Audiovisual Political Communication and Its Impact on the Formation of Public Opinion

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2023) | Viewed by 1724

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Departamento de Periodismo y Comunicación Corporativa, Rey Juan Carlos University, Camino del Molino, s/n. 2894, Campus de Fuenlabrada, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
Interests: disinformation; podcast; digital journalism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The mediatization of politics is one of the main implications deriving from the advent of Information Society. Politicians have to adapt to the rules of the game set by the media to convey their messages to citizens and so influence how audiences form their opinions. Thanks to its audio-visual nature, television was the main medium in the formation of public opinion before the emergence of digital social networks. This medium drove a growing spectacularization of political messages, which has been reinforced by the arrival of social media platforms. These digital communication resources offer great advantages to politics, since they promote direct, un-mediated contact with the audience. Politicians themselves thus become the media. 

Digital platforms’ appropriation of the political narrative brings with it, among other things, simplification of messages, an intense personalization of politics and a strategic use of private lives. Its deepest consequence, however, is the central importance of image –of the audio-visual– in building narratives. Political communication makes use of images to seize attention and make meaningful connections with audiences, to effectively persuade them, and to mobilize the electorate. These dynamics lead to the generation of emotional politics commonly employed (and particularly exploited) by the populist parties that are proliferating around the globe.

This Special Issue seeks to analyse and respond to the challenges presented by audio-visual communication being applied to the political field at a time like the present, marked by abundance of disinformation, hate speech and propaganda disguised as information, especially on social networks. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to: 

  • Audio-visual communication and pop-politics.
  • Visual social networks (Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and political communication.
  • The use of images in electoral campaigns.
  • Image and populism.
  • Audio-visual content in political disinformation.
  • The spectacularization of politics.
  • The impact of visual political content on public opinion.
  • The influence of the old audio-visual media (radio, TV) in the digital age.

Dr. David García-Marín
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • pop-politics
  • audio-visual disinformation
  • political disinformation
  • audio-visual media
  • political communication
  • public opinion
  • populism

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 287 KiB  
Article
Winning against All Odds: Elly Schlein’s Successful Election Campaign and Instagram Communication Strategies
by Daniele Battista
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(6), 313; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12060313 - 23 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1276
Abstract
The article aims to examine the characteristics of mediatized political communication in a hybrid media system, in which the social media accounts of political leaders play an increasingly important role. Firstly, the phenomenon of mediatization and its main aspects in relation to the [...] Read more.
The article aims to examine the characteristics of mediatized political communication in a hybrid media system, in which the social media accounts of political leaders play an increasingly important role. Firstly, the phenomenon of mediatization and its main aspects in relation to the mass media system are described. Subsequently, the concepts of disintermediation and new forms of mediation specific to social platforms are discussed. The analysis shows that disintermediation does not lead to the end of mediatization, but emphasizes the need to support the mass media logic based on the intertwining of entertainment and a social logic built on online content capable of triggering the creative potential of digital media. In particular, it is highlighted how politicians now prioritize social media over traditional media, assuming the role of social opinion leaders. The analysis of the posts published on the “ellyesse” Instagram account in the period from 4 December 2022, the date of the announced candidacy for the party secretary, to 26 February 2023, the day of the primaries in which he won against all odds, reveals a tendency towards the remediation of traditional content accompanied by innovative use of digital images, aimed at creating a sense of immediacy in interaction with the public. Furthermore, the use of codes typical of mass media mediatization is observed, but in a context where they change their meaning and assume a new communicative function. All these aspects reinforce the idea that social media, in a relationship of complementarity and interdependence with mass media, orient political communication towards the selection and repetition of a coherent set of identity traits. Full article
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