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rather than confrontation. This is maintained and fostered by personal networks and
background circles.(Cf.Pfetsch,2003;Tenscher,2003.)

However,research also hints at changes in the German political communication culture.
The confidential and non-public communication channels seem to lose their relevance
while a growing distance between political speakers and journalists is observed, which
has also been regarded as an indicator of a professionalisation process on the part of
the speakers. Thus, the political communication system, where representatives of the
political system and the media system meet, has developed into a web of symmetric
and asymmetric, cooperative and controversial relations of subsystems that are
independent of each other but nevertheless lose their autonomy (Tenscher, 2003, p.
342). In fact, changes in the way journalists see their own role also indicates the gradual
dissolution of the formerly close ties between German politicians and journalists.While
German journalists always emphasised their political role, they have more and more
come to accept an entertaining role as well. This trend can in particular be observed
among the younger generation of journalists who grew up in the commercialising
German media system. One of the more obvious indicators for the changing relation
between journalists and politicians is the waning of the traditional gentlemen’s
agreement between the two sides that once protected politicians in their private
sphere (cf.Holtz-Bacha,2004a).

All of this has had consequences for the political system. Politics today has to struggle
for attention and is therefore forced to take the logic of the media into account and
even more so the logic of entertainment. For many, the election of Gerhard Schröder,
who became known as the ‘media chancellor’, seemed to mark the transition from old-
style communication that regarded the media as a means to inform the public and
The Professionalisation of Political Communication
create popular consent, to news management that sees the media as its target. In fact,
his openness to the media, his appearances in television shows early in his first term,
and the way he instrumentalised his private life for image building, have caused heated
debates. However, on the one hand, it is obvious that he set a trend. Other politicians
adopted his strategies, which supports the view that Schröder was simply among the
first who accepted the necessities of the media society and exploited them to his
advantage. However, the instrumental use of the private for campaign purposes seems
to have tempted the media to push further the boundaries about what is acceptable
coverage of politics and politicians.

CONCLUSION:PROFESSIONALISATION AT TWO SPEEDS?
Although Germany has reached a certain degree of modernisation, which has brought
about new challenges for the mediation of politics, the outcome as far as
professionalisation is concerned is ambiguous. Professionalisation in the sense of
adapting to the challenges of an unpredictable electorate and a diversifying media
system could long be observed in electoral campaigns. The process was speeded up
first by the establishment of television as a campaign channel and later by the
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