"Political communication is a subfield of communication and political science that is concerned with how information spreads and influences politics, policy makers, the news media, and citizens."
The ways in which political actors and media organizations shape public opinion, utilizing advertising, press releases, speeches, and social media.
Theories of Political Communication: This topic covers the major theoretical frameworks that underlie political communication research, including agenda-setting, framing, and political socialization.
Media and Politics: This topic explores the relationship between media and politics, including the role of the media in shaping public opinion, the effects of media ownership and control, and the impact of social media on political communication.
Political Campaigns: This topic covers the strategies and tactics used by political campaigns to communicate with voters, including advertising, speeches, debates, and grassroots organizing.
Political Journalism: This topic explores the role of journalism in political coverage, including the challenges facing journalists in reporting on politicians, the impact of partisan media on public discourse, and the role of citizen journalism.
Public Opinion: This topic covers the study of public opinion and its role in shaping political communication, including the factors that influence public opinion, the measurement of public opinion, and the impact of public opinion on policy outcomes.
Political Advertising: This topic explores the role of political advertising in shaping public opinion, including the use of negative advertising, the ethics of political advertising, and the impact of campaign finance reform on political advertising.
Political Rhetoric: This topic covers the study of political rhetoric, including the use of language and symbols to communicate political messages, the effectiveness of rhetorical appeals, and the influence of political speeches on public opinion.
Political Participation: This topic explores the ways in which citizens engage in and influence political communication, including voting, protest, and social media activism.
Political Institutions: This topic covers the role of political institutions in shaping political communication, including the role of the presidency, Congress, the Supreme Court, and interest groups in shaping policy and public discourse.
Political Culture: This topic explores the values and beliefs that shape American political communication, including the role of religion, race, and gender in shaping political discourse, and the impact of cultural divides on political communication.
Political advertising: Candidates use various forms of paid media such as television, radio, print, and online ads to promote their message and gain support from voters.
Political rallies and speeches: Politicians hold rallies and deliver speeches to support their campaign, policies, or agendas, and to persuade voters to vote for them.
Debates: Candidates participate in debates to showcase their knowledge, skills, and viewpoints in front of a live audience and to gain voter support.
Press releases: Politicians use press releases to update the media and the public on their campaign, policies, or agendas and to promote themselves to the voters.
Political Polling: Candidates conduct polls to study the public’s opinions and voting preferences towards their campaign, policies, or agendas.
Social media: Politicians leverage social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to reach out to a wider audience, engage with voters, and promote their message.
Political fundraising: Candidates and political organizations raise funds to finance their campaigns and activities through various means such as donations, fundraising events, and PACs.
Lobbying: Organizations, corporations, and interest groups communicate with policymakers to influence legislation, regulations, or policies that impact their interests and goals.
Political journalism: Journalists report on politics, policies, and politicians to inform the public and hold politicians accountable for their actions.
Campaign strategy: Political campaigns develop communication strategies to target specific demographics, regions, or issues, and to gain voter support.
"Since the advent of the World Wide Web, the amount of data to analyze has exploded."
"Researchers are shifting to computational methods to study the dynamics of political communication."
"Machine learning, natural language processing, and network analysis have become key tools in the subfield."
"It deals with the production, dissemination, procession and effects of information, both through mass media and interpersonally, within a political context."
"The analysis of speeches by politicians, those that are trying to influence the political process, and the formal and informal conversations among members of the public, among other aspects."
"The media acts as a bridge between government and public."
"Political communication can be defined as the connection concerning politics and citizens and the interaction modes that connect these groups to each other."
"Whether the relationship is formed by the modes of persuasion, Pathos, Ethos or Logos."