Rethinking Political Communication in a Time of Disrupted Public Spheres

Bennett, W. Lance; Pfetsch, Barbara

doi:10.1093/joc/jqx017

Cited by 380 publications

(216 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…There is little empirical evidence suggesting the news media have historically played this role (Schudson 2005). Media scholars, therefore, have called for research that tests assumptions, and that describes the role, if any, of newspapers in democratic politics (Bennett and Pfetsch 2018;Pfetsch 2018). These scholars now often focus on "disrupted public spheres" (Bennett and Pfetsch 2018, 245) or what has been described as changing or pluralizing media landscapes or environments (see e.g., Bennett and Iyengar 2008;Djerf-Pierre and Shehata 2017;Bennett and Livingston 2018;Blumler 2018).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These scholars now often focus on "disrupted public spheres" (Bennett and Pfetsch 2018, 245) or what has been described as changing or pluralizing media landscapes or environments (see e.g., Bennett and Iyengar 2008;Djerf-Pierre and Shehata 2017;Bennett and Livingston 2018;Blumler 2018). Authors suggest that we are seeing an emergent disinformation order, characterized by divided, disrupted, dissonant and disconnected public spheres, developments which challenge assumptions about coherent, functional, systemic democratic public spheres (Bennett and Livingston 2018;Bennett and Pfetsch 2018;Pfetsch 2018). They call on media scholars to problematize and rethink longheld assumptions grounded in idealized normative conceptions of democratic politics.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This conceptualization of substantive issue framing is particularly useful because it provides clear guides for the operationalization of framing as analytical tool for this study. Using Entman's definition of framing to operationalize the news process of defining the thematic categories that organize public debates (Bennett and Pfetsch 2018) is especially suited to the goal of the present study to test normative expectations about the role of newspapers as forum for public debate in which people can identify problems and their respective causes, propose solutions and reach a consensus (Curran 2005).…”

Section: Framing As Tool For the Analysis Of Public Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we responded to calls for research that tests dominant assumptions (Bennett and Livingston 2018;Bennett and Pfetsch 2018;Pfetsch 2018). We undertook to describe the extent to which newspapers conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with normative expectations recognized as the Fourth Estate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our data were 766 relevant articles from seven national circulation outlets, published between 1985 and 2016. We described the extent to which the observable behaviour provides the coherent frameworks of interpretation (Schudson 2008) required for citizens to take part in the meaningful debates fundamental to the navigation of complex problems (Bennett and Pfetsch 2018) in a manner that facilitates the structural and systemic contestation (Bennett 2003;Freedman 2014;Fenton 2018) necessary for their successful resolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Chick Diffusion: How Newspapers Fail to Meet Normative Expectations Regarding Their Democratic Role in Public Debate

et al. 2019

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Media scholarship has commonly regarded newspapers as an essential element of strong democratic societies: a forum that structures public debate, providing engaged citizens with coherent frameworks to identify, interpret and tackle complex issues. Despite general agreement on the merits of this goal, there is little empirical evidence suggesting it approximates the democratic role historically played by newspapers. We examined three decades of newspaper coverage of chicken meat production in the UK to find evidence relevant to the normative expectations of the democratic role of newspapers as forum for public debate, by means of a two-stage framing analysis of 766 relevant articles from seven outlets. We found mutually disconnected episodic coverage of specific issues whose aggregate effect is consistent with the diffusion rather than the structuring of public debate. Newspapers here afforded polemic rather than the systemic contestation expected. The polemic contestation we found, with diffusion of public debate as an emergent political effect, troubles the assumptions subsequent to which it is possible to argue for the democratic role of newspapers.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Framing As Tool For the Analysis Of Public Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Chick Diffusion: How Newspapers Fail to Meet Normative Expectations Regarding Their Democratic Role in Public Debate

et al. 2019

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Indexing

Bennett¹

2019

The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies

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Indexing refers to the norms used by news organizations to select news sources and frames. When indexing norms become widely shared across organizations, media systems may display familiar national characteristics and act as an institution. The most common indexing norm found in many democratic press systems is to index sources and their views according to the power balances that journalists perceive to exist among actors in political institutions involved with particular political conflicts or policy processes. New areas of research include how changes in media systems, such as fragmenting audiences and proliferating media channels, may change source selection, framing, and weighting routines. In particular, the growth of right‐wing media networks that interact with elected politicians has weakened the capacity of legacy news organizations to act as gatekeepers that index the sources and framing of public debates.

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Checking Verifications

Sampío¹,

Carratalá²

2021

Politics of Disinformation

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Rethinking Political Communication in a Time of Disrupted Public Spheres

Cited by 380 publications

References 24 publications

The Chick Diffusion: How Newspapers Fail to Meet Normative Expectations Regarding Their Democratic Role in Public Debate

The Chick Diffusion: How Newspapers Fail to Meet Normative Expectations Regarding Their Democratic Role in Public Debate

Indexing

Checking Verifications

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