Political Communication

Of all of the fields of communication, political communication is perhaps the most frequently analyzed and one of the most important on a global stage. In this section of our blog, we will look at the ways that communication influences politics. Through the study of political communication, we can understand how the 24-hour news cycle and various types of new communication can affect election campaigns and policy. We will look at the latest research and analyses to see how political communication has changed due to new mass media technologies such as the Internet. We will look at recent surveys to show how these technologies influence voters, and we will see how voters subsequently influence the campaigns and governance of their elected officials.

Newspaper Endorsements Influence Voters [Study]

August 18, 2011 coms 0

Voters might like to think that they cannot be swayed by the influence of media endorsements, but Brian Knight and Chun Fang Chiang, researchers at Brown University, recently published a study in The Review of Economic Studies which states that media endorsements do have a significant effect of the decisions of voters.

Can Politicians Gain Ground by Endorsing Green Policies? [Study]

July 21, 2011 coms 0

A recent study conducted by researchers at Stanford University’s Department of Communication and Institute for Research in the Social Sciences asserts that voters are more likely to cast their vote for a political candidate who advocates green-friendly practices.

Arab TV Does Not Create Anti-American Sentiments In All Viewers

June 2, 2011 coms 0

Arab television networks, such as Al Jazeera, have been long thought to only be developing anti-American sentiments among viewers, but researchers of a new study at Ohio State University say this thinking is too simplistic.

Global Warming Beliefs Are Influenced by Daily Local Temperatures

May 29, 2011 coms 0

A recent study published in the journal Psychological Science finds beliefs in global warming are influenced by daily local temperatures. The findings reveal that on warm days people have stronger beliefs in global warming and on cold days they have weaker beliefs.

Power and Pressure: The Media in Africa

May 14, 2011 coms 0

With the sub-Saharan economies in Africa now relying on the extraction of natural resources for growth, they have begun to look at the media to […]

Political Narratives On Race, Southern Identity Influence National Elections

March 10, 2011 coms 0

New research from North Carolina State University shows how attempts to define the South by Republicans and Democrats may have set the stage for President Obama’s victories in Southern states – and shaped the way Americans view themselves.

Doomsday messages about the consequences of global warming can backfire

January 15, 2011 coms 0

Dire or emotionally charged warnings about the consequences of global warming can backfire if presented too negatively, making people less amenable to reducing their carbon footprint, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Research examines key qualities that voters expect in their presidential candidates

January 10, 2011 coms 0

What are the key characteristics that voters consider when they’re choosing their candidate for president? New research led by Judith Trent, a professor of communication at the University of Cincinnati, yields some surprising findings from surveys from the 2008 primary campaign in New Hampshire – a historic campaign in itself because of the diverse demographic characteristics of some of the leading contenders. The top ideal quality picks are a candidate’s honesty and willingness to talk about the challenges affecting the nation.

From obscurity to prime time: Viral political videos can spring from non-political sites

December 27, 2010 coms 0

What’s the mechanism that makes a political video go viral? What causes a video clip to spread from a few people to millions, sometimes in a matter of hours? Is it a top-down process led by elite gatekeepers or bottoms up, driven by people at the grass roots? And how do blogs affect the life cycle of a viral video?

Communication Studies

The #1 Resource for the Communication Field