scholarly journals Analyzing Presidential Debates

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pekka Isotalus
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Presidential Debates ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Campaigning ◽  
Presidential Debate

Abstract One of the most used theories in the research of political debates is the functional theory of campaign discourse. However, the theory has been criticized for being too culturally limited. In the present article, a Finnish presidential debate is analyzed from the perspective of functional theory. The goal is to critically evaluate the applicability of functional theory to the analysis of Finnish political campaigning. The results show that a Finnish presidential debate differs in many ways from an American presidential debate. The study shows how strongly the culture is reflected in political television debates and how important it is to take account of the cultural perspective in the development of a theory.

scholarly journals The Application of Functional Theory: Indonesian Presidential Debate

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahyuningsih Wahyuningsih ◽  
Deli Nirmala
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Language Function ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Discourse Analysis ◽  
Presidential Debate

<em>Functional theory is a one of theories that are common used on the research of political debates in American campaign discourse. In the present article, Indonesian presidential debate is analyzed from the perspective of functional theory. The goal of this study is to analyze language function produced by candidates and to evaluate the applicability of functional theory in analyzing Indonesian presidential debate. The authors employ qualitative method in analyzing data. Supporting instruments in analyzing data were functional theory and political discourse analysis (PDA). PDA used in interpreting language function in political context. While, functional theory provides three functions, namely: attacks, defends, and acclaims. The finding shows that two different axioms are found. The first is the use of attack more than defense; it is line with the prediction of functional theory that has been tested in American political debate. Second, the use of acclaims less than attack, it differs in a way from the prediction of functional theory. Fundamentally, functional theory can be used as an instrument in analysis political debates in Indonesia even though the findings were not exactly consistence with the prediction. Thereby, the theory needs to be developed discursively</em>.

TURN TAKING STRATEGIES IN POLITICAL DEBATES

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Desi Dwi Natalia ◽  
Fajar Subekti ◽  
Ni Ketut Mirahayuni
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Strategy ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Communication Mechanism ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Presidential Debate ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

This article reports on two separate studies—Natalia (2019) and Subekti (2019)—on  communication mechanism in political debates. Specifically these studies focus on turn taking strategies adopted in political debates by political figures during their campaign for presidency or in dealing with specific issues. Both studies adopted Stenstrom’s (1994) classification of turn taking strategies which include three main strategies: taking the turn, holding the turn, and yielding the turn, each of which was further specified into more specific strategies. The data were two Youtube videos: first, Trump and Clinton First Presidential Debate 2016 (36 minutes 22 seconds [Natalia, 2019]) and second, BBC World Debate “Why Poverty”November 30,2012 (47 minutes 16 seconds, [Subekti, 2019]). Employing descriptive qualitative, with the aim of analyzing turn taking strategies adopted in the debates, both studies found interesting points: first, Stenstrom’s three strategies appeared in the debates; second, taking the turn strategy was the dominant strategy, followed by holding the turn strategy and the least used one was yielding to turn; and third, interruption which was a specific type of taking the turn strategy seems to be most often used in the debater’s attempt to maintain the turn and present their points and thus dominate the debate.

Closing the Knowledge Gap: How Issue Priming Before Presidential Debate Viewing Encourages Learning and Opinion Articulation

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110003
Author(s):  
Freddie J. Jennings ◽  
Robert H. Wicks ◽  
Mitchell S. McKinney ◽  
Kate Kenski
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Presidential Debates ◽  
Cognitive Elaboration ◽  
Priming Condition ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Presidential Debate

One mechanism by which citizens learn about candidates and issues is through watching presidential debates. Some scholars have raised concerns that these events, however, disproportionately benefit those already high in political knowledge more so than others with lesser knowledge levels. We hypothesize that knowledge begets knowledge because it prompts a constructive cognitive process that results from elaboration and reflection. We test this hypothesis in an experiment that also considers whether issue priming could help mitigate the deficit that those lower in political sophistication have when viewing campaign events. Participants ( N = 543) watched a 9-minute segment focusing on economic issues drawn from the first 2020 presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to an issue priming condition and viewed the debate segment after reading a narrative text on economic policy, and the other half read an unrelated text. The study presents a model that reveals the following: (a) cognitive elaboration mediates the relationship between prior political knowledge and learning from a campaign event, (b) providing citizens with background issue–related knowledge produces a similar elaborative effect as did preexisting political knowledge, and (c) participants demonstrate greater political opinion articulation following this enhanced elaboration leading to more learning. The implications for cultivating a knowledgeable democratic electorate are discussed.

scholarly journals Loving Nature in João Guimarães Rosa: The Non-human as 'amável'

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Ashley Brock
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Emotional Relationships ◽  
Joao Guimaraes Rosa ◽  
Human World ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Cost

In the present article, I locate an implicit environmentalism JoãoGuimarães Rosa’s writing from the 1950s and 1960s. This sensibility is easy tomiss, in part because it transposes political debates on damage inflicted in thename of development and progress onto the affective-ethical plane; however, itdoes so in a way that resists sentimentality or projecting a misplaced innocenceonto the non-human world. Focusing on emotional relationships between humansand non-humans, I read “As margens da alegria” and “Os cimos” as expressingan eco-critical discourse that was already latent in Grande sertão: veredas.Recasting the natural world as a site of both unfathomable otherness and relationsof tenderness, Guimarães Rosa presents the emotional hold that nature has onhumans and the cost of cleaving oneself from it—a cost that includes diminishingthe human capacity for delight, wonder, and eros.

scholarly journals Connective Effervescence and Streaming Chat During Political Debates

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago Ventura ◽  
Kevin Munger ◽  
Katherine McCabe ◽  
Keng-Chi Chang
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Debates ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fox News ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Facebook Pages ◽  
Online Streaming ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Recent advancements in online streaming technologies have re-centered the audience as an important part of live broadcasts, including live political events. In fall 2020, each of the U.S. presidential and vice presidential debates were streamed on a number of online platforms that provided an integrated streaming chat where the public could comment in real-time alongside the live debate video. Viewers could simultaneously tune into what the candidates were saying and see what a sample of their peers thought about the candidates. This study examines large samples of comments made in social chat feeds during the livestreamed debates on the ABC News, NBC News, and Fox News Facebook pages to quantify key features associated with the quality of political discussion on these platforms. The results reveal that consistent with the quasi-anonymous, constrained nature of dynamic chat, the comments made are generally short, include a substantial degree of toxicity and insults, and differ significantly in their content across platforms. These findings underscore the importance of further study of online streaming chat as a new source of potential influence on political attitudes and behavior.

Do Presidential Debates Contribute to a Change in Voters' Attitudes?

1993 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Everton G. McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Debates ◽  
Preference Analysis ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Presidential Debate

A group of 36 undergraduates watched the second presidential debate of 1992 between Bush, Clinton, and Perot and completed pre- and posttest measures on voting preference. Analysis showed a significant difference between the pretest and posttest in terms of support for Clinton, with increased support by women already favorable.

Perceptions of Bush, Clinton, and Perot in Relation to Frequency of Presidential Debate Viewing

1993 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. C. Powell ◽  
J. W. Wanzenried
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Analysis Of Variance ◽  
Presidential Debates ◽  
Credibility Scale ◽  
Significant Change ◽  
Opening And Closing ◽  
Presidential Debate

Two groups of university students reported their frequency of watching the presidential debates of 1992 (245 vs 173) while one group was shown the opening and closing statements made by each candidate in each debate. The 1992 Leathers Personal Credibility Scale was used to measure respondents' perceptions of the three candidates. Analysis of variance using frequency of viewing the debates yielded no significant change in perceptions of the candidates among or between groups.

scholarly journals Application of Functional Theory of Political Discourse in Chilean presidential debates to determine the influence of journalists in the contents

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 167-184
Author(s):  
William Porath ◽  
Constanza Ortega-Gunckel ◽  
Enrique Núñez-Mussa
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Predominant Role ◽  
Presidential Debates ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Academic Interest

Within the growing academic interest over electoral debates, the role of the journalists who conduct the debates in determining the tenor of the answers has not been sufficiently studied. We used Chile as an extreme case, given the predominant role that the debate moderators receive here, thanks to the “journalistic panel” format utilized in them, where they take turns to interview the candidates. As a framework to describe these contents, we used Functional Theory of Political Discourse by William Benoit. Our data show that, indeed, the candidates use different combinations of said functions, depending on the different frameworks established by the rules for each debate. Clearly, the candidates tend to defend themselves from the attacks of the journalists, rather than their rivals’; and they use other strategies when the rules allow them more freedom.

scholarly journals Medial Shaping from the Outset: On the Mediality of the Second Presidential Debate, 2016

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-93
Author(s):  
Martin Luginbühl ◽  
Jan Georg Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
Related Aspect ◽  
Institutional Dimension ◽  
Structural Aspects ◽  
Presidential Debate

In the present article we argue that all communication is medial in the sense that every human sign-based interaction is shaped by me­dial aspects from the outset. We propose a dynamic, semiotic con­cept of media that focuses on the process-related aspect of media­lity, and we test the applicability of this concept using as an example the second presidential debate between Clinton and Trump in 2016. The analysis shows in detail how the sign processing during the debate is continuously shaped by structural aspects of television and specific traits of political communication in television. This includes how the camerawork creates meaning and how the protagonists both use the affordances of this special mediality. Therefore, it is not adequate in our view to separate the technical aspects of the me­dium, the ‘hardware’, from the processual aspects and the structural conditions of communication. While some aspects of the interaction are directly constituted by the medium, others are more indirectly shaped and influenced by it, especially by its institutional dimension – we understand them as second-order media effects. The whole medial procedure with its specific mediality is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition of meaning-making. We distinguish the medial procedure from the semiotic modes employed, the language games played and the competence of the play­ers involved.

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