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POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE ERA OF PROFESSIONALISATION | 9

modernisation may have many different meanings: here we are referring essentially
to the processes of differentiation and secularisation taking place within
contemporary societies. At the same time, we wish to emphasise the growth of a
plurality of sources of information that make individuals less dependent on a single
source of information and/or persuasion. This would apply to many different fields,
including the field of religion,politics,culture,etc.
n It suggests that there are many reasons as to why it unfolds (see Chapter 2). In the
case of political parties, the reasons might include the need to confront a changing
electorate with no particular allegiances, as well as the need to find ways to
persuade and mobilise them. In the case of governments and interest groups the
reasons might include the need to find better ways to get media attention and to
place items on the public’s agenda. There are other such reasons which locate the
process of professionalisation within what Wernick has called ‘the logic of
electoralism’ (1994, p. 142), namely, the process whereby political parties, amongst
others, employ a range of skills to meet their objectives of gaining and sustaining
power. Sometimes, the development of professional skills is linked to technological
change, as in the use of television or internet technologies, but, at other times, it
could also be linked to developments in the scientific field more generally. Mayhew,
for example, observes how the use of polling was predicated on improvements in
the understanding and use of sampling methods (1997,p.191).
n It suggests that the process of professionalisation of political communication is
inextricably bound up with developments in the media, in the past and in the
present. In this respect, the media are not simply channels of communication
between the worlds of politics and the public. What they do and how they do it
impacts on the conduct and practice of politics. Those in charge of politics and
communication, more generally, are aware of the presence and ‘logic’ of the media
and so anticipate the selection and processing of messages by the media. This is
often referred to as the ‘mediatisation of politics’. As Mazzoleni and Schulz have
pointed out:

To characterise politics as being mediatised goes beyond a mere description of
system requirements. Mediatised politics is politics that has lost its autonomy, has
become dependent in its central functions on mass media, and is continuously
shaped by interactions with mass media. This statement of the mediatisation Political Communication in the Era of Professionalisation
hypothesis is based on observations of how mass media produce political content
and interfere with political processes.(1999,p.250).

n It suggests the development and growth of a set of specialisms and specialist skills
that are used in the context of the persuasion and mobilisation of individuals as
citizens,voters and consumers.

The professionalisation of political communication refers not only to a move away from
traditional forms of election campaigning to more modern ways and means, but also to 11