Effective Political Communication
The purpose of political communication has remained unchanged since the days of ancient Athens when orators addressed the common people (the “demos”) in the marketplace. Political communication seeks to persuade an audience to adopt a particular viewpoint, whether that of an individual or political party, and to act on that viewpoint by casting votes or otherwise demonstrating support. The methods of political communication, however, have evolved over time.
Other People Are Reading
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The Mass or the Niche
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Newspapers brought politics to a mass audience. The pendulum of political communication has swung between the mass and the niche audience as its target. Until modern times, politicians primarily addressed a niche audience, partly because the franchise was restricted (not everyone could vote) and partly because the audience could be reached only by making public speeches or, later, by issuing broadsheets or other written communications to those who could read. Although the rise of newspapers, then radio and television, made it possible to broadcast a political message to a mass audience, the end of the twentieth century saw the audience becoming fragmented again, and a variety of methods being used to reach different segments.
Identifying the Audience
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Polling the public has become a key strategy. Polling has become a key tool of political communication. Not only does it help politicians quantify the beliefs, wishes and voting intentions of the public, it can also be used to determine the identity and location of those segments of the public receptive to specific political messages. With polling, effort and expense can be directed in a focused way to persuade groups of voters who may be responsive to a policy or argument, rather than addressing a general audience, many of whom may be resistant or indifferent to the message.
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Addressing the Audience
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To be effective, political communication, having determined its audience, must address the audience in terms it finds acceptable. It is easy to see the way in which even prominent politicians change their vocabulary, body language and style of dress, depending on whether their audience is a panel of businessmen, a group of journalists or a "town hall" meeting of ordinary citizens. The objective is no longer to carry a unified message to a mass audience but to find specific audiences for a series of focused messages.
The Mass Media
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Television reaches mass audiences. The mass media still plays the intermediary role between politician or party and public, which evolved in the early days of mass market journalism. Much of the time, the message will be reported, transmitted and commented upon by print or broadcast journalists. Effective political communication, therefore, still relies on encouraging the media at least to understand, if not actually support, the message conveyed. Press secretaries and publicists still play this traditional role, but there has been an increased emphasis on "spin doctors," specialists whose task is to ensure that a message is packaged and presented to the media in such a way that it is conveyed to the audience in the most effective and beneficial manner.
New Media
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New media allow direct connections with voters. Moving into the twenty-first century, a shift of balance can be seen away from print and broadcast journalism towards the kind of journalism found on the Internet generally, and specifically in social media formats such as Facebook and Twitter. The disadvantage for effective political communication is that there are now so many news and opinion outlets, functioning at such speed, that the ability of press secretaries and "spin doctors" to fully control a message is being eroded. The advantage for media-savvy politicians and their advisers is that the new media can eliminate the intermediary role of professional journalists. In the United States and other countries with modernized media, many politicians now address followers directly, for example by "tweeting" on Twitter. In some respects, this swings the pendulum back to a very direct form of communication.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Lincoln Memorial image by dwight9592 from Fotolia.com old newspapers image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com silhouette of a crowd image by Christopher Hall from Fotolia.com old television image by inacio pires from Fotolia.com computer image by peter Hires Images from Fotolia.com
