Distant North-Conflictive South: Patterns of Interaction and Conflict

Abstract

The quality of the interaction between politicians and journalists is of tremendous importance to the effective functioning of democracy. Studies indicate that these interactions influence both the political and the media agenda (Davis, 2007b; Tresch, 2008). The people typically learn what they know about the politics of the day from the mass media. Although events and news values drive political media content, it is also the product of the exchange between journalists and politicians. This chapter focuses on the personal dimension of political communication cultures: the self and mutual perception of the exchange between politicians and journalists. It examines the character of their relationship across Europe. How do politicians and journalists perceive the interaction? How often do the two interact and how conflictive or how friendly is their relationship? Finally, how can one explain the mode of interaction? To answer these questions we look at the similarities and differences in the national patterns of exchange. This chapter attempts to reveal whether there is an association between journalist-politician interaction cultures and the media and political structure of opportunities (see Chapter 3). In particular, we investigate whether the conditions inherent in the models of media systems depicted by Hallin and Mancini (2004) and the culturally driven family of nation clusters outlined by Castles (1993a) are useful in understanding the interaction cultures between journalists and politicians.