Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap - Volume 42, Issue 1, 2014

Kurt de Swert is gastredacteur van deze editie van Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap

From compliant and respectful to dominant and directive: the role of the moderator in Dutch election debates (1963-2010)

Since 1960 televised election debates have become a vital part of election campaigns. In these debates the moderator plays a crucial role, since he or she influences the questions asked to the candidates and interruptions made. However, research on the role of the moderator in televised election debates is generally limited and studies examining the moderator in the Dutch debate context are non-existent. In this article we examine what the role of the moderator is in Dutch televised election debates and whether we witness changes in the moderator’s performance during the last decades. We have systematically analyzed the content of 17 televised ‘list-puller’ debates aired by the public and commercial broadcast channels during the parliamentary election campaigns between 1963-2010. The findings show that since the period of public logic, but especially media logic, the moderator becomes an increasingly dominant participant in the debate. Furthermore, with the entrance of media logic, the moderator seems to make a bigger effort to entertain the present debate audience as well as viewers at home.

…But does it win you votes? The impact of politicians’ Twitter usage during the Dutch parliamentary elections in 2012

One of the most relevant questions for campaigners and politicians is: what determines the number of votes a candidate gets? Recent studies have shown that usage of social media such as Twitter might have a (modest) impact on the number preference votes of a candidate. However, these studies used data on elections in which only a very limited group of politicians used Twitter. In such a context it was easy for a candidate to stand out. It remains to be seen whether this effect also holds in times of widespread usage. This study examines the impact of Twitter use in the Dutch 2012 national elections and as such replicates previous studies in a changed context. This provides new test to assess whether there (still) is an impact of social media usage on preference votes. It uses a unique dataset of all 531 candidates of the parties that won at least one seat in the 2012 election. Between 2010 and 2012, Twitter use skyrocketed: the number of candidates having an account increased from 34.1 to 75.5% and the average number of tweets increased from 3.6 to 9.7 per politician a day. In this new context of widespread Twitter usage, there seems to be a modest effect of tweeting. Comparing these results to those of previous studies suggests that in 2012 the situation was more equalized: more candidates seemed to have something to win, but the number of extra votes that Twitter yielded, was considerably lower. As such it seems that the competition has become much fiercer.

The end of press releases? An analysis of press releases and media coverage in the Dutch 2012 electoral campaign

In recent years, social media like Facebook and Twitter have dramatically increased possibilities for politicians to communicate directly with the public. Does that mean they do not use the classical press release as a way of communicating? This study shows that press releases are still a well-used campaign tools in the Netherlands, although not all parties use them equally, and one (VVD) does not at all. Looking at factors determining the success of press releases (i.e. to get covered in a national newspaper in the Netherlands), we did not find evidence for elements of political logic (e.g. inclusion of policy texts) to decrease the success, and hardly any evidence for elements of the media logic (e.g. including personal or emotional information about the politician) to boost success of press releases. Only the use of horse race terms turns out to be positive factor. All in all, press releases are still alive, they do get covered in the media, and the factors determining their success remain largely unaccounted for.

‘Second order elections’ in the media? An analysis of news reports about the local elections of 2012 in Belgium

This research focuses on the coverage of the local elections in Belgium by the public broadcaster. Departing from theory about ‘second order elections’ and ‘media logic’ it was expected that politicians who have a mandate on the national and Flemish level and were candidate for the local elections gained more media attention in the coverage about the local elections. 118 broadcasts of the news and news programs of the Flemish public broadcaster were coded. The findings add to the literature by showing that although local elections are perceived less important than national elections, local candidates still receive a vast amount of attention. Especially those candidates who have a national of Flemish mandate.

The effect of local election campaigns on political knowledge. The case of the Antwerp local elections

Political knowledge is crucial for the functioning of democracy: only informed citizens can cast a substantiated vote. Therefore, it is especially important that citizens are informed during election campaigns. Indeed, election campaigns can educate the public on the various parties and candidates. However, extant research mostly focuses on national election campaigns. Local election campaigns often get less (media) attention, yet have been seldom researched. In this paper we investigate whether citizens also learn during local election campaigns. We use panel data collected during the 2012 Antwerp local election campaign. We find that although the campaign did cause slight knowledge gains, it mainly increased the existing knowledge gap between well- and ill-informed citizens. On the other hand the campaign did amend some other gaps: uncertain voters learned more, and voters learned most about parties they evaluated highly.

Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment. Anita Elberse (2013).New York: Henry Holt and Company.ISBN 978-0-8050-9433-6.

Family Storytelling. Negotiating Identities, Teaching Lessons, and Making Meaning. Jody Koenig Kellas (ed.) (2013).London: Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group.ISBN13: 978-0-415-50772-1.