The third age of political communication: influence and features

This article identifies key changes in society and the media that have shaped political communication in many democracies over the postwar period. Three distinct ages are described. In the first, much political communication was subordinate to relatively strong and stable political institutions and beliefs. In the second, faced with a more mobile electorate, the parties increasingly " professionalized" and adapted their communications to the news values and formats of limited-channel television. In the third (still emerging) age of media abundance, political communication may be reshaped by five trends: intensified professionalizing imperatives, increased competitive pressures, anti-elitist populism, a process of " centrifugal diversification, " and changes in how people receive politics. This system is full of tensions, sets new research priorities, and reopens long-standing issues of democratic theory.

Keywords infotainment, journalism, mass media, news media, political campaigns, political communication, political parties

Scholars increasingly are sensing that profound changes in both society and the media may be giving birth to a new form of political communication system that is qualitatively different from its predecessors (Cook, 1998; Norris, Curtice, Sanders, Scammell, & Semetko, 1999; Wyatt, 1998). Not only are the avenues of political communication multiplying in a process that is becoming more diverse, fragmented, and complex, but also, at a deeper level, power relations among key message providers and receivers are being rearranged; the culture of political journalism is being transformed; and conventional meanings of " democracy" and " citizenship" are being questioned and rethought (Brants, 1998; Buckingham, 1997). The research community is therefore challenged to keep up with the evolving trends and avoid overcommitment to superseded paradigms.

This article offers a structured reconnaissance of such developments. Although it deals with many still-to-be-worked-out trends and phenomena, it tries to provide a framework for thinking about the main forces that are in play, including some of their consequences, in order to sense better what may be over the horizon. Looking back over the postwar period, it characterizes the currently emerging state of affairs as a " third age of political communication. " The advantages of this characterization are that

• it invites us to consider exactly how the present situation differs from what preceded it;

• it encourages us to consider whether the current situation, which is marked by conflicting developments of various kinds, is likely to sort itself out along any lines that can be predicted; and

• it offers an overarching focus within which interrelations among key tendencies can be contextualized and research needs can be prioritized.

The cross-national validity of our perspective is open to question. This article's line of sight is largely Anglo-American, reflecting our observations of British experience and our readings of the extensive U.S. literature. Whether they resonate in other democratic societies--and, if so, how far--can be established only by well-designed comparative research.