Political Communication at Cross-Roads

The 21st century has marked an unprecedented change in political communication as the advent of the Internet has radically modified the way we produce, exchange and consume information. While social media and weblogs have generated novel avenues for political parties to campaign and elites to communicate with the public, political communication keeps happening – if in a somewhat novel form – over the traditional media. These developments, and the intersection between old and new communication environments, raise some very important questions about the interplay between multiple media. Citizens are exposed to multiple channels where to gather information from and political actors and elites can choose among an array of new options how to spread their messages. Yet, are the abundance of channels and the multiplication of information opportunities leading to more transparent, inclusive and effective communication between citizens and institutions? Assessing the state of political communication between the public and political elites in the context of campaigns, when citizens are called to make fundamental choices, is a first step in answering this overarching question. Political communication is intensified during electoral campaigns. Therefore, elections do not only offer a perfect time-point for studying agenda control, political learning, and the interactions between campaign messages and voter preferences, but also offer an interesting testing ground for investigating how campaign communications influence the formulation of public policy. What is the role of the new and old media in campaign communications and in the political agenda-setting? Moreover, the admission of new technologies has not only influenced nation-wide electoral campaign communications, but also those at local, regional, and supranational level. In what ways does communication vary between different types of elections? While elections represent an acid test to measure the state of political communication, elites and citizens ought to maintain a nexus between elections, too. Therefore, the study of communication in the run up to elections must be complemented by answering crucial questions of government responsiveness and day-today legitimacy building. Political theorists routinely call for vigorous political debates in the public sphere between elections, too, by arguing that the very legitimacy of democratic governments depends on the quality of public deliberation. Empirical research, investigating the questions raised below, can improve our understanding of deliberative processes between elections. How do new and traditional media facilitate government accountability and responsiveness to citizens’ demands between elections? Do media inform or titillate? Further to this, effective political communication should foster citizens’ engagement and participation in politics. Is there evidence that the opportunities provided by the new tools of communication help to bridge the gap in political engagement of different audiences? Or do the new media tools mobilise the same societal sub-groups already engaged by the means of traditional campaigning? Also, is the new media truly democratising the space in which political information, opinions, and citizens’ preferences are exchanged or is there evidence of dominant groups explicitly or implicitly influencing the types of messages being shared? To fully understand whether the renewed media environment is actually creating the conditions for better communication between citizens and elites, we need to address the issue of equal opportunities and exclusion. Is there evidence that minorities and disadvantaged groups are provided with better opportunities to voice their opinions? Panels outline: P090 Digital Campaign Communication: A Global Perspective Chair/Discussant: Jeff Gulati (Bentley University) P099 Engaging and Informing the Masses with Traditional and New Communication Tools Chair/Discussant: Sebastian Popa (MZES, University of Mannheim) P109 EP Elections: Can We Say Something Other than Second Order? Chair/Discussant: Marijn van Klingeren (Radboud University Nijmegen) P268 Political Communication in-between Elections Chair/Discussant: Jeffrey Karp (University of Exeter) P352 The More the Better? Information Abundance and its Consequences Chair/Discussant: Marcel van Egmond (University of Amsterdam) P411 Winning Voters' Attention. Candidates, Media and Candidates' Media Coverage Chair/Discussant: Todd Donovan (Western Washington University)