Political Communication and Media Effects
Summary
Political communication examines how information flows between political actors, media outlets and the public, and how these flows shape attitudes, behaviours and democratic outcomes. Traditional channels such as newspapers, television and radio continue to set agendas and frame policy debates, while digital platforms—social networking sites, streaming services and algorithmically curated news feeds—have introduced new dynamics of selective exposure, echo chambers and microtargeting. Theories of agenda-setting, framing and priming explain how media highlight particular issues and influence public evaluation of political actors. At the same time, research on media system dependency emphasises the ways in which individuals rely on media to fulfil information needs and social connection, especially in times of crisis. Increasingly, entertainment content—fictional drama, satire and “politainment” hybrids—exerts measurable effects on political knowledge, policy attitudes and civic participation through narrative transportation and emotional engagement. Together, these strands of inquiry reveal a complex interplay between message production, platform affordances and audience interpretation, with profound implications for social cohesion, trust in institutions and the conduct of elections worldwide.
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Political Communication and Media Effects publication trend
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Technical terms
Narrative transportation: The psychological immersion into a story world that can lead to changes in real-world attitudes and beliefs.
Media system dependency: A theoretical framework describing how individuals rely on various media to meet cognitive, affective and behavioural needs.
Politainment: The blending of political content with entertainment formats to engage audiences and convey messages through storytelling.
References
- Netflix and Engage? Implications for Streaming Television on Political Participation during the 2016 US Presidential Campaign. Social Sciences (2016).
- The ‘Euphoria’ effect: A popular HBO show, Gen Z, and drug policy beliefs. Social Science Quarterly (2024).
- Spanish-Portuguese Serial Fiction as a Politainment Tool: Representations of Politics on Iberian Television. Media and Communication (2023).
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