Comparative Research

Emerging online arenas offer new possibilities for the study of online communication aided by computer-assisted methods of data collection. However, these possibilities also entail certain challenges. As online data collection such as “scraping” of web content becomes part of the methodological repertoire of non-technically inclined researchers, and as the data available for researchers to place under scrutiny grows ever more plentiful, we point to two challenges that need to be tackled if we are to grasp current developments. How can we make sense of the massive amounts of novel forms of mediated communication, and how can we approach them in an ethically sound manner? While all branches of media and communication research face these challenges, we are specifically interested in discussing them in relation to the broad field of political communication. Political communication research tries to understand and explain all forms of “purposeful communication about politics” (McNair 2003: 23). To do so, researchers have sampled newspaper articles, studied a selection of television broadcasts, analysed documentaries, or listened in on specific radio programmes. In the age of the mass media, these were perfectly legitimate approaches – and they still are. Yet political communication research has had to expand its arsenal of approaches. During the roughly 15 years that have passed since the Web emerged as a mainstream platform for mediated communication, researchers have tried to grasp its effect on political communication. The majority of such work, however, notably relies on traditional methodological approaches. If we wish to properly understand online political communication, we need to explore novel possibilities. To assess the importance of blog posts, twitter messages and other so-called social media outlets as platforms for political expression, to take one pertinent example, we first need to get an overview of the different types of these mediated forms of expression in our polity. This does not only entail intricate definitional delimitations, but also a some what daunting methodological task. Those trying to get an overview of the online communication during the latest Swedish election, for instance, would find a lot of material – too much even to get a perspective on, perhaps. The number of messages or utterances users of one not very widespread service (Twitter) themselves labelled #val2010” (“election2010”) amounted to over 100,000 during a one-month period leading up to the election. Still, empirical endeavours based on such data constitute necessary steps on the way forward for political communication research. And they clearly entail some challenges.

This chapter discusses the interaction between social movements and the mass media. It explains why and how this relationship can be seen as one of mutual dependency. Social movements need mass media attention to amplify their claims; the media attend to movements because they create newsworthy events. We take stock of the research that has been done and focus on various elements of this relationship. Following a classic political communication process approach, we first discuss the causes for media to devote attention to social movements and their events. Next, we focus on the content of this coverage and how it is analyzed by social movement scholars. Finally, we look at the various consequences of media coverage for social movements, in terms of mobilization, reaching political change and obtaining favorable public opinion. Authors’ bio Rens Vliegenthart is assistant professor in political communication in the department of Communication Science and at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on media-politics dynamics, with a special interest in the role of non-institutional actors, such as social movements. Furthermore, he has an interest in methods for comparative research in political communication and the application of time series analysis in that area.

In recent years many political communication researchers have attempted to relate the attributes of political messages to the circumstances of the generative institutions of political communication, political institutions and media institutions. This mode of analysis helps reveal why the political messages produced by actors within these institutions have the attributes that define them and lead to their civic consequences. As its generative institutions undergo fundamental changes in response to altered circumstances, raising the possibility of corresponding but not yet known changes in democratic processes and practices, the study of political communication has taken on particular urgency. This essay describes some of the current research that endeavors to appreciate the wider context of political communication and illustrates some of the main themes of political communication study.

Politics is defined as who gets what, when, and how. Communication is defined as the process, outcomes and effects of message transmission through a medium. Thus political communication in Asia, the most dynamic and uncertain region of the world, has been very dense, requiring rigorous scientific analysis and culturally sensitive reflection. Mass media brought about a revolution in political communication in the last century. In the 21st century, complex monitory devices from the state and international organizations and from the society and transnational groups have transformed the features of political communication. It has triggered another revolution in political communication. Illustrations are given focusing on Asia. A theoretical reflection from the angle of political science is attempted focusing on political communication medium and its effects. I compare no medium (face-to-face communication), mass media, and social media in relation to their effects.

Political communication research is increasingly concerned with the study of political life in online environments. Some recent investigations make use of Internet-based tools for the research process: for project management, for data collection and analysis, and for the preparation and publication of findings. In these respects, political communication research reflects methodological transformations underway across the social sciences, often known as e-Science and e-Research. This article explores aspects of that transformation through examination of a range of studies concerned with political discourse, political participation, and election campaigns in which the online environment is accentuated. We reflect on four study features: project management, research designs, sampling, and data visualisation. In a series of illustrative studies, we consider challenges in undertaking political communication research in network environments utilising Internet-based tools. Finally, we introduce the contributions to this journal theme issue, placing the articles within an overall framework of concern regarding Internet-based political communication research.

Political science in the German-speaking world is only concerned peripherally with pictures. In the course of the “iconic turn” during the 1990s visual political communication became an issue of more weight, but other disciplines like art history still have more competence when it comes to analysing pictures. Thus, the basic question remains: How can we achieve a sustainable “iconic turn” in political science and civic education? The article proposes an answer in three parts: Its first chapter describes the relationship between political science, civic education, and visual communication in the German-speaking world. The effort to map this scattered research landscape ought to be a contribution to its transnational connectivity. The second part reflects on the special “power of pictures”. It argues that pictures probably have specific persuasive power, but nonetheless are neutral political tools (just like words). Obviously they can be exploited by liars, but quite as well they can serve as helpful information resources (e.g. in civic education). Finally, the third chapter claims that political science should try and learn from visually more competent disciplines like art history or communication science. All in all this leads to the final conclusion that political communication research should turn its attention to pictoriality.

This paper calls attention to what is arguably the most notable advancement in survey experiments over the last decade: conjoint designs. The benefit of conjoint design is its capacity to study and compare the causal effects of several dimensions simultaneously. Although survey experiments have long been a preferred method for assessing causal effects, the method falls short when studying multidimensional causal relations.Researchers face a trade-off between a lack of statistical power or a restriction in experimental conditions. Conjoint designs solve this problem by letting the researcher vary an indefinite number of factors in one experiment. This method is quickly gaining ground in social and political science but has yet to be widely practiced in political communication research. This article argues that conjoint designs are ideal for studying political communication effects and highlights the possible benefits of using and innovating conjoint designs in political communication research. We make available sample scripts and demonstrate the value of this methodological technique through empirical examples of trust in news media and selective exposure to political news.

How the media and journalists “frame” politics has been the subject of a great many theoretical and empirical investigations by political communication scholars over the past three decades. In political communication, a frame can be understood as a journalistic or elite viewpoint or angle, which highlights one aspect of a political issue over another. The existence of frames in political communication has been shown conclusively, so a logical next question for many scholars is whether and how frames actually influence citizens’ understanding of political issues and processes. These framing effects can help us explain in what ways subtle differences in the presentation of a political issue can lead to changes in interpretation, attitudes, emotions and behavior. When looking at the political arena, framing effect studies have investigated all sorts of issues and events, ranging from social protest, to elections, government spending, and European Union (EU) integration. However, perhaps because the idea of framing effects proved to be so valuable for studying different political issues and contexts, studies have often neglected to incorporate their findings into a comprehensive theory of framing effects. So, we have many case studies of framing effects, but many questions regarding the theoretical underpinnings of the concept are still unanswered. Among other things, this has led to a fierce debate on the value and future of framing effects within political communication research. This article therefore focuses only on scholarship of framing effects that have significantly advanced its theoretical development, rather than specific political issues or events.

This chapter stresses the importance of trying to understand the political communication process in the round (i.e., its shape), in addition to its specific workings and effects, and explains what this can involve. For this purpose, the concept of a “political communication system” is proposed, the key components of which are identified. Four ways in which this concept has been applied in analysis and research are then outlined (including especially for comparative research). Finally, the chapter considers whether the concept of a political communication system can be accommodated to the onset of recent transforming trends, such as increased communication abundance and the Internet.

Political communication is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that has grown in stature and reach in recent decades, becoming more international in scope and orientation while gaining respect in political science as a legitimate area of inquiry. In the evolving and participatory media-politics landscape, it becomes important to ask how the cross-disciplinary project of political communication research is keeping pace with changing conditions that provide a greater structural role for the press in politics and new technology in the enactment of citizenship. To track these trends in research, this paper reports the results of a longitudinal content analysis of research articles published in the journals Political Communication and the International Journal of Press/Politics for the period 1996-2016. For each year, we selected one issue at random and examined all research articles in that issue, excluding reviews, invited theme essays, and commentaries. Altogether, 229 articles were included in the analysis. Results indicate a noticeable increase in the internationalization of political communication research over the 20-year analysis period, a slight decrease in research expressing a negative evaluative tone toward the media over time, and consistent growth in the percentage of articles with a media-centric focus, defined as positioning the press as a central consideration in the study and regarding news media as central to democratic life. In light of these findings, the unique interpretive lenses that researchers adopt depending on discipline are explored in relation to ongoing developments in political communication research.

Morally convicted attitudes—attitudes grounded in core beliefs about fundamental right and wrong—play an important role in political psychology, public opinion, and political behavior. Extant research suggests that these attitudes are intensely held, likely to evoke strong emotional responses, more stable and less amenable to compromise, and perceived to be universally true. Despite a large body of research on how morally convicted attitudes affect behavior and choice, several open questions remain about their antecedents. There are two questions central to this article: First, can the news media effectively communicate a sense of moral conviction to the mass public? Second, if so, what are the factors that cause these attitudes to become morally convicted? Drawing on framing theory, appraisal theory, and research in political communication, we hypothesize that moral conviction can be effectively communicated using episodic (as opposed to thematic) frames, and also, that emotional reactions to such frames contribute to the development of moral conviction. Using four survey experiments and two replications, we find some support for our hypotheses, but we also find that treatment effects are likely context dependent. We close with a discussion about avenues for future research.

What 'Don't Know' Causes Us to Not Know About Accuracy in Political Perceptions in Network Data

This study examines code-switching behaviours of cross-platform social media users specifically between Twitter and Parler during the 2020 US Presidential Election. Utilising social identity theory as a framework, we examine messages related to voter fraud by users who migrated from Twitter to Parler following Twitter bans. Our analysis covers 38,798 accounts active on both platforms, analysing 1.5 million tweets and more than 100,000 parleys. The key findings of the study are as follows: First, we discovered differing levels of network homophily between high degree centrality and low-degree centrality cross-platform users, illustrating how individuals with varying degrees of influence engage differently across platforms. Second, we observed higher toxicity levels in heterogeneous networks, which include both in-group and out-group members, compared with homogeneous networks that are primarily composed of in-group members. This suggests the level of toxicity in online spaces correlates with the level of group diversity. Third, we found that cross-platform users created distinctive discourse community with in-group and out-group members, indicating that content and discussions within these networks are influenced by the social identity dynamics of the users. Our study contributes to the current research in political communication and information science by proposing comparative user analyses across multiple social media platforms. Focusing on a critical period of platform transition during a contentious political event, our study offers insights into the dynamics of online communities and the shifting nature of political language used by social media users.

The chapter focuses on the democratization potential of online communication for political debate in Western democracy. We discuss the inclusiveness and democratic potential of online communication in two steps: The first section is devoted to the question why online communication has fuelled hopes and how empirical studies cast doubt regarding the democratic potential of the internet. In the second section of the chapter, we propose a new research perspective. It is argued that the internet only in interaction with the traditional media might be effective as a medium of empowerment and inclusiveness. We tackle with the notion of a new hybrid media system and claim that political communication research must focus on this zone of interaction between old and new media in order to better understand and realistically assess the democratic potentials of the Internet.

<span lang="EN">The rise of social media platforms over the past two decades has reshaped how citizens engage with public life, political discourse, and democratic processes. This paper examines the theoretical and empirical dimensions of that reshaping through a review of existing scholarship in political communication, media studies, and democratic theory. Drawing on Habermasian public sphere theory, digital democracy frameworks, and political communication research, the paper traces how social media simultaneously opened new channels for civic participation and introduced structural problems that now test the foundations of deliberative democracy. These problems include algorithmic filter bubbles, political polarization, coordinated misinformation campaigns, and the growing concentration of communicative power in a small number of private platforms. The paper also considers how networked social movements have used these platforms for collective action, from the Arab Spring to more recent protest waves, and what those movements reveal about the limits and possibilities of platform-mediated politics. The analysis concludes that social media has not simply disrupted democratic participation but has fundamentally altered its conditions, requiring scholars, citizens, and policymakers to revisit foundational assumptions about deliberation, representation, and the public good.</span>