This dissertation examines the contribution of user-generated digital content to political candidates' media personas, specifically those of the two major-party contenders in the Texas 2018 Senate midterm election: the incumbent Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz, and his challenger, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke. Data from online spaces dedicated to each of the candidates on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and Tumblr platforms from September 1, 2018 through November 14, 2018 were collected and analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis. Overall, both pro-Cruz and pro-O'Rourke content spaces emphasized the importance of the authentic performance of ethnic identity. In addition, hegemonic masculinity was upheld as an important marker of a candidate's suitability for public office, while stereotypically feminine behaviors were positioned negatively. Heterosexuality was also characterized as masculine (and therefore more desirable in a political candidate), while homosexuality was associated with femininity. Finally, both Cruz and O'Rourke content made arguments based on the personal characteristics of the candidates. While Cruz supporters tended to use traditional symbols associated with the United States and Christianity, O'Rourke supporters used references to popular culture in their characterizations of the candidates. There was also an elision in both communities between American values, Christian values, whiteness, and capitalism. These findings offer several conclusions about digital political participation in candidate image management. First, users generally extend narratives begun by official campaign materials and popular press coverage. Second, traditionally "American" values were upheld across the political spectrum as important for candidates to embody. Finally, the demographics of different platforms can determine what type of content is predominantly shared, as well as whether and how different affordances are incorporated, such as hashtags. As digital content increasingly plays a role in electoral politics, this study contributes to an understanding of the significance of users' digital political participation in forming candidates' images and garnering support.

Individuals born after 1980 are often immediately labeled with the term, "digital generation". This label assumes that young people are fluent, proficient, and constant users of digital media. This thesis explores digital communication behavior in the context of political communication. This thesis begins with an exploration of how age influences digital political communication, finding that while young people prefer digital media more so than older generations, they are less likely to utilize those media to communicate with government officials.  Following the age comparison, this thesis examines race, income, and education as indicators for digital political communication. This thesis utilizes secondary data analysis of surveys collected by PEW Internet & American Life Project between 2003 and 2009.  The findings herein suggest that although young people prefer digital communication in politics, the millennial generation continues to lag behind older generations in actual digital political communication behavior. Additionally, this thesis finds that young people falling into minority groups, with low-income and low-education are less likely to utilize digital political communication media than older Whites with high-income and high-education. / Master of Arts

There is a separation between interpersonal political communication research and traditional interpersonal communication theory. The current study bridges this divide by introducing social support theory to political communication. Social support has been shown to aid coping, build self-efficacy, and enhance psychological well-being. It is argued that politics can be a source of stress and individuals exchange political social support (PSS) when facing challenges in their political environments. The current study defines the concept of PSS and its applications in political communication through an initial survey-based proof of concept study and an experiment. The first study, a nationwide cross-sectional survey (N = 2004), was conducted through a Qualtrics panel in September 2018 to assess the internal structure of providing and receiving PSS in citizen-to-citizen relationships. A little more than a quarter of the sample (n = 563, 28.1%) reported having received some type of PSS in the past 18 months, and an even larger percentage (n = 728, 36.3%) reported providing PSS during the same time period. Results from a cross-sectional survey reveal a solid percentage of U.S. adults exchanging PSS across many channels (e.g., face-to-face, social media) with a wide range of political phenomena sparking these communicative activities. Building on the survey’s gender and political-specific communicative dynamics, the second study, an online experiment, was conducted in October 2021. In the online experiment, a 2 (politician’s gender: male vs. female) x 2 (politician’s party identification: Democrat vs. Republican) x 4 (message levels) x 2 (citizen’s gender: Male vs. female) x 2 (citizen’s party identification: Democrat vs. Republican) between-subject design, provides a theoretical rationale on how the gender and the political identification in citizen-to-politician relationships are associated with the level of perceived social support. Results from the experiment reveal that the level of social support messages that include different numbers of social support components does not have an effect on the level of perceived PSS. However, the characteristics of politicians and the gender of politicians and citizens were significant in predicting the higher PSS. Theoretical and practical implications for the theory advancement and future research are explored. / Media & Communication

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Political representatives’ democratic legitimacy rests on their ability to cover the distance between themselves and citizens. Representatives must avoid being perceived as distant and aloof from the needs and wishes of those they represent. The aim of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how new forms of communication with citizens, through participatory initiatives as well as political blogging, are used by politicians in their roles as representatives. Underlying this aim is the question of whether new forms of communication can contribute to reducing the distance between representatives and citizens. The central argument of this thesis is that such types of communication aid representative democracy only to the extent that they offer representatives efficient channels for performing functions related to political representation. This study presents a theoretical framework that identifies potential functions of communication between representatives and citizens for political representation. Its empirical analyses, presented in five articles, find that representatives widely communicate with citizens through participatory initiatives and political blogging to aid their roles as political representatives. Furthermore, results show that representatives’ communication is significantly determined by strategic, practical, and normative factors. The representatives are found to act strategically as communication practices are adapted to accommodate their particular situations, needs and normative orientations. Keywords:

The aim of this study is to investigate the existing communicative and informative work on reaching out to citizens about the service concept of governmental service offices which includes the swedish agencies; Skatteverket, Försäkringskassan and Pensionsmyndigheten. The study will be based on the perspective of officials operating within the current area. Furthermore, we also aim to examine which motives and which risks that exist with developing this work in conjunction with the transfer of responsibility to a new authority. The motives are examined from a citizen's perspective with a focus on political communication as a democratic tool in the modern society. The study is based on interviews with managers within the organization of governmental service offices and managers at the new authority - with the purpose to gain their perspectives about this communication aspects. A qualitative text analysis as a method has been used to analyze the interviews. The primary findings of the empirical study show that the public's knowledge about the concept of service offices are low as a result of a limited marketing. It also shows that there are motives to increase the extent of communication and information about the service concept, in order to raise awareness about what services are available at the governmental service offices. On the other hand, the research also indicates issues with an increased marketing of the service offices as service concept, instead of marketing the agencies individually, which requires consideration in the matter.

In the last twenty years, the way in which individuals consume news about politics has changed. As the internet becomes increasingly accessible, convenient, and inexpensive, more consumers than ever before choose to get their news online. As this migration continues, an understanding of online news consumption becomes increasingly important to the study of media systems. There are several ways in which the internet can be truly transformative - this thesis investigates some of these claims as they pertain to the comparative study of media systems. The primary dimension of analysis presented here investigates the internet's role in facilitating the homogenisation, or convergence of domestic media systems. Using a historical institutionalist approach, this thesis examines internet news in the United States and the United Kingdom, two cases at the centre of this debate. To adequately reflect the diversity present in online news consumption, this project uses a dataset comprised of news stories about two national election campaigns accessed via search engines, news aggregators, and social media. The analysis presented here demonstrates the complexity of the online news environment, highlighting key areas like source distribution and regional news content where path dependency has persisted despite the transition to online news, and those areas such as regional news sources where distinguishing between the two cases is more difficult. Where this is the case, the thesis explores alternative the explanations of Americanisation and technological determinism. Variance between Google, News360, and NewsWhip data collected for this thesis demonstrates how the way in which consumers get their news influences how converged or path dependent the media system appears.

The nature of the popular allegation that President John F. Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy is addressed in this thesis. An answer is sought to the question, "What qualities of the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory account for its relatively widespread popular appeal?" The author seeks to demonstrate that the Kennedy conspiracy theory has attained the status of myth in contemporary culture. First, a theoretical framework based upon previous research in the area of myth and rhetoric is constructed. This framework is designed to aid the researcher in identifying mythic discourse by establishing both formal and functional criteria. Next the framework is applied to the Kennedy conspiracy theory as manifested in various articles of popular culture including the Oliver Stone film, JFK. Finally, the ascendancy of the Kennedy assassination to the status of myth is explained through a demonstration of its consistency with both contemporary and ancient mythic themes.