Page 79 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

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Transnational Trends in Political Communication

adoption of the modern model of political communication that it has
been claimed to be.
At the same time, the experience of Al-Jazeera suggests that the prac-
ticesofWestern-stylejournalism–editorialindependence,freedomfrom
close government supervision and censorship, and the like – create cred-
ibility for newscasters everywhere. Al-Jazeera has built credibility with
the Arab audience just by adhering to these practices. And in the Arab
world, as elsewhere, adherence to these practices allows the media to
assume the role of a political actor, wielding considerable influence in
shaping public debate and perceptions. Such power, in turn, leads politi-
cians to seek to influence the content of Al-Jazeera, as a host of Arab
and Western governments have attempted to do both overtly by offer-
ing their officials for interviews and covertly by trying to exert pressure
through governmental and other channels. It seems that the spread of
transnational broadcasting with Western journalistic news values need
not undermine local viewpoints and cultures, but it does produce the
same attempts to manipulate the content of news that have been seen in
the United States and Europe.

CONCLUSION

Thecomparativestudyofpoliticalcommunicationisanessentialsupple-
ment to the nationally focused studies on which most of our knowledge
of the subject has been built. They have brought to light transnational
trends that otherwise would be difficult to notice, and these trends have
greatly advanced our appreciation of how the relationship between polit-
ical institutions and media institutions shapes political communication
everywhere.
The recent developments concerning the temporality of political cyn-
icism and the success of an influential non-Western television news ser-
vice employing Western journalistic models may point to some new di-
rections for comparative research. Diachronic comparative studies that
compare developments across time can reveal whether, as in the case of
cycles of political cynicism, what seem to be irreversible trends are in
fact inexorable or merely prolonged periods at the apogee or perigee of a
repeating cycle. Synchronic comparative studies of expanded scope that
range beyond American, European, and more generally Western devel-
opments can reveal whether what appear to be universal phenomena are
in fact more limited in their scope.

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