Abstract

The article analyses communicative behaviour and images of political actors in the media We start out discussing the mediatization of politics thesis, the concepts of event management and framing as well as theoretical aspects of democracy Building on this, we formulate hypotheses about political actors communicative behaviour and its impact on the image of politicians A qualitative-quantitative content analysis of all articles on agriculture policy in five nationwide German quality newspapers 2000-2005 serves to test the hypotheses Confirming our behavioural assumptions, the data show high prominence of staged and mediatized events, a strong standing, but no dominance of the political centre, much self-acclaim, many negative statements about political competitors, and the naming of victims who refer to hazards to the audience or enjoy its sympathy The image of political actors is substantially framed by their own statements

Keywords

Mediatisation; Event Management; Framing; Agriculture Policy; Media Analysis

Published in

Politische Vierteljahresschrift. Sonderheft
2010, volume: 44, pages: 396-415
Book title: Politik als Beruf : Neue Perspektiven auf ein klassisches Thema
ISBN: 978-3-531-16034-4
Publisher: VS VERLAG SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTEN-GWV FACHVERLAGE GMBH

Authors' information