Media-centric and Politics-centric Views of Media and Democracy: A Longitudinal Analysis of Political Communication and the International Journal of Press/Politics

ABSTRACT

Political communication is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that has grown in stature and reach in recent decades, becoming more international in scope and orientation while gaining respect in political science as a legitimate area of inquiry. In the evolving and participatory media-politics landscape, it becomes important to ask how the cross-disciplinary project of political communication research is keeping pace with changing conditions that provide a greater structural role for the press in politics and new technology in the enactment of citizenship. To track these trends in research, this paper reports the results of a longitudinal content analysis of research articles published in the journals Political Communication and the International Journal of Press/Politics for the period 1996-2016. For each year, we selected one issue at random and examined all research articles in that issue, excluding reviews, invited theme essays, and commentaries. Altogether, 229 articles were included in the analysis. Results indicate a noticeable increase in the internationalization of political communication research over the 20-year analysis period, a slight decrease in research expressing a negative evaluative tone toward the media over time, and consistent growth in the percentage of articles with a media-centric focus, defined as positioning the press as a central consideration in the study and regarding news media as central to democratic life. In light of these findings, the unique interpretive lenses that researchers adopt depending on discipline are explored in relation to ongoing developments in political communication research.

KEYWORDS:

• Normative theory
• mediatization
• interdisciplinarity
• political communication
• media criticism

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this study was presented in May 2017 at the Normative Theory in Communication Research preconference prior to the annual meeting of the International Communication Association in San Diego, CA. We wish to thank Tammy Lee, Emily Tulos, Kelli Clark, and John Leach for their assistance with coding the articles analyzed in this report.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Inherent to our politics-centric definition is a more analytically critical, or “negative,” stance towards media, since this outlook situates the press’s role in politics as either peripheral to the political process or inappropriately intrusive. A media-centric outlook should, logically, embrace a somewhat more analytically optimistic stance since it doesn’t argue with the news media’s enhanced structural role in the political process. These definitions were formulated prior to the rise of social media, but they remain descriptive today. The full definition for each outlook is as follows:Media centric: a perspective that positions the news, or a particular medium, platform or format (e.g., the Internet, Facebook or talk radio), as the central consideration of the study. A media-centric view may be concerned with the effects of news on voters/viewers or the political process but doesn’t subordinate the media system to the political system. Note: to qualify as media centric, a study must go beyond mere analysis of media influence or media content. Media should be regarded as central to democratic life, and whether their effect is strong or weak, they aren’t considered a peripheral institution or outside player in the process; rather, they are seen as central to democratic life.Generally, a media-centric view will be supportive of the media’s role in public life, not critical and dismissive. A study of how news media engender cynicism, distrust, or weaken citizen ties to government would be politics-centric, not media-centric. Along with news institutions and digital platforms, media-centric research may be focused on the audience and will refer to study participants as viewers, readers, netizens, news consumers, or use a related media term.Politics centric: a perspective that positions the political system, whether campaigns, the political parties, or institutions or agencies of government, as the central consideration of the study. Note: politics-centric studies may examine media influence or media content as their primary focus, but a politics-centric view tends to subordinate the news media to the political system. That is, news media are examined for how well they facilitate democratic processes such as political campaigns and the role of informing voters, but they are not considered to be as important as political institutions.To the degree that news is seen as failing its information mission, media coverage may be criticized for being overly interpretive, intrusive, cynical, game oriented, or negative. Generally, a politics-centric view will regard the media as a peripheral player in public life and will tend to be judgmental about the media’s role in political processes. Politics-centric research will tend to refer to study participants or the public as voters or citizens, not media consumers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erik P. Bucy

Erik P. Bucy is the Marshall and Sharleen Formby Regents Professor of Strategic Communication in the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University. His research focuses on news knowledge, visual and nonverbal communication in politics, and public opinion about the press. He is the coauthor of Image Bite Politics: News and the Visual Framing of Elections (with Maria Elizabeth Grabe) and past editor of Politics and the Life Sciences.

Heather K. Evans

Heather K. Evans is the John Morton Beaty Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. Her primary research interests are political engagement, competitive congressional elections, social media (Twitter), and the effect of entertainment media on political attitudes.