Suchergebnisse

"This chapter reviews research on the influence of the media on legislation and public policy. After reflecting on why politicians react to media coverage at all, the chapter mainly focusses on political agenda-setting, but also goes beyond this to come to a broader view on the role of the media in the policy process. In order to do so, the chapter takes a dose look at how media define, Frame and amplify issues or constrain the political agenda and how this impacts political decision making. It is argued that the media link together relevant actors including the public and make it possible that they respond to each other on a limited number of core issues. In addition, the media have the ability to forte politicians to react and take a position in such a way that they can accelerate or rather decelerate the policy process. The chapter closes with a call for more studies trying to understand the complex interaction of media and political decision making." (publisher's description)

An introduction that sketches a background for the essays included in the thematic section of the journal & notes the sudden rise of interest in studies devoted to electoral campaigns in Belgium & the Netherlands; an attempt is made to explain the rationale for this trend. Major publications in this field are mentioned, & three particular topics that are of special interest to scholars in political science & political communication are identified: (1) the campaigning activities & strategies of political parties & candidates, (2) the content of campaign news & debates in the media, & (3) the effects of (1) & (2) on voter's behavior & choices. The differences in the evolution of studies of election campaigns between in Belgium and the Netherlands are pointed out. Z. Dubiel

Collective action and social movement protest has become commonplace in our 'demonstration-democracy' and no longer surprises the media or the public. However, this was not the case with the recent anti-globalisation protests that attracted demonstrators from countries all over the world. The battles of Seattle, Washington, Prague and Genoa, with an unforeseen mixture of nationalities and movements, became world news. Interestingly, the new media seemed to play a crucial role in the organisation of these global-protests. This article attempts to map this movement-in-progress via an analysis of the websites of anti-neoliberal globalisation organisations. It examines the contribution of these sites to three different conditions that establish movement formation; collective identity; actual mobilisation and a network of organisations. This, ongoing, explorative research indicates signs of an integration of different organizations involved and attributes an important role to the Internet. However, while both our methodology and subject are evolving rapidly, conclusions, as our initial results show, must be tempered.