Political Communication and Social Theory

“They Say One Thing and Mean Another” How Differences in In-Group Understandings of Key Goals Shape Political Knowledge

“…The canonical reference for such understandings of the two fields is Blumler and Gurevitch (1981) whose findings have found support in some recent large-scale studies in the U.K. context by Davis (2002Davis ( , 2010 and in the Swedish context (Larsson, 2002). Such studies suggest that these communities at once see themselves as negotiating power relationships within what might be defined as interpretive communities (Berkowitz & TerKeurst, 1999).…”

Political Communication Cultures in Western Europe

“…71-73). On the basis of interviews, the study shows that the relations impact the social and symbolic construction of the political arena and that journalists have become an integral part of the political process by influencing policy agendas, party politics and legislative outcomes (Davis, 2009(Davis, , 2010. Politicians have been found to use the frequent contact with journalists as a means of gaining insider information and policy advice; and journalists have been instrumental as tools for political conflict between and within parties.…”

President of state in face of mortality: Exploring implications of Drnovšek’s radical shift on media, public relations and relationships between the two

“…Due to these immaturity issues and authoritarian organisational culture (Verčič, 2003), public relations advisers suffer from limited access to their superiors, decision-making processes and information (Serjanik Sraka and Vidrih, 2001). This does not seem to be an issue for other senior political advisers (Vreg, 2004;Lukšič, 2006), who do not only have a privileged access to a politician, but also regardless of their public relations expertise play an important role in strategic communication management, solving complex communication problems and managing relationships with the environment, while public relations advisers are "still treated as a technical function responsible for information and broadcasting" (Verčič, 2004: 382) and almost exclusively focused on media relations, representing one of the most important, if not the only specialisation of public relations (Verčič and Ažman, 2002;Furman, 2010;Serajnik Sraka et al, 2010 (Curtin, 1999;Shin and Cameron, 2003;Shaw and White, 2004;Johnson-Cartee 2005;Sallot and Johnson, 2006;Neijens and Smit, 2006;Davis, 2010;Ross, 2010), on the other hand, stand for symbiotic, reciprocal, consensual, mutually dependent and co-operative relationships, sustained by commitment, openness, relational satisfaction, likeability, mutual understanding, and most importantly trust (Jahansoozi, 2006). The facilitation and maintenance of such relationships is in the domain of public relations practitioners, who utilise impression-management strategies, including individual and professional approach, accessibility, responsiveness and providing exclusive information, advice, guidance and informal chat (Rijavec, 1998;Poler Kovačič, 2002;Johsnon-Cartee, 2005;Laban, 2007).…”

“…His public communication further increased in complexity with Drnovšek's 'private' blog, separate from official communication of the Office of the President. To explore how Drnovšek's shift influenced media, public relations and relationships between the two, 12 qualitative expert interviews with political advisers and journalists, representing the key actors involved in the social construction of politics (Davis, 2010), were conducted. The results introduce perceptions and opinions the advisers and journalists had of Drnovšek's change, how it influenced journalists and their practices, on the one hand, and his public relations, on the other hand, and what implications it had for relationships between the media and the Office of the President.…”