Page 25 - An Introduction to Political Communication Fifth Edition

Intro to Politics Communication (5th edn)-p.qxp 9/2/11 10:55 Page 4

POLITICS IN THE AGE OF MEDIATION
emphasis on ‘public discussion’, its form], but its content and
purpose.
(Ibid., p. 11)

This book will follow Denton and Woodward by stressing the intentionality
of political communication, which I will define here simply as purposeful
communication about politics. This incorporates:

1 All forms of communication undertaken by politicians and other
political actors for the purpose of achieving specific objectives.
2 Communication addressed to these actors by non-politicians such as
voters and newspaper columnists.
3 Communication about these actors and their activities, as contained in
news reports, editorials, and other forms of media discussion of politics.

In short, all political discourse is included in our definition. By political
communication, therefore, I, like Graber, have in mind not only verbal or
written statements, but also visual means of signification such as dress,
make-up, hairstyle, and logo design, i.e. all those elements of communication
which might be said to constitute a political ‘image’ or identity.
Absent from the book (if not from our definition) is any substantial
discussion of the subject of interpersonal political communication. It need
hardly be stressed that the political discussions of people in public bars or
at dinner parties, the behind-closed-doors negotiations of governments,
and the information gleaned by journalists from face-to-face meetings
with high-level sources, are highly significant for the political process. By
their nature, however, they are hidden from the analyst, requiring
methodologically difficult and costly empirical research to uncover their
secrets. Conducting and reporting such research is beyond the scope of
this volume. Throughout, however, we should bear in mind the potential
gap between the public and the private in political rhetoric.
The book also lacks, in the sections dealing with governmental com-
munication, substantial discussion of local (i.e. city and district, regional and
town) politics. As Bob Franklin and others have described, local government
is a sphere of political activity in which communication is of growing
importance (Franklin and Murphy, 1991; Franklin, 2004).

THE SCOPE OF THE BOOK

The study of political communication directs our attention to the relation-
ship between three elements in the process by which political action is
conceived and realised.

4