Footprint Books

How have professional communicators transformed the business of politics? How do political bodies use the media to sell domestic and foreign policies to the public? This fully revised new edition of The Media and Political Process assesses the impact of spin doctoring and media activity in liberal democracies that are just as concerned with impression management and public relations as with policy.

Political processes never stand still, and this revised second edition explores the mediatisation of the political process in light of recent developments, from Vladimir Putin's growth into a political celebrity, to the activities of spin doctors in the 2008 US Presidential Elections.

Providing a comprehensive overview of the evolution, operation and terminology of political communication, this text is an accessible, lively resource for students of political communication and media and politics, and will be important further reading for students of journalism, public relations and cultural studies.

CONTENTS:
1 Introduction
2 Politics: Image Versus Substance
What is Politics?
Politics: Hype versus Substance
The Media as a Political Resource
The game of Political Impression management
What is Media-ized Politics?
3 Western Political Development: An Evolving Symbiosis of Media and Politics
The Origins of Liberal-Democracy
The Early Anglo Model
The Massification of liberal-Democracy
Managing Democracy: Taming Western Publics
The Media's Evolving Role in Liberal Governance
Liberal-Democracy and the Public Sphere
4 Political Media Practice: An Outline
From Fourth Estate to Sensationalized Watchdogism
News as Entertaining Spectacle
Constructing the News Window 1: Journalistic Practices
Constructing the News Window 2: Choosing Sources
Constructing the News Window 3: Newsroom Struggles
Institutionalizing the media-Politician relationship
Journalists: Watchdogs or Symbiotic partners?
Journalistic power
5 Spin-doctoring: The Art of Political Public Relations
The Rise of PR Professionals as Political Players
Changes to the Political process
The Innovators of PR-ized Politics
The Normalization of PR-ized Politics
What is Political PR?
The Tools of Political PR
6 Selling Politicians and Creating Celebrity
Constructing celebrity
The game: Playing to a Televised Audience
Genres of political Celebrity
7 Selling Political Policies and Beliefs
Worldviews
Making Worldviews
Popularizing Worldviews
The Function of Worldviews
8 Selling War/Selling Peace
The Era of mass Consent for Mass Killing
Vietnam: A Televised Non-censored War
The PR-ization of Warfare
Nintendo Warfare
The Iraq War
Selling Peace
9 The Media and Terrorism
Terrorism as Communication
Terrorist Audiences
Fighting Terrorism
Terrorism and the Media
10 The Media and Foreign Relations
The CNN Effect
Foreign Policy Making: The Players
The Media and Foreign Relations
The Media-ized Dimension of Foreign Relations
11 Conclusion: Searching for Answers (and Questions)
Glossary
References
Index

This is a timely new edition of Louw's accessible and comprehensive book. It will make essential reading for students and teachers of political mediaBrian McNair
Professor of Journalism & Communication, University of Strathclyde

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This is a reflective, thorough and welcome overview of the field. It carefully considers the dynamic relationships between the media and political spheres and will therefore be highly valuable to students seeking to understand and analyse developmentsDominic Wring
Reader in Political Communication, Loughborough University

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For more than 300 years media and politics in the western world have been complex institutions and the subjects of numerous works. In this book Dr Louw has successfully drawn together the various strands that create politics and media, providing an enjoyable narrative that demonstrates his strong understanding of the roles they play in modern socioeconomic policy and processes. This second edition makes a vital contribution to the way we view media and politics at the beginning of what promises to be an exciting centuryRichard Stanton
Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney

Eric Louw is Deputy Head Of School of the School of Journalism and Communication, University of Queensland, Australia.