Issue Ownership in Congressional Campaign Television Spots

This study investigated issue ownership patterns in 602 U.S. House and Senate Democratic and Republican political campaign television advertisements from 1980–2000. First, the themes in these ads were about equally split between policy and character (unlike presidential TV spots from the same time period, which are roughly two-thirds policy and one-third character). Candidates from each political party addressed their own party's issues more than issues owned by the other party. However, unlike presidential spots, congressional ads discussed Democratic issues more than Republican issues (59% to 41%). Although candidates from both political parties discussed their own issues more, winners tended to discuss issues from the other party more than losers. There was no difference in issue ownership emphasis between the House and Senate ads in this sample.     

A functional analysis of presidential television spots: A comparison of Korean and American ads

This study applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to the television spots from the 2002 Korean presidential campaign. TV ads appear to have become an institutionalized component of the Korean presidential campaign; as yet no study has examined the most recent Korean presidential ads. Like American candidates, Korean presidential candidates rely more on acclaims (positive utterances) than attacks (negative statements). They also rarely defend in spots. The incumbent party candidate, Roh, offered more acclaims than the challenger Lee, whereas the challenger Lee used more attacks than did Roh. However, unlike American candidates (who emphasized policy over character), policy (issue) and character (image) were almost equally discussed in Korean advertisements. Unlike American presidential candidates, the winner in Korea in 2002 emphasized character more than policy. It is clear that presidential campaign messages from these two cultures possess both similarities and differences.     

Issue Ownership for Non-Presidential Television Spots

Petrocik's (1996) theory of political party issue ownership predicts that candidates will emphasize the issues on which their own party is considered most effective. This prediction has been confirmed in presidential campaign messages, but it has yet to be tested with non-presidential campaign discourse. Computer content analysis of over 1100 political television spots from 1980 to 2002 (most spots were from 2002) discovered that overall, Democratic candidates discussed their own party's issues more than did Republicans, whereas Republicans discussed Republican issues more than did Democratic candidates. However, local ads and US Senate spots from 2002 did not follow issue ownership predictions (candidates did not discuss their own party's issues significantly more than the other party's issues). Unlike presidential spots, non-presidential advertising discusses Democratic issues more than Republican ones; the Republican Party owns more national or federal issues such as national defense and foreign policy.     

A functional analysis of congressional television spots, 1986–2000

Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on television advertising in congressional campaigns, relatively little research has examined the content purchased by those advertising dollars. This study applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to a purposive sample of television spots from U.S. House and Senate races from 1986 to 2000. Acclaims (self‐praise: 64%) outnumbered both attacks (criticisms: 35.5%) and defenses (refutation of attacks: 0.5%). Policy utterances comprised the bulk of the discussions in the ads (70%), while character utterances appeared less frequently (30%). Past deeds of candidates were the overwhelming focus of policy discussions (81%), while personal qualities dominated the discourse on character utterances (86%). Incumbents had a strong proclivity to acclaim (79%) more than challengers (51%) whereas challengers had a tendency to attack (49%) more than incumbents (21%). Incumbents were more likely to use past deeds to acclaim, whereas challengers used past deeds to attack.     

Political party affiliation and presidential campaign discourse

This study investigates the question of whether the political party affiliation of presidential candidates influences the nature of the discourse they produce in political campaigns. Analysis of primary and general debates, primary and general television spots, and acceptance addresses from 1948 to 2000 demonstrates systematic differences between the messages invented by Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Democrats discuss policy more, and character less, than Republicans. Democrats attack on policy more, and character less, than Republicans. Democrats emphasize Democratic issues (e.g., education) more than Republicans, whereas Republicans stress Republican issues (e.g., defense), more than Democrats. Finally, Republicans emphasize the character traits of sincerity and morality more, and empathy and drive less, than Democrats.     

A Burkean Poetic Frames Analysis of the 2004 Presidential Ads

While numerous studies have examined the frequency of attack ads in presidential elections, this study measures the level of severity of the attacks. Using Burke's poetic frames as a foundation, this content analytical study examines the 2004 presidential ads. The negativity level of the ads is explored with comparisons made between those by the candidates and the organizations, differences in ads by medium (television, radio, and Internet), and differences in three time periods of the election (pre-conventions, between conventions, and post-conventions). Finally, implications are addressed concerning Burkean frames, 527 groups, and the Internet.     

The effects of message theme,policy explicitness,and candidate gender

Female candidates are sometimes perceived as less competent than their male counterparts, especially in races for higher political offices, and research has indicated that female candidates can face tougher standards in establishing credibility. This study explores the effects of message theme and explicitness on the perceived competence ratings of female and male Congressional candidates. An experiment with 209 college students at the University of Florida was conducted in 1997 to investigate the relationship between candidate gender, message characteristics, and perceived competence of two hypothetical candidates, one female and one male. It was hypothesized that an explicit message on a stereotypically male policy area, crime, would be advantageous to female candidates. Message theme was found to be important for both the female and male candidates, but message explicitness was found to be important for the female candidate only.     

The speech of the moment

Slogans, as a rhetorical device, have a rich history. They have provided historians with topical outlines of the major concerns, frustrations, and hopes of society. As “social symbols” they have united, divided, and even converted. In so doing, slogans have become a direct link to social or individual action. Yet, little attention has been given to the rhetorical and persuasive nature of slogans. Today, as we prepare ourselves for another presidential campaign, posters, television, and radio ads proclaim the various slogans of the candidates. Each candidate hopes to tap a reservoir of support by striking a familiar theme, issue, or image. The purpose of this paper is to identify the functions and characteristics of slogans as they are used in movements and campaigns.     

Toward a Developmental Science of Politics

In this monograph, we argue for the establishment of a developmental science of politics that describes, explains, and predicts the formation and change of individuals’ political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior beginning in childhood and continuing across the life course. Reflecting our goal of contributing both theoretical conceptualizations and empirical data, we have organized the monograph into two broad sections. In the first section, we outline theoretical contributions that the study of politics may make to developmental science and provide practical reasons that empirical research in the domain of politics is important (e.g., for identifying ways to improve civics education and for encouraging higher voting rates among young adults). We also review major historical approaches to the study of political development and provide an integrative theoretical framework to ground future work. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model as an organizing scheme and emphasizing social justice issues, we describe how factors rooted in cultural contexts, families, and children themselves are likely to shape political development. In the second section of the monograph, we argue for the importance and utility of studying major political events, such as presidential elections, and introduce the major themes, rationales, and hypotheses for a study of U.S. children's views of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In addition, we apply a social-justice lens to political thought and participation, addressing the role of gender/sex and race/ethnicity in children's political development broadly, and in their knowledge and views of the 2016 U.S. presidential election specifically. In interviews conducted within the month before and after the election, we examined two overarching categories of children's political attitudes: (a) knowledge, preferences, and expectations about the 2016 election, and (b) knowledge and attitudes concerning gender/sex and politics, particularly relevant for the 2016 election given Hillary Clinton's role as the first female major-party candidate for the presidency. Participants were 187 children (101 girls) between 5 and 11 years of age (M = 8.42 years, SD = 1.45 years). They were recruited from schools and youth organizations in five counties in four U.S. states (Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, and Washington) with varying voting patterns (e.g., Trump voters ranged from 27% to 71% of county voters). The sample was not a nationally representative one, but was racially diverse (35 African American, 50 Latinx, 81 White, and 21 multiracial, Asian American, Middle Eastern, or Native American children). In addition to several child characteristics (e.g., age, social dominance orientation [SDO]), we assessed several family and community characteristics (e.g., child-reported parental interest in the election and government-reported county-level voting patterns, respectively) hypothesized to predict outcome variables. Although our findings are shaped by the nature of our sample (e.g., our participants were less likely to support Trump than children in larger, nationwide samples were), they offer preliminary insights into children's political development. Overall, children in our sample were interested in and knowledgeable about the presidential election (e.g., a large majority identified the candidates correctly and reported some knowledge about their personal qualities or policy positions). They reported more information about Donald Trump's than Hillary Clinton's policies, largely accounted for by the substantial percentage of children (41%) who referred to Trump's immigration policies (e.g., building a wall between the United States and Mexico). Overall, children reported as many negative as positive personal qualities of the candidates, with negative qualities being reported more often for Trump than for Clinton (56% and 18% of children, respectively). Most children (88%) supported Clinton over Trump, a preference that did not vary by participants’ gender/sex or race/ethnicity. In their responses to an open-ended inquiry about their reactions to Trump's win, 63% of children reported negative and 18% reported positive emotions. Latinx children reacted more negatively to the election outcome than did White children. Girls’ and boys’ emotional responses to the election outcome did not differ. Children's personal interest in serving as U.S. president did not vary across gender/sex or racial/ethnic groups (overall, 42% were interested). Clinton's loss of the election did not appear to depress (or pique) girls’ interest in becoming U.S. president. With respect to the role of gender/sex in politics, many children (35%) were ignorant about women's absence from the U.S. presidency. Only a single child was able to name a historical individual who worked for women's civil rights or suffrage. Child characteristics predicted some outcome variables. For example, as expected, older children showed greater knowledge about the candidates than did younger children. Family and community characteristics also predicted some outcome variables. For example, as expected, participants were more likely to support Trump if they perceived that their parents supported him and if Trump received a greater percentage of votes in the children's county of residence. Our data suggest that civic education should be expanded and reformed. In addition to addressing societal problems requiring political solutions, civics lessons should include the histories of social groups’ political participation, including information about gender discrimination and the women's suffrage movement in U.S. political history. Providing children with environments that are rich in information related to the purpose and value of politics, and with opportunities and encouragement for political thought and action, is potentially beneficial for youth and their nations.     

政治传播与修辞说服——2000年美国总统大选辩论剖析

电视公开辩论已经成为美国政治传播中的一种重要手段，它们通过精心设计的话语来实现其说服性功能。亚里斯多德把修辞划分为三类，其中就包括以说服为核心的商讨辩论的修辞。通过分析作为实证案例的2000年美国大选中戈尔与小布什的三场电视公开辩论，我们具体探讨两位修选人如何通过情绪法来进行说服，从而达到政治传播的目的，并重点分析了三组对立的情绪及其作为修辞说服手段在政治传播中的应用。     

The West Wing and Depictions of the American Presidency: Expanding the Domains of Framing in Political Communication

This study uses framing to assess how the office of the President of the United States is depicted on NBC's The West Wing. This work represents a theoretical and empirical domain extension of framing in political communication, an area of study dominated by analyses of news content. Three distinct presidential depictions are analyzed: chief executive, political candidate, and private citizen. This quantitative content analysis of the 2001–2002 The West Wing television season addresses the frequency with which the fictional president performs these three roles and posits several hypotheses concerning the relative presentation of personality characteristics across contexts. All three roles are represented with substantive frequency, with the chief executive role dominating. Principled character traits are evident more often when the fictional President Bartlet is acting as chief executive than as a private citizen. Conversely, Bartlet presents more engaging personality traits when acting as a private citizen than as either chief executive or political candidate. Implications for these finding are outlined and future lines of research are detailed.     

奥巴马2008年总统竞选中的网络公关探析

奥巴马2008年总统竞选中网络公关的成功实践表明：网络公关有助于竞选者形象的塑造,可以更有效地宣传竞选者的政策主张,进一步加强竞选者与选民的联系。奥巴马总统竞选中网络公关的成功,首先是对网络公关进行了周密设计,其次在网络公关活动中注意综合运用各种网络公关的方法手段,把各种网络公关的方法手段结合起来,从而形成一整套的网络公关方略活动。奥巴马网络公关的成功经验值得学习借鉴。     

影视剧中植入式广告研究

影视剧作为大众传播媒介的一种类型,自从诞生以来对我们现代社会和日常生活的影响是非常巨大的。近些年来,传统媒体的电视广告、报纸广告、广播广告等越来越引起受众的反感和排斥,而影视剧之中的植入式广告凭借它新颖的营销模式和诉求方式,已然成为当代社会影视媒体广告的新的演绎平台,为广告主和媒介双方提供了新的合作机会和选择。     

论公益广告亲和力的生成

公益广告由于剔除了商家的营利目的,具有“去商性”,自然它的亲和力在各类广告中居于首位。公益广告亲和力的生成,在于广告题材的选择要紧贴国家政策,聚集在“现时突出的社会热点”、“群众关注的难点问题”上,广告语的打造尽可能贴近民众,尽可能扩大受众面,尽可能采用大众喜闻乐见的形式和人性化的形式,处理好深入浅出的辨证关系;公益广告诉求的“隐含受众”是有（或希望有）公德讲文明的公民而不是被广告洗脑后的温顺消费者;公益广告的创意核心在于受到符号学的启发,如何化抽象为具象、化观念为画面,找准切入点。     

Triumph in Defeat: The Genre of Third Party Presidential Concessions

I argue through analysis of the genre of concession speeches that third party presidential candidates have rhetorical norms of their own that address their unique challenges as political outsiders. I contend that their concessions are a variant of the concession genre warranted by the recurring situational barriers and overall purposes for minor party presidential campaigns. In developing this argument, I describe the function and form of traditional concessions, offer an alternative theory based on the analysis of over 30 such statements by various third party nominees from 1948 to 2008, and then provide three case studies demonstrating the genre.     

"电视人"的神圣职责--试论正确把握电视新闻的舆论导向

电视新闻的舆论导向是一项政治性、政策性很强的工作,只有准确把握电视新闻的政治导向,牢记电视新闻的任务,贴近生活、贴近实际、贴近群众,充分凸显电视新闻的优势、多出精品,才能发挥电视新闻舆论正确导向之作用.     

“植入式广告”在影视作品中的应用探究

传统影视广告的时间资源已临近饱和、广告品质参差不齐和广告投入成本逐年上升,在这种大环境下,植入式广告凭借其独特的营销模式,逐渐成为影视广告的新型模式。植入式广告既有优势也有弱势,在应用时要注意植入广告的对象、忌生搬硬套、把握广告数量和种类、善于捕捉机会等方面。     

教育政策与美国总统政治

随着教育重要性的日益凸显,总统政治和教育的联系日趋密切。20世纪60年代中期以来,美国教育政策逐渐成为总统政治的核心,直接影响到总统竞选的成功与否以及执政过程中的民意向背。为此,两党候选人纷纷在竞选中将自己标榜为“教育总统”,积极构思一系列教育政策,以此谋求民众的支持。本文首先对20世纪60年代中期以来美国总统政治中的教育问题进行了系统梳理,随后对总统政治与教育之间的关系进行了总结。     

MEDIA RESEARCH AND ETV POLICY

One of the most curious features of television research is that there exist two quite distinct and independent traditions: that of mass communications and that of educational technology. The two types of research have different aims and motives, are conducted by different kinds of researcher and usually employ different methodologies. Whatever the reason for these two distinct traditions it represents a highly undesirable state of affairs since it unduly restricts all aspects of television research. The restriction occurs at a number of levels but perhaps the most important is at the level of the programming policy implications of the research. At first sight it might seem that educational technolgists have a much more intimate relationship with programming policy makers than do mass communications researchers but such a view neglects the broader political implications of research which we should like to consider.     

A multidimensional analysis of the 1976 presidential campaign

This article examines the 1976 presidential election campaign through the use of metric multidimensional scaling. Attitudes of a 20‐subject panel were measured weekly for a period of 12 weeks. A series of direct pair comparisons were made among the issues, political parties, candidates, candidate attributes, and the self. Results indicate that (1) voters' attitudes toward the candidates, issues and parties stabilized after the election, (2) the first two debates were the most important events of the campaign, and (3) their greatest effects were felt with a lag of between one and two weeks after the events.