Research examining negative campaigning has largely been focused on media coverage of elections, campaign events, electoral debates, political advertisement, and recently also websites (e.g., Druckman et al. 2010, Geer 2006, Lau et al. 1999, Patterson/Shea 2003, Schweitzer 2008, Walter/Vliegenthart 2010, Wicks/Souley 2003). Findings show that there are notable differences in the types of negative messages between these objects of investigation. Furthermore, there are only a handful of studies examining negative campaign strategies in non-US contexts, such as Germany (Holtz-Bacha 2001, Maier/Maier 2007). They demonstrate that attacks on the political opponents are less common than in US election campaigns. Campaign advertising and spots primarily have a positive tone. This paper turns attention to a lesser examined communication channel – the political parties’ press releases – to identify and explore the use of negative and positive messaging strategies from a political actor’s perspective (Haynes et al. 2002, Haynes et al. 2006). Via their press releases political parties are trying to get their message out to the media; receiving favorable coverage for themselves and (often) putting the political opponent in an unfavorable light. The question we address in this paper is how, and to what extent, do political parties use negative and positive messages in their press releases? Therefore, the paper focuses on the level of negativity and positivity between the political parties, on the content of negative and positive messages (issue-oriented, personal-oriented, and campaign-oriented) and target aimed at (e.g., political opponent, government, and mass media). The data for this study come from a 6-week content analysis of political parties’ press releases (n=1721) of the last six weeks of the 2008 Austrian National Elections.
