Page 55 - An Introduction to Political Communication Second Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

behaviour. The status of the communicator is important (incumbent
president or outlawed terrorist?), as is the form of the message
(advertisement, conference speech, or terrorist act) and the social
semiotics of its reception. One could have admired the communicative
abilities of Ronald Reagan, for example, although one’s position as
an unemployed steelworker or environmentalist campaigner might
have prevented acceptance of the Reagan ‘message’. The politician
can shape and work the message, but has relatively little control
over the environment into which it is inserted and the uses to which
it will be put.

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE
DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
An alternative to the empirical approach, with its emphasis on the
effects of political communication on behaviour and attitudes, is to
consider its impact on the democratic process itself. There is,
undoubtedly, something qualitatively different about a political
system in which the main means of communication are the mass
media. Do these differences have negative or positive implications
for the democratic ideal, as it was outlined in the previous chapter? 6
Butler and Kavanagh observe that

more than ever, election campaigns are managed and
orchestrated. Each party attempts to shape the agenda so
that the media reflects its views on favourite issues. Public
opinion is monitored through opinion polls. An election
campaign is increasingly seen by those in charge as an
exercise in marketing and many of the skills of selling
goods and services to customers are now applied to the
electorate. These developments have given greater scope
to experts in opinion polling, advertising and public
relations, and sometimes lead to tensions with the
politicians and party offices.
(1992, p.77)

For many observers the trends described by these authors are
dangerous and damaging for the political process. If politicians
have become more sensitive to public opinion as measured in polls
they have also, it is frequently argued, become prisoners of that
public opinion, allowing it to dominate the processes of policy-

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