Cette recherche interroge les représentations médiatiques du politique, telles qu’elles se donnent à lire sur Internet à travers un objet de prédilection : la vidéo. À la croisée d’enjeux techniques, sémiotiques, discursifs, et de pratiques sociales historicisables, la problématique de notre thèse convoque ainsi le point de vue complexe et interdisciplinaire des SIC pour appréhender les transformations contemporaines de la communication politique audiovisuelle. Attentive au temps long de l’histoire des médias, notre approche des vidéos politiques pendant le quinquennat de Nicolas Sarkozy s’organise autour de trois grands axes analytiques. En premier lieu, nous montrons que les vidéos politiques favorisent l’émergence de nouvelles formes de visibilité et de publicité, qui redéfinissent les modes contemporains de reconnaissance médiatique du politique. Nous examinons ensuite les modalités selon lesquelles les vidéos agissent dans et sur le champ de la communication politique. Enfin, nous montrons que la lisibilité et la rhétoricité des vidéos politiques s’appuient sur les ressorts de la culture audiovisuelle. Au-Delà du règne de l’instantanéisme, ces trois temps de notre démonstration entendent mettre en perspective la place de l’image audiovisuelle dans le champ de la communication politique, / This research looks at the representation of the political sphere in the media as it appears on the Internet, through the lens of a favoured object – the video. At the junction of technical, semiotic and discursive questions, as well as historically traceable social practices, this thesis adopts the complex and interdisciplinary point of view of Communication and Information Sciences to grasp the contemporary transformations of audio-Visual political communication. Our study of political videos during Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-Year mandate takes into consideration the longer history of the media and is organized in three analytical points. First of all, we show that political videos favour the appearance of new forms of visibility and publicity, which redefine the contemporary forms of recognition of the political sphere in the media. We then look at the fashion in which political videos have an impact in and on the field of political communication. Finally, we demonstrate that the readability and rhetoricity of political videos is dependent on audiovicy (audio-Visual literacy). Aside from the reign of instantaneity, the three sections of our argument intend to shed light upon the role of audio-Visual culture in the field of political communication, without losing sight of the significant materiality of the videos or the wanderings of their mundane existence.

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.

Professional campaign is an integral part for each candidacy, including presidential candidates. Presidential campaigns recognise two significant milestones. The first was presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 which is considered to be the beginning of televised politics. The second was Barack Obama's campaign in 2008 with its innovative usage of social media. Emmanuel Macron's campaign from 2017 is aspiring to push the evolution of presidential campaigns further. He surrounded himself with international advisors and based his campaign upon contemporary trends of political communication. Thanks to this he was able to introduce a very effective campaign. This diploma thesis conducts a research of presidential campaigns with the aim to generalise their key features and compare them with Macron's form of campaign. Thanks to this we can explore whether Emmanuel Macron was rather following previous paths or whether he introduced a fundamental progress in the way how presidential campaigns are maintained.

This thesis concerns political communication during the coronavirus pandemic and aims to examine how Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron articulate power and national identity in two speeches. The research questions posed were 1) Which were the communicated discourses in Donald Trump’s and Emmanuel Macron’s speeches to their respective nations? 2) What are the similarities and/or differences between how Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron communicated power and which part does national identity play in their speeches? The theoretical framework used involved Foucault’s theories concerning discourse as well as his notions on power, discipline, knowledge, truth, and governmentality, which were also used as an analytical framework. Moreover, the research questions were answered using a qualitative content analysis on the textual aspects of the speeches and a semiotic analysis on the visual aspects of the speeches. The results concluded that both Trump and Macron frequently used nationalistic discourses in order to unite and coordinate their respective nations, as well as economic and political discourses. Macron also used a militaristic discourse in his speech, while Trump isolated and elevated the United States from the rest of the world. Furthermore, power was manifested through political decisions and appealed to individual responsibility and discipline. Additionally, Macron highlighted state power with rules and punishment. Finally, this study can shed light on populist political communication during the coronavirus pandemic.

This thesis is concerned with political communication and participation with political content on Facebook. Firstly, it aims to synthetise existing theoretical and empirical studies on this topic which was conluded by various political scientists as wel as experts of media and communication studies. It also introduces Facebook algorithm as it is considered to be an important factor influencing level of participation on Facebook. Through the analyses of data collected from Facebook's profiles of selected political actors, the thesis searches for patterns in their communication and brings closer attention to their participating audience.

Increased partisan apathy, affective polarization, and purposeful selection of homogenous political discussion groups are of growing concern as politics within the United States becomes more contentious. While previous work has considered when political discussions occur, if discussions are deliberative, and whether discussions affect democratic outcomes, this study focuses on the process someone undergoes when determining whether to participate in a political discussion. This paper examines political communication apprehension by considering how personality predispositions and uncertainty reduction influence the expectancy-value judgments made when determining if participating in a certain political discussion situation is worth the cost. Factors of political communication apprehension were determined through an exploratory factor analysis of a batter of questions designed to capture elements of political communication apprehension. Findings indicate that even if people are not very attached to their political parties, their political communication apprehension is largely informed by expectancy value judgements based on information they have learned from the political world.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Green Party, which is a part of the Swedish parliament, uses emojis on Instagram. In addition, the study examines whether the usage has increased or not during the time period 2014-2021. The thesis also aims to find out how the use of emojis affects media users' perceptions of the message. Lastly, the study intends to find answers about the effect emojis have on media use, if emojis generate engagement in the form of likes and comments. To understand and analyze the purpose of this thesis, we have used Stuart Hall's theory of encoding/decoding. We have also discussed political communication based on the mediatization of politics through media logic and social media logic. The material collection is based on two methods, quantitative content analysis and questionnaire survey.  The findings of the study showed that the Green Party’s use of emojis had increased between the time period 2014-2021. Further on it was shown that the use of emojis increased in relation to likes and comments which indicates that emojis generate engagement. The study also displayed that the chances of a media user to perceive a message in a positive and humoristic way enlarge significantly by the use of emojis.  The thesis offers an understanding on how the Green Party have changed their political communication over time and also highlights the power of using emojis on Instagram.

The theory of motivated reasoning predicts that partisan cues in the media will affect political attitudes, by encouraging individuals to align their views with those of their party's elites. The effect has primarily been tested by looking at issues which have pre-established partisan positions (e.g. immigration reform, gay rights, etc.). This study looks at the effects of partisan cues in the media on attitudes toward a non-partisan issue, the NSA's collection of American's meta-data. Additionally, the study extends research on partisan cues by exploring the moderating role of an individual's political communication network and, specifically, exposure to cross-cutting political communication. Findings are mixed: although there was no main effect of exposure to partisan cues in general, strong partisans were more affected by exposure to partisan cues than weak partisans. Additionally, although frequency of political discussion was not found to moderate the effect of partisan cues, individuals with high exposure to cross-cutting communication were significantly less affected by partisan cues than those with low exposure to cross-cutting communication. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.

This master's thesis project examines the content of Andrej Babiš's social media profiles and their function as a source of information. This study captures and describes current trends of political communication with an emphasis on the use of social media as an influential tool used for sharing content for the general and professional public. In this case, the focus is on internet communication of the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The emphasis is to examine social media as a part of media routines and its role in the concept of gatekeeping and subsequent creation of the news and opinion journalistic content. The research part of this thesis consists of three segments and focuses on the process of using social media as a source of information. The main research method is quantitative research supplemented by a questionnaire. The research was conducted to find out what informational value the social media of Andrej Babiš's have.

This thesis explores an understudied area in political communication research by examining populist communication on the social media platform TikTok. Specifically, the study focuses on content related to the Sweden Democrat party during the 2022 election. This thesis also proposes an integrated methodological and quantitative empirical framework for analyzing the multi-dimensional relationships present in political communication on digital social media. By identifying key hashtags used by followers of the party during the time of the 2022 election, including the campaigning leading up to it and the government formation following the election, new empirical data consisting of 250 TikTok videos and their accompanying information was collected. Firstly, the data was used to map SD tagged content on TikTok. Secondly, while difficult to measure, a framework was created to code and operationalize populist characteristics within the TikTok posts. Through quantitative content analysis and linear regression, the study examines the relationship between TikTok affordances and populist communication. Affordances are used to describe what an object, or in this case, a technology, can be used for and let a user do. Finally, the data collected was used to determine potential relationships supporting that populist style communication is favored by social media affordances. The results show that videos on the topic of immigration and videos from accounts with many followers were significantly related to virality. However, limitations in studying content on TikTok, due to the platform’s API were highlighted, as well as the difficulty of handling and coding video data from the platform. Overall, this study contributes to the field of political communication by demonstrating the multi-faceted relationship between media logic, social media affordances, and populist communication.