Favorable Opportunity Structures for Populist Communication: Comparing Different Types of Politicians and Issues in Social Media, Television and the Press

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Nicole Ernst - , University of Zurich (Author)
  • Frank Esser - , University of Zurich (Author)
  • Sina Blassnig - , University of Zurich (Author)
  • Sven Engesser - , Technische Universität Dresden (Author)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore favorable opportunity structures for populist communication of politicians in Western democracies. We analyze the content and style of 2,517 statements from 103 politicians from six countries (France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States) who differ in their party affiliation (populist versus nonpopulist) and hierarchical position (backbencher vs. frontbencher). To learn more about their media strategies and chances of success, we investigate four communication channels (Facebook, Twitter, talk shows, and news media) that systematically differ in their degree of journalistic intervention and examine fourteen often-raised topics that differ in their suitability for populist mobilization. Our content analysis shows the highest probability of populist communication comes from (1) members of populist parties and (2) backbenchers who address (3) mobilizable issues in (4) social media or newspaper articles. We conclude by explaining why populists have become so successful in getting their messages into newspapers.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)165-188
Number of pages24
JournalInternational Journal of Press/Politics
Volume24
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2019
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Keywords

  • backbenchers, Facebook, populist actors, populist issues, Twitter