Televised Election Debates in a Deliberative System

Turkenburg, Emma

doi:10.3167/dt.2022.090102

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Normative (deliberative) accounts on the role of election debates in democracy argue that these debates could play an important role in prompting reflective reasoning among citizens (Coleman, 2020; Turkenburg, in press). In line with Muradova (2021a), reflective reasoning is defined here as a thinking process in which citizens contemplate, ponder, and weigh different perspectives and arguments to determine what they want and why they want it.…”

Section: The Reflection-promoting Potential Of Televised Election Deb...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building on deliberative democratic theory and on theoretical accounts that argue that election debates could stimulate reflective reasoning among citizens (Coleman, 2020; Turkenburg, in press), we identify four speech components that have the potential to lead to a more reflection-promoting debate. 2…”

Section: Reflection-promoting Speech Components In Televised Election...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food for Thought: A Longitudinal Investigation of Reflection-Promoting Speech in Televised Election Debates (1985–2019)

Turkenburg

Goovaerts

2022

Political Studies

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In televised election debates, politicians confront each other side-by-side to publicly debate their political viewpoints. As a result, these debates have the potential to promote reflective reasoning in citizens. However, concerns are voiced regularly about politicians’ increasing use of one-liners, slogans, and empty phrases, and decreasing use of elaborate and thoughtful argumentation, which may lower the debates’ reflection-promoting potential. Despite concerns, systematic empirical evidence testing whether reflection-promoting speech is declining is extremely scarce. This study contributes to filling this gap by (1) identifying four reflection-promoting speech components, that is, provision of justifications, substantive information, accessible communication, and engagement with others’ perspectives and (2) conducting a longitudinal quantitative content analysis (1985–2019) of Belgian election debates through the lens of their reflection-promoting potential. The results of all studied speech components point in the same direction: reflection-promoting speech in election debates has not declined, showing that allegations surrounding debates should be considered with caution.

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Section: The Reflection-promoting Potential Of Televised Election Deb...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reflection-promoting Speech Components In Televised Election...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Food for Thought: A Longitudinal Investigation of Reflection-Promoting Speech in Televised Election Debates (1985–2019)

Turkenburg

Goovaerts

2022

Political Studies

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“…Televised political debates differ from other information types as they display unmediated communication in a hostile environment, being frequently announced like the “grand finale” of election campaigns (Baboš & Világi, 2018). Debates typically consist of two or more politicians, frequently party leaders, or well-known party members, who engage in a discussion on various policy-related topics (Turkenburg, 2022). They represent a vital part of campaigning and a main source of information since they allow viewers to evaluate competing policies and learn about the candidates’ (Brierley et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Grand Finale

Falcão,

Sousa,

Moreira

et al. 2024

Journal of Media Psychology

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The 2019 televised debate between the leaders of the two main Portuguese parties for the general elections in Portugal drew approximately 2.7 million viewers. Debates constitute a centrepiece of campaigns, allowing candidates to showcase their proposals. The importance of debates in election campaigns reflects their possible influence in changing voters’ perspectives. As the standards for judging candidates increasingly rely on non-political characteristics such as personality traits, we examine the effects of debates on voters’ judgments of the warmth and competence of candidates and their voting intentions. We employed a within subject’s pretest/postest design to monitor participants before and after the debate between the leaders of the two main parties in Portugal, António Costa (Socialist Party, PS) and Rui Rio (Social-Democrat Party, PSD) for the Portuguese 2019 legislative elections. A comprehensive statistical pipeline was implemented to isolate the effects of the debate. Evidence suggesting that the debate influenced the perceived warmth and competence of both candidates was found. This study contributes to the literature on debates and supports the claim that they may shift voters’ perceptions and attitudes.

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How Contextual Features Shape Incivility Over Time: An Analysis of the Evolution and Determinants of Political Incivility in Televised Election Debates (1985–2019)

Goovaerts

Turkenburg

2022

Communication Research

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Concerns are frequently raised about politicians’ increasing use of incivility. Yet, there is little longitudinal empirical work testing whether politicians’ use of incivility is actually rising, and little is known about the determinants that affect the prevalence of incivility. This study analyzes incivility over time and proposes a multi-layered framework of theoretically-driven incivility-inducing determinants. A quantitative content analysis of 4,102 speech acts in 24 Belgian televised election debates over the course of 35 years (1985–2019) shows that politicians’ incivility did not increase but occurs in a volatile pattern with ups and downs over the years. Confirmed by our analysis of the studied determinants, incivility shows to be highly context-specific. Particularly, incivility levels are affected both by characteristics of politicians, such as populism, incumbency, and gender, and by debate determinants, such as the topic under discussion, the number of politicians simultaneously debating each other, and previous incivility occurrences in the debate.

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Televised Election Debates in a Deliberative System

Cited by 3 publications

References 33 publications

Food for Thought: A Longitudinal Investigation of Reflection-Promoting Speech in Televised Election Debates (1985–2019)

Food for Thought: A Longitudinal Investigation of Reflection-Promoting Speech in Televised Election Debates (1985–2019)

The Grand Finale

How Contextual Features Shape Incivility Over Time: An Analysis of the Evolution and Determinants of Political Incivility in Televised Election Debates (1985–2019)

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