Table Of ContentPolitics, Media, and
Modern Democracy
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Politics, Media, and
Modern Democracy
An International Study of Innovations in Electoral
Campaigning and Their Consequences
Edited by David L. Swanson and Paolo Mancini
Praeger Series in Political Communication
PRAGER Westport, Connecticut
London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Politics, media, and modern democracy: an international study of
innovations in electoral campaigning and their consequences / edited
by David L. Swanson and Paolo Mancini.
p. cm. — (Praeger series in political communication, ISSN 1062-5623)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-275-95182-0 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-275-95183-9 (pbk.:
alk. paper)
1. Campaign management. 2. Electioneering. 3. Comparative
government. I. Swanson, David L. II. Mancini, Paolo.
III. Series.
JF2112.C3C55 1996
324.7—dc20 95-43773
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1996 by David L. Swanson and Paolo Mancini
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-43773
ISBN: 0-275-95182-0
0-275-95183-9 (pbk.)
First published in 1996
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 987654321
Contents
Tables vn
Series Foreword ix
i Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy: Introduction 1
Paolo Mancini and David L. Swanson
PART I Campaign Innovations in Established Democracies
with Stable Political Cultures
2 Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy: The United States 29
Dan Nimmo
3 Modern Communications versus Traditional Politics
in Britain: Unstable Marriage of Convenience 49
Jay G. Blumler, Dennis Kavanagh, and T J. Nossiter
4 The Modernization of Swedish Campaigns:
Individualization, Professionalization, and Medialization 73
Kent Asp and Peter Esaiasson
5 The "Americanization" of German Election Campaigns:
Any Impact on the Voters? 91
Klaus Schoenbach
PART II Campaign Innovations in New and Restored Democracies
6 Television, Campaigning, and Elections
in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia 107
Ellen Mickiewicz and Andrei Richter
7 Television and Elections in Post-1989 Poland:
How Powerful Is the Medium? 129
Kami Jakubowicz
8 Political Communication and Electoral Campaigns
in the Young Spanish Democracy 155
Juan I. Rospir
VI CONTENTS
PART III Campaign Innovations in Democracies
Facing Potentially Destabilizing Pressures
9 American-Style Electioneering in Israel:
Americanization versus Modernization 173
Dan Caspi
10 Patterns and Effects of Recent Changes in
Electoral Campaigning in Italy 193
Gianpietro Mazzoleni
11 Secular Politics: The Modernization of
Argentine Electioneering 207
Silvio R. Waisbord
12 Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy:
The Case of Venezuela 227
Jose Antonio Mayobre
13 Patterns of Modern Electoral Campaigning
and Their Consequences 247
David L. Swanson and Paolo Mancini
Selected Bibliography 277
Index 279
About the Editors and Contributors 285
Tables
5.1 West German Newspapers Included in the Content Analysis
of Political Coverage, October 1 to December 2,1990 96
5.2 Helmut Kohl and Oskar Lafontaine in Political News Stories: The
Proportion of Stories Where the Candidate Was at Least One of
the First Ten Actors in the Text or in Photos/Film of a Story 97
5.3 Helmut Kohl and Oskar Lafontaine in Stories Mentioning the
Election: The Proportion of Stories Where the Candidate Was at
Least One of the First Ten Actors in the Text or in
Photos/Film of a Story 98
5.4 Interest in Top Candidates and Party Plans: Mean Scores 99
5.5 Impact of Information Exposure on the Difference between
Interest in the Top Candidates and Interest in Party Plans 101
6.1 Time Allotted to Selected Parties in News Coverage of 1993
Parliamentary Campaign on Channels One and Two,
November 1 to December 10,1993 120
6.2 Advertising Time in 1993 Parliamentary Campaign:
Media Buys of Selected Parties 123
7.1 Functions of Mass Media in Electoral Campaigns 130
7.2 Two Approaches to Political Communication 133
7.3 Media in Society: Roles, Relationships, Goals 134
7.4 Journalists' Roles, Modes of Communication Relations,
Media Goals and Functions, and Audience Roles 136
7.5 Polish Election Dilemmas 139
7.6 Polish Television's Coverage of the 1990 Presidential Campaign 143
8.1 Composition of Daily Audience for Mass Media 160
9.1 Patterns of Innovation in Electoral Campaigning 176
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Series Foreword
Those of us from the discipline of communication studies have long believed
that communication is more important than all other fields of inquiry. In sev
eral other forums, I have argued that the essence of politics is "talk" or human
interaction.1 Such interaction may be formal or informal, verbal or nonverbal,
public or private, but it is always persuasive, forcing us consciously or sub
consciously to interpret, to evaluate, and to act. Communication is the vehicle
for human action.
From this perspective, it is not surprising that Aristotle recognized the natural
kinship of politics and communication in his writings Politics and Rhetoric. In
the former, he establishes that humans are "political beings [who] alone of the
animals [are] furnished with the faculty of language."2 And in the latter, he
begins his systematic analysis of discourse by proclaiming that "rhetorical
study, in its strict sense, is concerned with the modes of persuasion."3 Thus, it
was recognized over 2,300 years ago that politics and communication go hand
in hand because they are essential parts of human nature.
Back in 1981, Dan Nimmo and Keith Sanders proclaimed that political com
munication was an emerging field.4 Although its origin, as noted, dates back
centuries, a "self-consciously cross-disciplinary" focus began in the late 1950s.
Thousands of books and articles later, colleges and universities offer a variety
of graduate and undergraduate coursework in the area in such diverse de
partments as communication, mass communication, journalism, political sci
ence, and sociology.5 In Nimmo and Sanders' early assessment, the "key areas
of inquiry" included rhetorical analysis, propaganda analysis, attitude change
studies, voting studies, government and the news media, functional and sys
tems analyses, technological changes, media technologies, campaign tech
niques, and research techniques.6 In a survey of the state of the field in 1983,
the same authors and Lynda Kaid found additional, more specific areas of
concerns such as the presidency, political polls, public opinion, debates, and
advertising to name a few.7 Since the first study, they also noted a shift away
from the rather strict behavioral approach.
A decade later, Dan Nimmo and David Swanson argued that "political com
munication has developed some identity as a more or less distinct domain of
