Modern Political Communications: Mediated Politics In Uncertain Terms

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Modern Political Communication

Part 1: Exclusion, Intimacy and the Drive for Popularity

1 Exclusive Campaign Communication: the Hidden Costs of Data Driven Electioneering

The rise of the floating voter

Market research and the electorate

Targeted communication

The cost of campaign communication

The included and the excluded

2 Governing and the Drive for Effective Promotion

The all encompassing promotional culture

Does promotion translate into popularity?

The unpredictable nature of governing

The rise of metacoverage

Selling the removal of Saddam

3 Intimate Politicians: Mediated Visibility and the Erosion of Privacy

Mediated publicness: the rise of the recognisable politician

Intimacy: going behind the scenes

Disclosing and exposing the personal

Part 2: News and the Politics of Market Driven Media

4 News Organisations and the Audience for News

News audiences as citizens

Reconceptualising the role of news audiences in a period of uncertainty

Serving the voter?

5 The Media and the Populist Political Impulse

Political populism

Media and political populism

Talk radio: the voice of the people or channels of resentment?

The press and reactionary populism

Part 3: Communicative Disengagement and the Exercise of Political Voice

6 Turning On, Tuning Out?

A diverse but unequal citizenry

The interested and the disinterested

Consumption gaps

The vicious circle

7 The Rise of Self-Expressive Politics: Exercising Political Voice in a Digital Age

Opportunities for self-expression

‘Let us know what you think’: encouraging attitude expression

The communicating public?

The loudest and quietest voices

Conclusion

8 Political Communication in an Uncertain and Unequal Age

Bibliography

Index