Blind Spots in the Analysis of the Media-Politics Relationship in Europe

Abstract

This volume tackles the underlying cultural foundations of the relationship between the media and politics in European democracies. We use the concept of political communication culture to relate to the attitudes of key actors in political communication, such as high-ranking journalists in the national media, political elites and their spokespersons. Our study moves beyond and compliments the manifest actions and outcomes of political communication and their correlates, such as individual news media reports and single campaigns, which can be observed as products or in terms of their effects. We tend to lose out on accounting for the beliefs that inspire the daily routines of journalists meeting with politicians and spokespersons, and the results of these encounters. When we are left to speculate about actors’ political attitudes and interpretations of their professional roles, we miss important features of the production and communication of political messages. Therefore, one claim driving this study has been to take a closer look at the media-politics relationship, and to understand the orientations that undergird the interactions. By researching attitudinal underpinnings, we aim to identify the normative basis of an “emergent shared culture” (Blumler and Gurevitch, 1995, p. 36), which binds politicians and journalists together in the mutual exchange of messages and in ongoing negotiations about what is to be published.