Political communication
Politics is ultimately about communication. Political communication between political leaders, authorities, media, and citizens is therefore of great importance for politics and its conditions, for the media and their coverage of politics and society, and for citizens and their knowledge, perceptions of reality, and opinions. It is therefore of great importance for democracy and the way it functions.
Our research on political communication is based on how politics and politically relevant information are communicated and consumed through different types of media and in conversations between people. It also deals with various factors that influence how politics and politically relevant information are communicated and consumed, and what implications political communication has for issues related to democracy and power.
Research on political communication at JMG deals with, for example, how political actors such as parties, authorities, and others communicate and conduct campaigns, how the media reports on politics, as well as citizens and their media use, knowledge, perceptions of reality, opinions, and behavior. An important part of the research deals with the interaction between media and citizens and the effects of the media on people's knowledge, perceptions of reality, and opinions. This applies to traditional news media as well as digital media, apps, and politically alternative media.
Central themes
- News coverage of politics and election campaigns. Among other things, the Media Election Surveys [Medievalsundersökningarna] have been conducted at JMG since the late 1970s.
- How political issues and relationships between those in power and citizens are represented in the media and journalism, political conversations, and the language of politics in the media.
- Parties’ campaign strategies and campaign techniques, political advertising, and rhetoric in contemporary and historical perspectives.
- People’s media use and the media’s effects on voters’ knowledge, perceptions of reality, and participation.
- The authorities’ communication work and information provision to the public.
- The mediatization of politics and the media's indirect and long-term influence on political processes and democratic mechanisms, such as political accountability.
- Knowledge resistance and how political actors, media, and citizens relate to facts and evidence as well as false and misleading information.
- The importance of the media in political socialization and for people's social engagement.
How changes in the media landscape affect the conditions for political communication, how politics is communicated, and how this affects democracy.
