Part of the European Collaborative Research Projects in the Social Sciences (ECRP)

The project is a comparative study which aims at analysing the relationship between political elites and the media in nine Western European countries.

The objective is to investigate the attitudes, norms and values that drive the relationship between political actors and journalists and thereby detect the underlying patterns of political communication behaviors in Western democracies. Taken together, these orientations can be summarised as the Political Communication Culture of a country.

In the first phase of the project, surveys were originally carried out in seven Western European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. In a second phase, surveys were conducted in Slovenia and France.

The project is carried out under the auspices of the EUROCORES ECRP 2006 Programme. Funding is provided by the respective national research councils of the participating countries.

The findings of the project have been published in the following edited book:

Pfetsch, Barbara (Eds. / 2014): Political Communication Cultures in Europe Attitudes of Political Actors and Journalists in nine Countries. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ⇒ the book

For further information please visit the official project page.

⇒ Project flyer as pdf

 

Project team of the Division Communication Theory and Media Effects:

     - Prof. Dr Barbara Pfetsch

     - Peter Maurer

     - Eva Mayerhöffer

Publications (of the German Project Team)

Books

• Pfetsch, Barbara (Eds. / 2014): Political Communication Cultures in Europe Attitudes of Political Actors and Journalists in nine Countries. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Articles in peer-reviewed journals:

• Mayerhöffer, Eva/Pfetsch, Barbara (2011): Harmonie im Konsens? Konfliktwahrnehmungen von Journalisten und Politikern in der Schweiz und Europa.  Studies of Communication Science.
  
  
• Maurer, Peter (2011): Explaining perceived media influence in politics. An analysis of the interplay of context and attitudes in four European democracies. Publizistik 1/2011.

• Pfetsch, Barbara/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2011): Vordergründige Nähe -  Zur Kommunikationskultur von Politik- und Medieneliten in Deutschland. M&K 59 (1): 40-59.

• Maurer, Peter/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2009): Themenmanagement von politischen Sprechern und Kommunikationsberatern unter den Bedingungen der Bonner und der Berliner Republik. Ein Zeitvergleich 1994-2008. Zeitschrift für Politikberatung (2): 447-466.

Book chapters:

• Maurer, Peter (2008): Einflussfaktoren auf die Handlungsautonomie der Medien im politischen Prozess westlicher Demokratien - Eine theoretische Analyse. In: Pfetsch, Barbara/Adam, Silke (eds.): Massenmedien als politische Akteure. Konzepte und Analysen. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 73-91.

• Pfetsch, Barbara (2007): Political Communication System, in: Donsbach, Wolfgang (ed.): International Encyclopedia of Communications, Blackwell Publishers.

• Pfetsch, Barbara (2007): Political Communication Culture, in: Donsbach, Wolfgang (ed.): International Encyclopedia of Communications, Blackwell Publishers.

• Pfetsch, Barbara/ Maurer, Peter (2007): Mediensysteme und politische Kommunikationsmilieus im internationalen Vergleich: Theoretische Überlegungen zur Untersuchung ihres Zusammenhangs, in: Melischek, Gabriele/ Seethaler, Josef/ Wilke, Jürgen (eds.):  Medien- & Kommunikationsforschung im Vergleich. Grundlagen, Gegenstandsbereiche, Verfahrens-weisen. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden, 99-119.

Conference Papers:

• Pfetsch, Barbara/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2012): National or Professional? A typology of political communication cultures across western Europe. Vortrag auf der ECPR Joint Sessions Konferenz, Antwerpen 11.04.2012.
  
  
• Pfetsch, Barbara/Mayerhöffer, Eva/Moring, Tom (2011): Personalisation between mediatisation and professionalisation. A typology of political communication cultures across Europe. Vortrag auf der Konferenz der ECREA Political Communication Section 'Comparing Political Communication Across Tima and Space'. Madrid, 21.10.2011.
  
  
• Mayerhöffer, Eva/Anders Esmark (2011): Personalisation between mediatisation and professionalisation. Paper presented at the IPSA/ECPR Joint Conference, 'What happened to North-South', Sao Paulo, 18.02.2011.

• Esmark, Anders/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2010): Shaping the public agenda – professional political communication between media and political logic. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Singapore, 25.06.2010.

• Håkansson, Nicklas/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2010): Great expectations? Elites’ democratic demands on the media. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Singapore, 25.06.2010.

• Maurer, Peter (2010): Explaining perceived media power inpolitics. The interplay of role-related attitudes and social context. Paper presented at the 3rd European Communication Conference (ECREA), Hamburg, 13.10.2010.

• Maurer, Peter (2010): Explaining Perceived Media Power in Politics. Do Attitudes Toward Journalists’ Role and Personal Contacts Matter? Paper presented to the Annual Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuk), Ilmenau, 12.-14.05.2010.

• Mayerhöffer, Eva (2010): Politicians’ Perceptions of the Media’s Democratic Role:  Empirical evidence from eight Western European countries. Paper presented to the DGPuk/DVPW Conference ‘Media and International Relations’, Mannheim, 11-13.02.2010.

• Pfetsch, Barbara (2010): Medienmacht und politische Kontrolle aus der Sicht von Journalisten und Politikern. Paper presented at a symposium dedicated to Roger Blum, University of Bern, 23.01.2010.

• Maurer, Peter/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2009): Themenmanagement von politischen Sprechern und Kommunikationsberatern unter den Bedingungen der Bonner und der Berliner Republik. Ein Zeitvergleich 1994-2008. Paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Political Communication Section of DGPuK and DVPW, Düsseldorf, 12.-14.02.2009.

• Mayerhöffer, Eva/Pfetsch, Barbara (2009): Democratic Values as a Determinant of the Media-Politics Relationship: Politicians’ Perceptions of the Media’s Democratic Role. Paper presented at the 21st World Congress of Political Science, Santiago de Chile, 12.-16.07.2009.

• Mayerhöffer, Eva (2009): The perception of public opinion polls by journalists and politicians in eight European countries. Paper presented at the 5th ECPR General Conference, Potsdam, 10.-12.09.2009.

• Pfetsch, Barbara/Maurer, Peter/Mayerhöffer, Eva (2009): A Hedge between keeps Friendship green - Concurrence and Conflict between Politicians and Journalists in Western Democracies. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Communications Association (ICA) May 21-24, Chicago.

• Mayerhöffer, Eva/ Maurer, Peter/ Pfetsch, Barbara (2008): Political Communication Cultures in Western Europe - Does System Matter for the Professional Orientations of Journalists and Political Actors? Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Communications Association (ICA) May 21-26, Montreal.