Oldal 141 [141]
Political communication and populism | 139
elaborated on in order to analyse populist political communication in Europe.
All the mentioned occurrences consider political communication as a study
of communication in the political process.
FOUR PERIODS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN EUROPE
Jay Blumler and Dennis Kavanagh described different stages in the evolution
of modern political communication in Europe. The first period was the two
decades after World War II, as the golden age of parties, characterised by
long-term commitment of voters to political parties, and the party logic
dominating the communication of political actors. The crucial features of
the party logic are fact-based political speeches, the mediatory nature of
media, and selective and confirmative responses from the voters (Blumler and
Kavanagh 1999, 211-212). The critical communication technique of the age
was programme-based rhetoric shaped to the given medium by the politician.
Restricted media channels define the second period starting from the 1960s.
National radio and television channels became dominant, affecting the voters’
perception of political messages. The voters’ commitment to parties started
to fade, and the group of non-committed voters became more prominent.
Objectivity regarding news replaced the mediatory nature. The media became
an actor in the political communication process.
To control the message, politicians and parties learnt new techniques to
influence the agenda selection performed by the media. Press conferences,
interviews, and debates broadcast by media outlets emphasised the political
actors’ communication, setting the base for modern campaigns. The politicians’
communication was less reliant on their intuitions than on consultants because
they wanted to match the supposed opinions of media consumers in the
process of persuasion (Blumler and Kavanagh 1999, 212-213). Party logic
changed into media logic, which meant that political content was adjusted to
the media code, and mediatisation became prevalent (Stromback 2008, 234).
The third period started in the 1990s, when media became multichannelled
and the 24-hour news broadcast appeared. All this happened globally and
was accompanied by the revolution of computers. In the end, social media
also took shape. Citizens’ news consumption patterns changed. They were
facing information abundance by getting news from a multitude of sources.
The competition among the mediums got fiercer, speed became critical, and
the news flow accelerated (Blumler and Kavanagh 1999, 213). Politicians’ and
parties’ voices weakened, as they had to compete with other political actors
beyond political parties (e.g. experts or civil groups) for media attention
(Blumler 2006, 207).
The change in media resulted in political actors leaving the party logic
behind in their communication, and learning the media logic - thus stepping
into a new phase of mediatisation, where media itself makes the agenda