By integrating content analysis and experimental analysis of newspaper ad watches, this study examines the interactive qualities of news and candidate ads as well as the effects of those ...interactions. First, the content analysis shows that negative issue advertising is the most frequent focus of ad watch journalism. The tone of journalistic assessments of political ads is not invariably critical; while the press tends to deflate the accuracy of the ad messages, it more often than not reinforces the effectiveness of the messages. Second, an experimental analysis demonstrates that the tone of the news analysis of a campaign ad significantly influences the audiences' preferences toward the sponsoring candidate. However, it provides little support for the demobilizing effects of negativity in the ad watch coverage.
The socio-political transformation induced in Central and Eastern Europe by the political turmoil of 1989-1990 happened in concordance with a communications revolution, characterized by the ubiquity ...of new media in many realms of life. Consequently, the use of information and communication technologies in political campaigns forced both institutions and citizens to rethink their roles and strategies within the political system. Our analysis of the electoral web sphere of the 2004 European Parliament election in Hungary, based on Internet & Elections data and semi-structured interviews, indicates that while strategic uses of the internet appear to reinforce existing power-relations on the web, tactical uses of new media undermine the 'politics as usual' thesis. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Web Campaigning Foot, Kirsten A; Schneider, Steven M
2006, 20061006, 2006-10-06, 20060101
eBook
The use of the Web in U.S. political campaigns has developed dramatically over the course of the last several election seasons. In Web Campaigning, Kirsten Foot and Steven Schneider examine the ...evolution of campaigns' Web practices, based on hundreds of campaign Web sites produced by a range of political actors during the U.S. elections of 2000, 2002, and 2004. Their developmental analyses of how and why campaign organizations create specific online structures illuminates the reciprocal relationship between these production practices and the structures of both the campaign organization and the electoral arena. This practice-based approach and the focus on campaigns as Web producers make the book a significant methodological and theoretical contribution to both science and technology studies and political communication scholarship.Foot and Schneider explore the inherent tension between the desire of campaigns to maintain control over messages and resources and the generally decentralizing dynamic of Web-based communication. They analyze specific strategies by which campaigns mitigate this, examining the ways that the production techniques, coproducing Web content, online-offline convergence, and linking to other Web sites mediate the practices of informing, involving, connecting, and mobilizing supporters. Their conclusions about the past decade's trajectory of Web campaigning point the way to a political theory of technology and a technologically grounded theory of electoral politics.A digital installation available on the web illustrates core concepts discussed in the text of the book with examples drawn from archived campaign Web sites. Users have the opportunity to search these concepts in the context of fully operational campaign sites, recreating the Web experience of users during the election periods covered in the book.
Right turn Blizzard, Christina
Right turn,
c1995, 1995, 1995-01-10
eBook
Relying on a combination of video tapes, clever advertising, and a brilliant campaign plan, the Harris team pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in Canadian political history. Right Turn tells ...the story.
This article addresses the question whether the relationship between gender and televised political advertising, observed in the US, holds true regardless of context, or if it is conditioned by its ...setting. Results from a secondary comparative analysis of the advertising of male and female legislative candidates in Finland and the US are reported. Though the two countries are contrasting in several respects, most notably the extent of women's political representation, the findings suggest that the female candidates' communication strategies, independent of country, resemble those of their male colleagues. Hence, `hard' issues and traits, stereotypically attributed to male politicians, are emphasized over `soft' ones. Yet, the women candidates in both contexts also differ from the male candidates by additionally softening up this candidate image. Thus, it is concluded that this dual strategy of the female candidates, independent of country, reflects the need to consider persistent gender stereotypes on the electoral arena.
This study offers an account of the campaigning of the three main political parties involved in the 1994 national general election in South Africa through a close reading of their paid advertisements ...in the mainstream print media. Prior to the 1994 elections, the use of political advertising in the lead-up to elections was sporadic. The first democratic elections changed all the rules of engagement: while there were no television advertisements, there were largescale, expensive and complex print campaigns. The narrative approach followed in this article traces the symbology, coherence and arguments marshalled by the political parties, illustrating that parties were able to draw on already-established repertoires of accepted symbols, tapping into the deep-rooted fears, desires, aspirations and historical loyalties of their established constituencies.
Presidential campaigns have seen revolutionary changes in the past few decades in the United States and elsewhere. These changes include rapid advances in communications technology and marketing and ...survey methodology; an increased involvement of non-party groups and campaign professionals in electoral politics; a decreased role for political parties in the recruitment, screening, and nominating of candidates; and dramatic changes in campaign finance laws. While changes in presidential campaigning have not gone unnoticed, analysis of these changes is typically included in general works on presidential campaigns and elections or studied individually.Baumgartner clarifies what is meant by candidate-centered as it applies to the organization and operation of presidential campaigns and elections. He demonstrates that campaign organizations have become increasingly more central to the campaign effort than party organizations throughout the process of presidential selection, and he shows that what is happening to electioneering practices in the United States is also happening, although still to a lesser extent, in France and Russia.
