Mass media as a political career maker

Providing information is one of the main functions of mass media in healthy democracies. Media, however, do not merely act as an information relay. They also exert considerable influence on their audiences. Many voters are not politically interested and form their ideas and opinions based on who or what they see in the media. This makes getting into the media crucial for political actors and by extension their political success. Although most political communication scholars believe in this media influence, not many empirical studies have really looked into this. Political career success is often reduced to electoral success. Furthermore, studies have focused on how media coverage influences the electoral outcome for individual politicians, but almost completely neglected how media can influence other career stages. Interestingly, researchers have extensively focused on which political actors get access to the media. Power proved to be the determining factor, which indicates that journalists largely follow the existing political power hierarchy when covering politics. Research, however, found that although power is the main determinant, among less endowed politicians, media skills can offer an alternative route to media coverage, which in turn generates political success. Media can thus steer the political career of politicians who cannot rely on political power. In this dissertation, I propose a media-media-politics (MMP) logic. Media skills can generate media coverage, which in turn can lead to political career success. The impact of media on political careers is twofold. First, media coverage, both in terms of visibility and tone, generates name recognition and positive evaluations by voters, which in turn might lead to more popularity and political influence. Second, political parties are very aware of the effect of media coverage on political success, and therefore favor candidates or politicians who demonstrate potential in media skills or make decisions based on past media performance. My research focuses on the impact of media on three important career stages. I started from the idea that the ultimate goal of politicians is to alter or make policy. To do this, they must take different career steps. First, potential politicians need to be selected as a candidate. Next, politicians need to gain popularity in order to be considered an asset to their party and, in time, generate electoral success. Finally, politicians need to be promoted or elected into higher office. The influence of media on these career steps is studied by conducting elite interviews on the one hand, and by analyzing news coverage in terms of visibility and tone on the other hand. Newspaper articles for a period of almost 20 years (2000-2019) were collected and analyzed using automated content analysis. This dissertation shows that media do indeed have an effect on political career success. It increases, in a very early stage, the probability of being selected as a candidate for the ballot list. Later on, media attention positively affects the overall popularity of individual politicians and can, ultimately, significantly increase the probability of being promoted or being elected as a minister/party leader. Overall, members of parliament cannot compete with government members. They can, however, try to distinguish themselves from other MPs, which leads to media access that can put them on the pathway towards a successful political career.

Jaar van publicatie:2021

Trefwoorden:Doctoral thesis

Toegankelijkheid:Open