Brief: Choose ONE of the questions below, and drawing on relevant academic literature, conduct an original analysis on your chosen example of political communication in an essay of no more than 1,200 words.
The introduction should briefly outline the specific piece of political communication that you are analysing, and the sample you have chosen, e.g. which scandal, which specific newspapers, within what date-range.
The analysis should draw on reading from the reading lists for the relevant topics in order to explain the analytical concept(s) that you will use (e.g. populism, the protest paradigm, etc.). You may also use more specific academic texts found through NUsearch, but your analysis of the political communication case study must be your own original work.
If analysing a sample of press coverage, please use the Nexis database to identify a coherent but manageable sample of newspaper articles (around 7-15 articles, depending on length). I have given you some hints about how you might do that in the notes on the relevant questions. Please see Moodle for further details of how to use Nexis.
Your analysis should make relevant observations of your chosen piece of communication, including evidence (brief quotes, references to specific news articles and/or webpages) that allow you to answer the question set.
1. Political publics
Choose one press release from Extinction Rebellion’s press page* and compare it with coverage in at least one right/conservative newspaper (e.g. Daily Mail, Times, Telegraph) and one left/liberal newspaper (e.g. Guardian, Independent, Mirror)**. How do they compare in their presentation of cause and tactics, and accordance with the protest paradigm?
* You may choose a different protest movement press page with the approval of the module convener, and if located in another country the relevant newspapers
**Please choose comparable newspapers – i.e. two tabloids or two quality/broadsheet newspapers
2. Persuasion and deliberation
Analyse a recent broadcast* or parliamentary (or equivalent, e.g. congressional in the US) debate to assess the extent to which it uses deliberative or plebiscitary the argumentation.
* E.g. UK examples include the Conservative party leadership election debates, an episode of BBC Question Time, BBC Radio 4 Any Questions, or perhaps an episode of The Moral Maze or Across the Red Line that focuses on a broadly political question. Consult the module convenor if you are unsure whether your chosen example is appropriate.
3. Personalisation, populism and celebrity politics
Analyse EITHER one recent substantial speech by a populist political figure (a full transcript) OR one social media account of a populist leader (at least 20 recent posts). Explain why you define that figure as a populist and identify the populist tropes in their communication. Evaluate the significance of this populist communication within the national politics of their country.
4. Contested truth claims
Analyse a fact-checking or OSINT verification* assessment of a political claim and compare its use of evidence and interpretation to mainstream news reporting of the claim.
* E.g. Full Fact (UK), Channel 4 News (UK), Politifacts (US), BBC Verify, or Bellingcat.
5. Scandal, truth and trust
Analyse one recent mediated political scandal in terms of themes from the literature. How did the news media justify the story’s political significance in relation to the public interest or morality, and to what extent did the accused manage to resist or deflect public opprobrium?
6. Human interest
Analyse the use of personal narratives and emotion in communication of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal*. Compared to more ‘objective’ accounts of the controversy, how effectively do they convey the political significance of the events?
