Comparing Political Communication Across Time and Space : New Studies in an Emerging Field

Comparing across Space and Time -Challenges and Achievements in Political Communication Research Barbara Pfetsch Index vii List of Figures 2.1 Extension 1: Translate external influences into variables (by specifying the 'linking mechanism' between cases) and incorporate them in comparative design 2.2 Extension 2: Study interplay between external and internal variables and how cross-border influences are negotiated locally 2.3 Extension 3: Incorporate additional de-nationalized control cases in comparative designs 2.4 Extension 4: Adopt multi-layered approach that compares (a) larger media scapes and system families at supranational level, (b) media systems at national level, and (c) milieus, subcultures or communities at subnational level 2.5 Extension 5: Integrate new perspectives 3.1 Configural invariance model 3.2 Metric invariance model 3.3 Scalar invariance model 3.4 Advertising effects model: Influence of attention to political advertisements on negative affect towards asylum seekers 5.1 Negative, positive, and contrasting appeals on Swedish election posters, 1911-2010 5.2 Issues, ideology and traits as characteristics of negative campaigning in Swedish election posters, 1911-2011 7.1 Categorization of government communication 8.1 Illustration of underlying research logic 8.2 Strength of indirect effect (direct democracy on political engagement through internal political efficacy) depending on news use 9.1 Journalists' political and social trust 9.2 Journalists' political trust and corruption 13.1 A selection of the conceptually distinct ranges of transnational public spheres 13.2 The development of media attention to climate change in the surveyed countries, January 1996 to June 2010 13.3 Variation coefficients of the country groupings over time 14.1 The political communication system viii List of Tables 3.1 Model comparison: Impact of invariance constraints on model fit 3.2 Comparison of factor loadings across time and culture in the unconstrained model 4.1 Causal recipe explaining high levels of personalized mediated political communication in democracies 4.2 Causal recipe explaining not high levels of personalized mediated political communication in democracies (the negation) 4.3 Crisp and fuzzy sets 4.4 Intermediate solutions for the personalization of political communication 4.5 Cases of publicized infidelity involving politicians, 1990-2009 4.6 Truth table displaying the causal conditions of membership of fuzzy set: 'democracies where politicians' infidelity is publicized' 4.7 The causal recipes that explain the outcome 4.8 The causal recipes that explain the negation of the outcome 5.1 Evidence in positive and negative appeals in Swedish election posters, 1911-2010 5.2 Party differences and the impact of political position in using positive, contrast and negative appeals in Swedish election posters, 1911-2010 6.1 The mention of race, change and hope in US and international papers 6.2 The mention of race, change and hope in red and blue American states 6.3 The mention of race, change and hope in newspapers that endorsed Obama and those in newspapers that endorsed McCain 8.1 Summary of OLS regression analysis for variables predicting political participation 8.2 Summary of OLS regression analysis for variables predicting the mediator, internal political efficacy 9.1 Journalists' trust in public institutions across countries 9.2 Journalists' and the general public's trust in political institutions List of Tables ix 11.1 Perception of the mutual relationship 11.2 Reasons for conflict by group and by country 11.3 Perceived impact of political convictions on interaction 11.4 Difference in journalistic role orientations: journalistspoliticians 11.5 Difference in political role orientations between politicians (self) and journalists (other) (total, mean difference) 12.1 Some key figures for Swedish public television, 1998-2010 12.2 Number of political news stories included in the content analysis 12.3 The framing of politics as a strategic game or as scandal 12.4 The framing of politics as issues and substance 12.5 News anchors interviewing other journalists, who are acting as news analysts 12.6 Share of news stories characterized by an interpretive journalistic style 13.1 Overview of analyzed countries and newspapers 13.2 Variation and correlation of levels and trends of attention to climate change in the different country groups x Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Comparing Political Communication across Time and Space: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges in a Globalized World — An Introduction....Pages 1-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 Methodological Challenges in Comparative Communication Research: Advancing Cross-National Research in Times of Globalization....Pages 15-30 The Role of Measurement Invariance in Comparative Communication Research....Pages 31-46 Using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Comparative Political Communication Research: Applying Fuzzy Set Theoretic Thinking to Small-N Case-Oriented Research....Pages 47-63 Front Matter....Pages 65-65 Negativity in the Public Space: Comparing a Hundred Years of Negative Campaigning on Election Posters in Sweden....Pages 67-82 US and International Coverage of the Election of Barack Obama: Trends and Differences....Pages 83-97 Is It Enough to Be Strategic? Comparing and Defining Professional Government Communication across Disciplinary Fields and between Countries....Pages 98-116 Comparing Political Participation in Different Institutional Environments: The Mobilizing Effect of Direct Democracy on Young People....Pages 117-134 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 Political Trust among Journalists: Comparative Evidence from 21 Countries....Pages 137-156 Making Sense of Press Freedom: A Comparison of Journalists’ Perceptions of Press Freedom in Eastern Europe and East Asia....Pages 157-171 A Hedge between Keeps Friendship Green — Concurrence and Conflict between Politicians and Journalists in Nine European Democracies....Pages 172-191 It Didn’t Happen Here: Commercialization and Political News Coverage in Swedish Television 1998–2010....Pages 192-209 Global Climate Change, Global Public Sphere? Media Attention for Climate Change in 27 Countries....Pages 210-227 Conclusion: Comparing across Space and Time — Challenges and Achievements in Political Communication Research....Pages 228-240 Back Matter....Pages 241-247 By using a wide diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches and by encompassing both cross-national and longitudinal analyses, this volume sheds new light on comparative political communication research, such as personalization, globalization, democratization, and the changing nature of journalism,. This volume addresses the challenges that political communication is facing today from a comparative perspective, using principles and methods of comparison both across space (cross-national) and across time (longitudinal). It studies a wide range of countries and cultures, covering advanced Western democracies and beyond. The research tools employed include quantitative and qualitative content analysis, comparative case studies, document analysis, opinion surveys, elite interviews and a combination of various methods. Employing different research strategies and theoretical approaches, this book sheds new light on key concepts in the literature on comparative political communication research, such as professionalization, personalization and globalization. It also investigates processes of change and transformation, such as negativization of campaigns, internationalization of campaign coverage, professionalization of government communication, democratization, commercialization of the media and transnationalization of national public spheres "This volume addresses the challenges that political communication is facing today from a comparative perspective, using principles and methods of comparison both across space (cross-national) and across time (longitudinal), thereby advancing the understanding of global trends and cultural differences. It covers a wide range of countries and cultures from advanced Western democracies and beyond. The research tools employed include quantitative and qualitative content analyses, comparative case studies, document analysis, opinion surveys, elite interviews and a combination of various methods. Employing different research strategies and theoretical approaches, this book sheds new light on key concepts in the literature on comparative political communication research, such as professionalization, personalization and globalization. It also investigates processes of change and transformation, such as negativization of campaigns, internationalization of campaign coverage, professionalization of government communication, democratization, commercialization of the media and transnationalization of national public spheres."-- Provided by publisher