Electoral Campaigns Media And The New World Of Digital Politics

Today, political leaders and candidates for office must campaign in a multimedia world through traditional forums—newspapers, radio, and television—as well as new digital media, particularly social media. Electoral Campaigns, Media, and the New World of Digital Politics chronicles how Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, email, and memes are used successfully and unsuccessfully to influence elections. Each of these platforms have different affordances and reach various audiences in different ways. Campaigns often have to wage different campaigns on each of these mediums. In some instances, they are crucial in altering coverage in the mainstream media. In others, digital media remains underutilized and undeveloped. As has always been the case in politics, outcomes that depend on economic and social conditions often dictate people’s readiness for certain messages. However, the method and content of those messages has changed with great consequences for the health and future of democracy. This book answers several questions: How do candidates/parties reach audiences that are preoccupied, inattentive, amorphous, and bombarded with so many other messages? How do they cope with the speed of media reporting in a continuous news cycle that demands instantaneous responses? How has media fragmentation altered the campaign styles and content of campaign communication, and general campaign discourse? Finally and most critically, what does this mean for how democracies function?

Studies of election campaigns have shown an increased employment of websites, weblog tools, email, and social media by political campaigners, as well as the use of similar platforms by citizens to find information, communicate about elections or engage more generally in political issues. This comprehensive volume explores the ways in which social media is used on the one hand as a campaigning tool, and on the other, by local citizens. It aims to develop a more holistic and Eurocentric research agenda by capturing both supply and demand practices at the European level. The authors employ both single and multination case studies, furthering debates on how political actors and voters embrace the new information and communication environment, in what ways, and for what purposes. The book offers new perspectives on social media campaigning within European democracies, thereby contributing to a more global and comprehensive understanding of how campaigning is affected, and might be enhanced, by developing an interactive digital strategy. This book will be of great interest to students of both politics and media studies. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics.

The media play active roles in politics with different media channels serving as bridges that link the politicians and citizens together. It is clear that what the media emphasize as important may be seen as such by the public. Hence, it is likely that the media may impact voter decisions during electoral processes and even during the elections. As such, it is imperative that research is collected on the impact of the media and the role it plays in strengthening party loyalty, improving public knowledge on elections, and swaying apathetic citizens to become involved in the electoral process. Global Perspectives on the Impact of Mass Media on Electoral Processes provides relevant theoretical frameworks and research findings that evidence the impact of the media in specific elections in different countries around the world. The book supports professionals who want to improve their understanding of the strategic roles that the media play in electoral politics as well as political candidates who may want to know if their heavy expenditures in paying the media to carry their political messages bring in returns on their investment. Covering topics that include social media, political cartoons, and media influence, this book seeks to provide fresh insights on the media’s impact on elections whether at the national, regional, or local levels. It is ideal for politicians, campaign managers, media analysts, government officials, professionals, researchers, students, academicians, and individuals involved in electoral management, political parties, advertising agencies, and marketing companies.

A critical assessment of the role that information technologies have come to play in contemporary campaigns.

This important new text brings together an outstanding group of international scholars to look at the current state of electoral politics around the world. Elements of the modern (or American) model of election campaigning have been adopted in many countries in recent years—including the use of mass media, the personalization of campaigns, use of public opinion polls, and a general professionalization of campaigns—and conditions would seem to favor the spread of that model. Contributors to this volume, from established democracies, new and restored democracies, and democracies facing destabilizing pressure, examine the extent to which electoral politics in their countries have been affected by the emergence of high-tech professional campaigns. Countries examined provide a cross-section of today's democracies, including the United States, Britain, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Poland, Spain, Israel, Italy, Argentina, and Venezuela. The work will be of interest to scholars and students alike in political communication, political parties and elections, and comparative politics.

This volume sets out to analyse the relation between social media and politics by investigating the power of the internet and more specifically social media, in the political and social discourse. The volume collects original research on the use of social media in political campaigns, electoral marketing, riots and social revolutions, presenting a range of case studies from across the world as well as theoretical and methodological contributions. Examples that explore the use of social media in electoral campaigns include, for instance, studies on the use of Face book in the 2012 US presidential campaign and in the 2011 Turkish general elections. The final section of the book debates the usage of Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools in mobilizing people for riots and revolutions, presenting and analysing recent events in Istanbul and Egypt, among others.

Taking the reader on a roller coaster ride, The Game of Votes showcases the full spectrum of the key actors and stars of the electoral arena, the rise and fall of political parties, the role of the digital and technology platforms, and the emergence of fake news impacting election outcome in India and across the world. The book is a veritable prime on Indian politics, as it runs through the entire history of Indian polity and provides insights into how political parties gradually shifted from campaigning on their own to hiring top-notch advertising agencies. It tells the story of how Modi won the election in 2014 and repeated an exceptional performance in 2019. It also gives a bird’s eye view of how Barack Obama and Donald Trump ran their election campaigns and how to understand critical developments in political communication. The book provides glimpses of international politics in the US and Europe and covers important developments in Egypt and South East Asia, drawing comparisons between the Western world with the fast-changing developments in India. This book brings the readers face-to-face with the changing dynamics of election campaign and democracy. This is the inside story behind the game of votes in India.

Online platforms have widened the availability for citizen engagement and opportunities for politicians to interact with their constituents. The increasing use of these technologies has transformed methods of governmental communication in online and offline environments. (R)evolutionizing Political Communications through Social Media offers crucial perspectives on the utilization of online social networks in political discourse and how these alterations have affected previous modes of correspondence. Highlighting key issues through theoretical foundations and pertinent case studies, this book is a pivotal reference source for researchers, professionals, upper-level students, and consultants interested in the influence of emerging technologies in the political arena.