Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Melvin Hinich. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Crisis response message strategies were examined using a post test-only randomized experiment (N=252) to determine their influence on perceptual, cognitive, and motivational antecedents to communication behavior in a political context. Results indicate that: (1) strategy type influences perceived strategy effectiveness; (2) situational beliefs influence situational motivation, subjective norm, and attitudes; (3) subjective norm and attitudes influence behavioral intention; and (4) referent criterion, situational motivation, and behavioral intention influence communicative action in publics during a political crisis.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Paris VII. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 1-13 (5th group)).

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017 / In popular opinion political public relations practitioners have long been regarded as spin doctors. Their lane of actions is mostly viewed as propaganda and they are perceived as spin doctors who manipulate power-relations. The pervasive role of public relations in political campaigns cannot be denied as political actors rely on communication to reach their key stakeholders. While it can be used as an important tool that can mediate in these power relations, the facts remain in the case of this study that the political party campaign communication was rather reactive than strategic. The answer lays in the accurate application of the strategic nature and role of public relations. I believe that there is a strategic public relations role that is evident and has to be played in political party campaign communication. As a matter of fact, public relations strives to ensure an effective and efficient communication on behalf of its organisation. The purpose of this study was to explore the application of public relations principles in political parties’ campaign communication of the Democratic Alliance, in the context of three other political parties in a regional newspaper during the build-up to the 2014 South African general elections. Four distinct political parties were at the centre of this research, namely African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters and Agang. Particular attention was given to the elite parties, African National Congress, and Democratic Alliance; the main environment of the study. It is true that political parties ‘communication with stakeholders reflects in essence public relations. Managing communication to promote the organisational agenda is to talk about issues important to both the public and the political party. This suggests that an effective political organisation will act on a two-way operation to build a common political position that influences public attitudes. Hence, a comparative case study was used as the strategy of inquiry. I conducted a content analysis of the political party campaign communication of the Democratic Alliance, covered in the Cape Times newspaper; as well as their election manifesto, to identify the public relations principles and strategies that were used. The daily newspapers were surveyed from January 8 to May 7, 2014. An overall of one hundred and forty-four related newspapers articles were analysed and formed the data for analysis. A close reading and counting of frequencies of varieties of themes in the newspaper revealed that the Democratic Alliance, as well as the African National congress, took a tactical and responsive approach, rather than a strategic and proactive approach, to their political party campaign communication. News coverage indicated that there was extensive counterpunching to other political parties ‘statuses, but very little promotion or management of the issues included in their election manifesto. Nkandla was the most controversial issue covered in the pre-election media coverage; while the proposed merger with AGANG; and the subsequent fall out was damaging to both political parties ‘reputation and relationship with voters. Therefore, more research on this topic needs to be undertaken, as public relations is crucial in translating public opinions to the organisation. In the political scope, this can serve as an attempt to adjust the socio-political environment to suit the political principles, as well as to help the political principles adjust to the environment by creating the right balance to mutual benefit an organisation and its publics that further ensures a real participatory democracy. Further studies should be done to investigate whether, the advocacy of the two-way symmetrical, as a way to central route to persuasion, along with the dialogical approach can impact on more effective decisions making, and ultimately create a more dynamic public sphere that seeks the resolution of socio-political conflicts. This new knowledge will lead to guidelines for public relations practitioners and can provide useful insights for political communication specialists.

This study content analyzed interest group and candidate tweets from the 2020 American presidential election to determine what issues and substantive attributes were most salient on interest group and candidate agendas during the "hot phase" of the campaign. Cross-lagged correlations were conducted during two time periods from Labor Day to Election Day 2020 to measure agenda building effects. These tests were conducted for Democratic nominee and eventual President Joe R. Biden, and Republican nominee and former President Donald J. Trump. These tests were also conducted for two issue-based interest groups: Everytown for Gun Safety and the National Rifle Association. Findings indicate that Biden influenced Trump's campaign agenda, but Trump did not influence Biden's. The interest groups showed reciprocal influence with each other. Given the unprecedented nature of the 2020 election, the candidates were largely talking about the same issues. However, substantive attributes reveal the candidates' true issue agenda. This study offers methodological innovation by utilizing NVivo for content analysis. / Master of Arts / This study examined tweets from 2020 presidential candidates Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden, as well as the National Rifle Association, a gun rights advocacy organization, and Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy organization. These tweets were examined from September 7 to November 3, 2020, from Labor Day until Election Day. For the presidential candidates, it was found that although candidates were talking the same general campaign issues, they were using different substantive attributes when speaking of them. The findings also revealed that Biden was successful at influencing Trump's Twitter focus during the examined time period. Tweets from advocacy organizations were tested for presence of gun-related issues. The advocacy organizations spoke about the same issues as the other, but neither group was successful at influencing what the other said. This study highlights the importance of digital political public relations.

O presente estudo procura estabelecer, a partir de uma reavaliação e atualização dos estudos de Jürgen Habermas sobre esfera pública e direito, os fundamentos teóricos e práticos do Direito da Comunicação, uma teoria crítica do direito que restabelece o vínculo interno entre direito e esfera pública política, e com isso fornece um modelo complementar a teoria procedimental de Habermas, fortalecendo as condições para a produção de uma legitimidade democrática do poder em sociedades pluralistas. / The present work aims at establishing, through a reevaluation and actualization of Jürgen Habermas studies on public sphere and law, the theoretical and practical grounds of Communication Law, a critical theory of law that recovers the internal relation between law and the political public sphere, and in doing so, provides a complementary model to Habermas procedural theory, enhancing the conditions for the production of a democratic legitimacy of power in pluralist societies.

O presente estudo procura estabelecer, a partir de uma reavaliação e atualização dos estudos de Jürgen Habermas sobre esfera pública e direito, os fundamentos teóricos e práticos do Direito da Comunicação, uma teoria crítica do direito que restabelece o vínculo interno entre direito e esfera pública política, e com isso fornece um modelo complementar a teoria procedimental de Habermas, fortalecendo as condições para a produção de uma legitimidade democrática do poder em sociedades pluralistas. / The present work aims at establishing, through a reevaluation and actualization of Jürgen Habermas studies on public sphere and law, the theoretical and practical grounds of Communication Law, a critical theory of law that recovers the internal relation between law and the political public sphere, and in doing so, provides a complementary model to Habermas procedural theory, enhancing the conditions for the production of a democratic legitimacy of power in pluralist societies.

This study examines political PR in Systembolaget's film-commercials. This study aims at investigating how and when Systembolaget expresses their public service mission in their film-commercials. We have done this by means of a qualitative content analysis, with the help from semiotics connotation and denotation the study was able to extract messages from the film-commercials. As Systembolaget is a non-profit-driven organisation we became curious to see that they act on the commercial market. We analyse the commercials through different PR perspectives aimed at identifying messages. The result shows that only some of the messages correspond with Systembolaget's public service mission. Preventing alcohol dealing, selling responsibly and informing the risks of alcohol, are the messages that are consistent with Systembolaget's public service mission. The result also shows that Systembolaget partly compromises from its public service mission.

La transgression discursive que constitue le street art peut s’exprimer dans divers espaces. Si les œuvres apparaissent tout d’abord dans la rue, leurs reprises sur les réseaux socionumériques leur octroient de nouvelles spatialité et temporalité ; elles sont alors non seulement inscrites dans la durée, mais également intégrées dans un nouvel « effet de sens ». Passant d’un mur urbain à un mur socionumérique, cet acte subversif engage à la constitution d’une communauté autour d’une thématique ou un centre d’intérêt plus ou moins politisé. L’Egypte voit le street art soudainement apparaître dans ses rues et se répandre comme une traînée de poudre sur les réseaux socionumériques dès le soulèvement insurrectionnel de janvier-février 2011. A partir de ce constat, il s’agit d’étudier la contribution de la médiation socionumérique du street art, prise en charge par des communautés activistes, à un agir des collectifs politiques. Ce travail de thèse a pour principal objectif de vérifier dans quelle mesure ces collectifs s’instituent en un public politique revendiquant la chute d’un régime ainsi que la mise en place d’un pouvoir civil et démocratique. Une approche pragmatiste, associant une « théorie de l’action » deweyienne à une sémiotique peircienne, est mise à l’œuvre afin d’observer les actions d’un public. Celles-ci sont suscitées par des dispositifs médiatiques, dont les auteurs insèrent dans leur discours des images street artivistes, générant des récits mythographiques victimaires et martyrologiques. / The discursive transgression of street art can be expressed in various spaces. In the street for a first appearance, but the coverings on the social networks give new spatiality and temporality to a work, they now inscribe it in duration as well as in a new "effect of meaning". Moving from an urban wall to a sociodigital wall, subversion commits to the constitution of a community around a thematic or a more or less politicized center of interest. Egypt in 2010 sees street art suddenly appearing in its streets and spreading like wildfire on the sociodigital networks from the insurrectional uprising of January-February 2011.From this observation, it will be necessary to study the contribution of the social media mediation of street art, taken over by activist communities, to incite political collectives to an action. This work of thesis will try to verify to what extent these collectives are instituted in a political public demanding the fall of a political regime as well as the establishment of a civil and democratic power. A pragmatist approach will combine a deweyian "theory of action" with a Peircian semiotics in order to observe the actions of a political public. These are aroused by media devices, which include street artivist images in their speeches, generating victimary and martyrological mythographic narratives.

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