Summary of Key terms from the Political Communication & Journalism (PCJ) course for UvA Communication Science
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Course
Political Communication & Journalism (PCJ)
Institution
Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
Key Terms and their definitions which cover both the course literature and lecture. The concepts/terms/definitions are separated by their respective weeks. This document is both a useful overview of the essential information needed for the exam, and for making flashcards.
Political Communication & Journalism Key Terms (Autumn 2021)
Week 1: Introduction to political communication and journalism
Defining political communication: Who are the three key players and how do they interact?
- 3 key players are the media, the public and the politicians
- The public interact with the politicians through media because the politicians use the
media to inform themselves about what is salient for the public
-
Functions of the media: Information, education, platform function, watchdog function, channel
function
- Information function = to inform the citizens
- Education function = to educate the citizens, explain what certain things mean
- Platform function = horizontally exchanging ideas in the public sphere
- Watchdog function = monitor and give attention to politics, be critical
- Channel function = vertically express the party’s ideals to citizens
Role conceptions of journalists: Disseminator, interpreter, adversarial, populist mobilizer
- Disseminator = links to the information function, spreading information
- Interpreter = links to the education function, leave some interpretation open
- Adversarial = links to the watchdog function, being critical of politics
- Populist mobilizer = spread more than just the dominant POV
Threats to these functions?
1. Commercialization
a. Shift from the normative to the commercial pole, leads to decreased news quality
as journalists are trying to attract more readers (e.g., by sensationalizing)
b. THREATENED FUNCTIONS:
i. Information
ii. Education
iii. Platform
iv. Watchdog
2. Political actors (re)gaining control over media content
a. Steering the publics view with e.g., state regulation or censorship or lack of
pluralism
b. SOLUTION: more press independence and freedom
c. THREATENED FUNCTIONS:
i. Information
, ii. Education
iii. Platform
iv. Watchdog
v. Channel
3. Journalists getting stuck in safe routines
a. For example, keeping to elite opinions → Indexing
b. SOLUTION: take different approaches to journalism
c. THREATENED FUNCTIONS:
i. Platform
ii. Watchdog
4. Audience being unable or unwilling to process the information
a. Videomalaise/mediamalaise theory
b. Leads to the ‘dumbing down’ of news for citizens
c. Which leads to e.g., turning to social media for political news
d. SOLUTION: rebuild trust (Week 7), political satire (Week 3) and avoid echo
chambers
e. THREATENED FUNCTIONS:
i. Platform
ii. Education
iii. Channel
Media logic = the power to decide who and what is salient to the public lies firmly with the
media
Journalistic routines = safe and predictable practices in news production e.g., beats, news
calendar
Indexing = adjusting the range of viewpoints in a story to those who are powerful enough to act
on it, i.e., sticking to the elitist POV
Political efficacy = the citizens' faith and trust in government and their belief that they can
understand and influence political affairs.
Videomalaise/mediamalaise = theory states that new media leads to cynicism and a low sense of
political efficacy.
Commercialization = journalists maximizing the audience to make profit e.g., by including
sensationalized elements in the news
Mediatization: 4 phases of the process
- Mediatization = process where institutions become more reliant on media
- Mediation = transferring information through media → for political communication,
mediation is moderated by nation, political system etc.
1. Media becomes the main source of information
2. Media becomes largely independent of political institutions
3. Media is governed by media logic so actors must adapt to this logic
4. Political actors then become governed by media logic
o But it could be that politics influences media (Week 5)
Media systems (Hallin & Mancini)
- Liberal Model
o Market plays a strong role
o Journalistic professionalism
o Limited political parallelism
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