and News Management J.Stroemback Opinion Polls, the Media and the Political System C.Holtz-Bacha Index

The histories of mass media, public opinion and opinion polling have always been closely intertwined. Before the invention of scientific opinion polling, both political leaders and lay people used media coverage as a proxy for public opinion, while in addition and after the invention of opinion polling, the media’s use of opinion polls has become an important part of their coverage of politics in general and of election campaigns in particular.