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Studies of political communication in the UK have focused primarily on election campaigns and reportage of parliamentary and public policy issues. In these contexts, two or more parties compete for coverage in the news media. However, the main British party conferences present a different context, where one party's activities form the (almost exclusive) focus of the news media's attention for a week, and that party's leadership 'negotiates' coverage in a direct one-to-one relationship. Conference weeks are the key points in the organizational year for each party (irrespective of their internal arrangements), and a critical period for communicating information about the party to voters at large, especially via television news coverage, which forms the focus of this study. The visual and audio impressions generated in the conference hall shape the way in which citizens not involved with that party perceive its organization, membership and policies. This thesis is the first specialized study of how TV news coverage of party conferences is shaped. Source-centred approaches to understanding the production of news focus on the activities of extra-media actors such as party elites in shaping coverage. Media-centred approaches substantially disagree, stressing the media elites' exercise of discretionary power or licensed autonomy in framing news. Party conference coverage reveals the activities of both party and media elites in an exceptionally clear and uncluttered form. Using qualitative interviews with party and media influentials, content analysis of TV news coverage and transcripts, direct observation of conferences and newsrooms, and collateral material from press coverage, historical material and other sources, this study explores the main stages in the production of news. Parties and media organizations both undertake detailed pre-planning for conference week, in the process negotiating key parameters which shape coverage. Journalistic news gathering activities shape the emergence of stories once the conference week begins. The parties have developed specialist teams to handle immediate news management, taking account of media strategies, but coverage can also be affected by internal dissent inside the parties, and by collective and individual responses among TV organizations. The production of conference news is symbiotic at many levels. The one-to-one character of party-media relations in conference weeks demonstrates clearly that broadcasting organisations exert a disciplinary effect upon political parties. Media pressures have fostered a degree of homogenization in parties' internal structures, and a certain standardization in their previously unique organizational cultures and modes of public self-presentation. Party conferences have come to look and sound similar, partly in response to the organizational demands of media professionals and the emergence of media-oriented party cadres. But access to TV news is also an increasingly effective tool for party leaderships to influence the internal debates and power struggles within the parties themselves.

No description available.

Außenpolitik - häufig ein kontrovers diskutiertes Thema. Wie steht es mit der Offenlegung außenpolitischer Grundsätze der Parteien in Zeiten des Wahlkampfes? Sollte man sich nur vorsichtig äußern, um potentiellen Koalitionspartnern nicht vor den Kopf zu stoßen?

This dissertation explains how and under what conditions voters are affected by campaign advertising, taking particular account of the conditioning role played by political knowledge and ad tone. It builds on psychological research showing that people make regular mistakes in attribution, evaluation, and decision making; that they tend to give greater weight to negative than to equally credible positive information; that they better match their political choices with their interests and values when they are more politically knowledgeable; and that cognitive shortcuts cannot fully compensate for meager political knowledge. I introduce a psychological theory of how individuals react to campaign advertising in light of: (1) their political knowledge and (2) their natural impulse to give greater weight to negative information (i.e., negativity bias). Using data from an original laboratory experiment conducted in Mexico City in 2012 and from the 2006 Mexico Panel Study, I examine the effect of campaign advertising on the attribution of candidates' character traits, the evaluation of candidates' policy proposals, and vote intentions. I show that campaign advertising's effects on the attribution of candidates' character traits and the evaluation of their policy proposals are conditioned by the voter's degree of political knowledge and the ad's tone (negative or positive). I also show that campaign advertising has a significant, indirect effect on vote intentions through its effect on the attribution of candidates' character traits and the evaluation of their policy proposals. Finally, I explain why negative advertising has systematically bigger effects on voting behavior than equivalent positive advertising. I look at the case of Mexico to shed light on the effects of campaign advertising in developing democracies. Since most academic research has looked at the United States, this thesis intends to deepen our understanding of campaign advertising in comparative perspective, looking at a country where the thinness of party identification, the ambiguity of issue ownership, and the novelty of the party system renders voters more susceptible to information in campaign advertising. / text

The purposes of this study were to 1) compare the characteristics between the elections that were successful and unsuccessful; 2) identify the purpose of the school bond issue (demographic characteristics); 3) identify the financial resources and structure of the school districts (economic characteristics); 4) analyze the public relations and publicity techniques used in the school bond campaign (communications variables); 5) determine the degree of responsibility assumed by individuals and groups for the educational, building, and bond needs of the school districts (group involvement); 6) ascertain personal and professional information about the district superintendent as it related to voter influence in the bond campaign; 7) determine prior bond election experience. The major conclusions were that the trend of large or small eligible voter turnout was inconclusive, urban districts had more difficulty than rural or suburban districts in passing bond issues, and bond issues were passed mainly for new facilities. School districts with large assessed valuation per resident student had better results than others. The newspaper, "general talking it up," speakers, public meetings, and telephone committees were effective means of communication. The superintendent, board of education, faculty, principals, P.T.A., and lay groups assumed the most responsibility in the elections.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2014-11-10T14:26:50Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Luiz Carlos do Carmo Fernandes - 2014.pdf: 2957509 bytes, checksum: b5886b5262f68916ef0c43104325582b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2014-11-18T10:33:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Luiz Carlos do Carmo Fernandes - 2014.pdf: 2957509 bytes, checksum: b5886b5262f68916ef0c43104325582b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-11-18T10:33:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Luiz Carlos do Carmo Fernandes - 2014.pdf: 2957509 bytes, checksum: b5886b5262f68916ef0c43104325582b (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This thesis aims to understand the changes occurring in the political and electoral communication from the adoption of Law No. 12.034/2009 - which regulates in detail the use of the Internet as a political communication tool in Brazilian electoral process , through a regional crop . Ie , understand how political actors of Goiás are facing the challenges , primarily through the use of on-line social networks in the election campaigns – the object of study is Twitter , whose use was analyzed in the election campaigns of 2010 and 2012. Therefore , traditional techniques of sociology and new possibilities brought by the analysis of on-line social networks were used , gathering ethnographic research on-line , qualitative on-line interviews , content analysis of tweets and search with the use of internet tools . The final results of this study suggest that the use of on-line social networks in political campaigns expanded the agenda and ways to communicate with society and started require political actors , a presence on social networks on-line increasingly attentive and lasting .The topics covered during the election period were extended , while still prevailing own campaign and public policy proposals . In relation to the speech was possible to observe a major change : information / news, thanks and request for a vote / support , virtually ruling on Twitter in 2010 and 2012 , were not important discursive strategies by 2006 in electioneering . Therefore , policies arising the use of the Internet and on-line social networks in election campaigns in Goiás transformations can be perceived in the subject in the discourse strategies . But not in the behavior of actors and political institutions . Only during the next campaigns will be possible to verify whether the requirements of the new tool of political communication and political actors affect organizations in order to force them to change their behavior during election campaigns , but also outside them. / A presente tese tem como objetivo entender as transformações ocorridas na comunicação política-eleitoral a partir da aprovação daLei n°12.034/2009 — que regulamentou de forma detalhada o uso da internet como ferramenta de comunicação política no processo eleitoral brasileiro, por meio de um recorte regional. Ou seja, entender como atores políticos de Goiás estão enfrentando os desafios impostos, principalmente pelo uso das redes sociaison-line nas campanhas eleitorais – o objeto de estudo é o Twitter, cujo uso foi analisado nas campanhas eleitorais de 2010 e de 2012. Para isso, foram utilizadas técnicas tradicionais da sociologia e novas possibilidades trazidas pela análise de redes sociaison-line, reunindo pesquisa etnográficaon-line, entrevistas qualitativas on-line, análise de conteúdo de tuitesepesquisa com a utilização de ferramentas da internet. Os resultados finais deste estudo sugerem que o uso das redes sociais on-line em campanhas políticas ampliou a agenda e as formas de se comunicar com a sociedade e passou a exigir, dos atores políticos, uma presença nas redes sociais on-linecada vez mais atenta e duradoura. Os temas abordados no período eleitoral foram ampliado, embora continue prevalecendo a própria campanha e as propostas de políticas públicas. Já em relação ao discurso foi possível verificar uma maior alteração: informação/notícia, agradecimentos e pedido de voto/apoio, praticamente dominantes no Twitter em 2010 e 2012, não eram estratégias discursivas importantes até 2006 na propaganda eleitoral. Portanto, as transformações políticas decorrentes o uso da internet e das redes sociais on-line nas campanhas eleitorais em Goiás podem ser percebidas na temática, no discurso, nas estratégias. Mas não ainda no comportamento dos atores e das instituições políticas. Somente no decorrer das próximas campanhas será possível verificar se as exigências da nova ferramenta de comunicaçãopolíticaafetarão os atores e as organizações políticas de modo a obrigá-los a mudar suas condutas durante as campanhas eleitorais, como também fora delas.

No description available.

We have acquired, over the last several decades, a fairly rich understanding of the impact on voter behavior of political communication in general and of political advertising specifically. Yet much of this knowledge pertains to “traditional,” candidate-centered elections; comparatively very little is known with regards to ballot initiative races. In principle, these contests pit not people, but proposed policies, against each other. In practice, however, they not only feature ads discussing policy, but also frequently comprise ads highlighting a measure’s supporters and opponents, be they individuals, non-profit groups, media outlets, industries, or political parties. This, in turn, leads to a basic query: what types of advertising message carry the greatest weight with voters in initiative contests – and how do they differ (if at all) from the effects they have in similar ads run in candidate-centered elections? Through an original experiment, this dissertation aims to break new ground in the voter behavior, media effects, and direct democracy literature by tackling this question. / Political Science

The Diploma thesis concerns itself with the possibilities of election campaigns and their impacts on public opinion on the occasion of the first direct election of the president of the Czech republic. Influencing of the public opinion takes place in a system of public - politics - media, which is described in this thesis. Utilising this system I am going to answer the following question - how effective are election campaigns in influencing election decisions of voters? The witnessed election campaigns were unique in many aspects - they triggered an unprecedented response from the public and the media, which came close to resemble election behaviour in the United States of America, whose presidential election campaigns are considered a classic example. The theoretical background serves the purpose of analysing the election campaign of Karel Schwarzenberg, who, using an online campaign, achieved a result, which surprised a number of agencies examining voters' preferences, and proved, what a good campaign team is capable of given their candidate has strong public support. Next I am going to present assessments of the campaign by political scientists, social scientists and others. Key words: Public, public opinion, possibilities of influencing public opinion, massmedia, election campaigns, american...