Page 76 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

P1: kic
0521828317c03.xml CY425/Esser 0521828317 June 2, 2004 23:23

DavidL.Swanson

way, perhaps the trends we have been observing reflect the fact that, in
the countries most studied, a broad national consensus has been in place
for a number of years, so our conventional view of seemingly permanent
transnational trends is, in fact, a snapshot of what happens during times
of broad consensus but not at other times.
Thisquestionchallengesustostepbackfromtheconventionalwisdom
and look again, across a broader horizon, to see if there are limitations
to the conventional view that have not so far been acknowledged. Is it
possible that we have overestimated the autonomy of political commu-
nication and underestimated the importance of the social, economic,
and political context in which citizens receive and understand messages
about politics?

The Effect of Globalized Television News Practices
The conventional view rightly stresses the many ways in which politi-
caljournalismshapespoliticalcommunication.Incountryaftercountry,
many of the same themes and practices have come to dominate politi-
cal journalism. Although there remain important national differences,
of course, the similarities are striking. With ample evidence that mod-
ern political communication is, in part, a reaction to modern political
journalism, it is easy to imagine that the spread of the modern model
of political communication is fueled particularly by the convergence of
political journalism on a common set of professional practices.
“Globalization” in news is more than just the newest phase in a pro-
cess that began with development of the news wire services. Rather, the
proliferation of formal and informal links binding national, regional,
and international news broadcasters is thought by many to have created
a new phenomenon. Increasingly, television news services around the
world have become interconnected within a global system. The prolifer-
ationofcommunicationsatellites,expansionofinternationalnewsvideo
services, organization of regional television news exchanges, and growth
of international satellite-delivered news services are key elements of this
global system. The system not only provides alternative news sources
through transnational satellite services but also penetrates national sys-
tems as coverage of events beyond national borders is routinely acquired
from interconnected regional and global production and distribution
systems.
An impressive number of studies have documented similarities in
the practices of television news around the world (e.g., Cohen et al.
1990; Straubhaar et al. 1992; Cohen et al. 1996). In most cases, the

56