Page 21 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

back to their earlier 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 politicans 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, and
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 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 will 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
communication, 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, 1994).

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