Comparative international studies of election campaign communication: What should happen next?

Journalism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1124-1138
Author(s):  
Frank Esser
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
Campaign Communication ◽  
Media Channels ◽  
Election Studies

The article not only identifies important achievements of comparative international research of election campaign communication but also highlights their challenges. Focusing in particular on content analyses, the article finds that comparative studies examine either the messages of the news media (and here, so far, only the reporting of traditional media is considered) or the messages of the candidates (here, their social media channels are preferentially studied). The combination of both, meaning election studies that are devoted to the interplay of traditional and new channels in an international comparison, are extremely rare and should be intensified. It is encouraging that our knowledge of campaign reporting in a country-by-country comparison has increased in recent years because content analyses have increasingly concentrated on an established set of relevant reporting features – as this articles illustrates with many examples. However, more collaborative, internationally linked comparative scholarship is needed, even if the demands placed on researchers further increase as a result.

Political Knowledge and Misinformation in the Era of Social Media: Evidence From the 2015 UK Election

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Kevin Munger ◽  
Patrick J. Egan ◽  
Jonathan Nagler ◽  
Jonathan Ronen ◽  
Joshua Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Political Information ◽  
The Political ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Media Platform

Abstract Does social media educate voters, or mislead them? This study measures changes in political knowledge among a panel of voters surveyed during the 2015 UK general election campaign while monitoring the political information to which they were exposed on the Twitter social media platform. The study's panel design permits identification of the effect of information exposure on changes in political knowledge. Twitter use led to higher levels of knowledge about politics and public affairs, as information from news media improved knowledge of politically relevant facts, and messages sent by political parties increased knowledge of party platforms. But in a troubling demonstration of campaigns' ability to manipulate knowledge, messages from the parties also shifted voters' assessments of the economy and immigration in directions favorable to the parties' platforms, leaving some voters with beliefs further from the truth at the end of the campaign than they were at its beginning.

scholarly journals Analysing inter-media agenda setting influence between Social media and electronic media; a perspective from Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol Volume 4 (Issue 2) ◽  
pp. 478-496
Author(s):  
Farrukh Shahzad ◽  
Prof. Dr. Syed Abdul Siraj
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Electronic Media ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Lagged Correlation

Inter-media agenda setting is a commonly used phenomenon to investigate the transfer of contents between news media. The recent digitization era challenges the traditional presuppositions. This study investigates the inter-media agenda setting influence between social media and traditional media. To address this question, the present study investigates first level agenda setting between Twitter and ARY news during Farishta murder case 2019. Content analysis method was used to assess agendas present within Twitter and ARY news. By employing cross-lagged correlation, the study investigates the inter-media agenda setting influence between Twitter agendas and of ARY news agendas. Aggregate findings of cross-lagged correlation reveal a clear agenda setting influence of Twitter on ARY news coverage agenda about Farishta murder case. The results of the study suggest that Twitter has the capability to influence broadcast agendas of television in Pakistan

Media use, fear of terrorism, and attitudes towards immigrants and refugees: Young people and adults compared

2019 ◽  
pp. 174804851986947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlies Debrael ◽  
Leen d’Haenens ◽  
Rozane De Cock ◽  
David De Coninck
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Immigrants And Refugees ◽  
News Consumption ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
Do So

In Flanders, citizens hold rather negative attitudes towards immigrants and refugees. This could be due to the news media, which depict newcomers in a rather negative way. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether there are separate media worlds at work in Flemish young people and adults and whether this results in different attitudes towards immigrants and refugees. To do so, we questioned 1,759 people aged 13 to 65 by means of an online questionnaire. Results indicate that overall news consumption increases with age, and that young people mainly use social media for their news consumption while adults still rely on traditional media. Interestingly, young adults are the most welcoming group towards immigrants and refugees. Although news media consumption seems to be related to fear of terrorism and attitudes towards newcomers to some extent, socio-demographic factors play an important role in the development of fear and negative attitudes towards newcomers.

scholarly journals MPs and Audiences on Social Media during Emergencies: Automatic and Manual Content Analyses of Facebook Posts

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Nili Steinfeld ◽  
Azi Lev-On
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Emergency Situation ◽  
Mixed Method Study ◽  
The Public ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
Media Channels ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
Unique Dataset

Members of parliament’s (MPs) social media channels are significant arenas for communication between the public and national leaders. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to explore how these channels function during emergencies. We present findings from a mixed-method study of automatic and manual content analysis of a unique dataset composed of all posts on Israeli MPs' Facebook pages during the entire 19th Israeli parliament. We compare scope of posting, engagement with posts, and the content in MPs' Facebook pages during “ordinary" periods and an “emergency” period, focusing on the 2014 Israel/Gaza war. Findings present MPs' social media pages as hubs of interaction between MPs and audiences in emergencies, even more so than during ordinary periods. MPs' social media pages involve significantly more posts (and engagement with posts) during emergencies. In addition, the content in them becomes more emotional, less personal, and focused on the emergency situation and the national leaders responding to it.

scholarly journals Functions of Hybrid Media: How Parties and Their Leaders Use Traditional Media in Their Social Media Campaign Communication

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Paatelainen ◽  
Elisa Kannasto ◽  
Pekka Isotalus
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Media Campaign ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Media System ◽  
The Media ◽  
Campaign Communication ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

Political campaign communication has become increasingly hybrid and the ability to create synergies between older and newer media is now a prerequisite for running a successful campaign. Nevertheless, beyond establishing that parties and individual politicians use social media to gain visibility in traditional media, not much is known about how political actors use the hybrid media system in their campaign communication. At the same time, the personalization of politics, shown to have increased in the media coverage of politics, has gained little attention in the context of today’s hybrid media environment. In this research we analyze one aspect of hybrid media campaign communication, political actors’ use of traditional media in their social media campaign communication. Through a quantitative content analysis of the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts of Finnish parties and their leaders published during the 2019 Finnish parliamentary elections, we find that much of this hybridized campaign communication was personalized. In addition, we show that parties and their leaders used traditional media for multiple purposes, the most common of which was gaining positive visibility, pointing to strategic considerations. The results have implications for both the scholarship on hybrid media systems and personalization of politics.

scholarly journals Effects of Traditional and Social Media on Political Trust

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-135
Author(s):  
Martín Echeverría ◽  
Evelia Mani
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Misleading Information ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Positive Effect

Political trust is essential for a democratic regime to work, and a declining asset in Western countries. It has been confirmed theoretically and empirically that news media are an important source of influence on political trust, though literature have not considered social media, in which the circulation of false or misleading information, and propaganda, might have a negative effect on political trust, to be relevant channels of news consumption. In order to explore the effect of social media on political trust in comparison with that of traditional media, an ANOVA test and hierarchical multiple linear regression models were run on a three-wave panel survey, during the presidential elections of 2018 (N = 701) in Mexico. The findings indicate that the election campaign had a positive effect on institutional trust, growing as the campaign developed, and that there was a positive influence from social media, followed by television.

scholarly journals Examining the effect of information channel on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0251095
Author(s):  
Rachael Piltch-Loeb ◽  
Elena Savoia ◽  
Beth Goldberg ◽  
Brian Hughes ◽  
Tanner Verhey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Information Channel ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Vaccine Acceptance ◽  
Public Health Communication ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
Vaccine Information ◽  
Quota Sampling ◽  
Media Channels

Hesitancy towards the COVID-19 vaccine remains high among the US population. Now that the vaccine is available to priority populations, it is critical to convince those that are hesitant to take the vaccine. Public health communication about the vaccine as well as misinformation on the vaccine occurs through a variety of different information channels. Some channels of information are more commonly found to spread misinformation. Given the expansive information environment, we sought to characterize the use of different media channels for COVID-19 vaccine information and determine the relationship between information channel and vaccine acceptance. We used quota sampling of vaccine priority groups [N = 2,650] between December 13 and 23, 2020 and conducted bivariate chi-squared tests and multivariable multinomial logistic regression analyses to determine the relative impact of channels of information on vaccine acceptance. We found traditional channels of information, especially National TV, National newspapers, and local newspapers increased the likelihood of vaccine acceptance. Individuals who received information from traditional media compared to social media or both traditional and social media were most likely to accept the vaccine. The implications of this study suggest social media channels have a role to play in educating the hesitant to accept the vaccine, while traditional media channels should continue to promote data-driven and informed vaccine content to their viewers.

scholarly journals What do people learn from following the news? A diary study on the influence of media use on knowledge of current news stories

2020 ◽  
pp. 026732312097872
Author(s):  
Kathleen Beckers ◽  
Peter Van Aelst ◽  
Pascal Verhoest ◽  
Leen d’Haenens
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Audiovisual Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Time Diary ◽  
Current Affairs

One of the main functions of news media in democracies is informing the citizenry on day-to-day affairs. However, the way in which citizens gather news has changed as nowadays people have more opportunities than ever before to adapt their media consumption based on their preferences. One of the major game changers was the introduction of social media. This raises the question to what extent traditional media still contribute to people’s knowledge of current affairs. Using a time-diary study in the Flemish media context, we investigate the influence of different forms of news consumption on current news knowledge. We conclude that traditional (print and audiovisual) media, including popular outlets, continue to be the major contributors to people’s knowledge about current affairs and that social media hardly contribute at all.

scholarly journals What is the Influence of News Media on People’s Perception of Corruption? Parametric and Non-Parametric Approaches

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Charron ◽  
Paola Annoni
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
Systematic Effect ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Media Source ◽  
Non Parametric

Abstract Does the source of one’s news media have a systematic effect on one’s perception of political corruption? While numerous studies have investigated the extent to which media affects trust in institutions, or the polarization of political values, this study shifts the focus on to how one’s media source conceived here as social media versus traditional media affects the perception of corruption in 2 ways. First, we hypothesize that citizens who consume their news predominately from social media will have higher perceptions of political corruption than consumers of more traditional media sources. Second, we hypothesize that perceptions among social media consumers will be more polarized. Specifically, we argue that the gap in corruption perception between supporters of government and opposition political parties will be larger among social media consumers compared to traditional news consumers. We test our hypotheses using newly collected survey data from the European Quality of Government Index survey from 2017, which contains nearly 78,000 respondents in 21 countries in the European Union. Estimating our model with both parametric and non-parametric approaches, we find robust empirical support for two of our 3 hypotheses.

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