Serkan gül (arastırmacı)

Who killed civic engagement? During the last decade multiple voices on both sides of the Atlantic have blamed campaign communications for fuelling public cynicism. In particular, political actor accounts claim that links between politicians and voters have been weakened by the adoption of professional marketing techniques, including the mÈlange of spin, packaging and pollsters. In contrast, media actor accounts hold journalistic practices in campaign coverage liable for growing public disengagement from civic affairs, and this thesis has developed into something of an unquestioned orthodoxy in the popular literature. The arguments are hardly new, but are these claims correct? Previous work by the author has argued that the process of campaign communications by politicians and journalists has not contributed towards civic disengagement (Norris 2000). This chapter, based on analysis of long-term trends in political communications in American election campaigns from the Eisenhower era in ...