Journal Description
The International Journal of Press/Politics (IJPP) is an interdisciplinary journal for the analysis and discussion of the role of the press and politics in a globalized world. The Journal publishes theoretical and empirical research which analyzes the linkages between the news media and political processes and actors.
IJPP’s articles cover a wide range of topics, including the following:
- Press and political institutions (e.g. the state, government, political parties, social movements, unions, interest groups, business)
- Politics of media coverage of social and cultural issues (e.g. race, language, health, environment, gender, nationhood, migration, labor)
- Dynamics and effects of political communication (e.g. election campaigning, advocacy, grassroots mobilization, political advertising, lobbying)
- Politics and media systems
- Relation between politics and journalistic practice
The Journal also publishes comparative, cross-national research from various theoretical and methodological approaches across the social sciences. It features long and short research articles, commentary on pedagogy and current news headlines from around the world, and a book review section.
Journal Feed
- by Paula M. PoindexterThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
- by Damian GuzekThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
- The International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print.
- by Taberez Ahmed NeyaziThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. In contemporary political discourse, the concern of affective polarization, often fueled by uncivil and sexist discourse, is notably evident in digital communication contexts like WhatsApp. In this study, we examined the potential effects of uncivil and sexist messages as well as moderator interventions against these messages coming from political in- and out-group members in such political groups through a survey experiment (N = 1,464) fielded during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh (India) Legislative Assembly Elections. We investigate these questions and extend the prior work on affective polarization by introducing a new measure of Average Inter-party […]
- by Alexandra SchwingesThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. The expanding political role of Big Tech(nology) corporations has triggered concerns about the role of the media in holding corporate power to account. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of role dynamics between journalists and lobbyists toward the agenda for Big Tech’s responsibilities. Based on semi-structured interviews with European journalists (n = 15) and lobbyists representing large technology corporations (n = 15), we use professional role perceptions as a heuristic for examining the relationship of both actor groups in tandem. Journalists, who report an overlap of audience-focused with passive watchdog role ideals geared toward legislative accountability, […]
- by Heesoo JangThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. This study develops a new normative and analytical framework of “democracy-framed electoral coverage” grounded in literatures that stress the role of governmental and communicative institutions in protecting democracies from threats. We define “democracy-framed electoral coverage” as journalism that embraces fairly contested elections as an established norm and political ideal, and clearly alerts the public to threats to the peaceful transfer of power. Using the U.S. as a case study of a consolidated democracy facing autocratization threats, the study applies the framework to analyze a comprehensive dataset of 708 articles encompassing twenty one […]
- by Allison M. N. ArcherThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. What position do far-right news outlets occupy in contemporary U.S. politics, and how did Trump use the power of the presidency to contribute to their rise among Republican legislators and mainstream American media? We posit that Trump’s position as president, in conjunction with his populist communication style that favored far-right outlets, contributed to the legitimation of such outlets. We first analyze Trump’s tweets during his presidency (January 2017–January 2021) mentioning three far-right outlets (One America News Network, Newsmax, and Breitbart), conceptualizing these messages as authority signals that symbolically lend legitimacy to the […]
- by Teresa WeikmannThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, deepfakes have rendered it possible to manipulate anyone’s and anything’s audio-visual representation, adding fuel to the discussion about the believability of what we hear and see in the news. However, we do not know yet whether deepfakes can actually impact (1) the credibility attributed to audio-visual media in general, as well as (2) the perceived self-efficacy to discern between real and fake media. Furthermore, it remains unclear if different deepfake formats can affect citizens to differing degrees. This study employs a 3 × 2 × 2 between-within-subjects experiment (N = 951) with […]
- by Darian HarffThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. Social media influencers (SMIs) are defined as regular individuals who become well-known via self-branding on social media. Youth use content posted by SMIs not just for entertainment, but also for political information. However, we know little about which groups of young people are most likely to be exposed to their political messages or why some youth seem to favor SMIs’ political information over news content from other sources. Inspired by the selective exposure paradigm, this cross-country study conducted between April 2022 and March 2023 explored which variables positively relate to selecting SMIs […]
- by Luxuan WangThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. This study examines the impact of source congeniality and its interaction with partisanship on the effectiveness of debunking false information on Twitter in the United States. Conducted in February 2022, a survey experiment revealed that most respondents paid little attention to correction source information. Politically congenial sources failed to enhance the effectiveness of corrective tags, whereas politically uncongenial sources and Twitter as the correction source weakened debunking’s persuasiveness, especially among Democrats. Republicans consistently exhibited higher misperception levels, unaffected by the correction source. The study highlights the persistent influence of belief-consistent false information […]
- by Željko PoljakThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. Recent studies indicate that politicians’ negativity usage fails to enhance their approval ratings among the general public, yet politicians regularly use it. This begs the following question: why are politicians so negative if this strategy does not bolster their prospects for re-election? In this paper, I argue that the media, driven by audience engagement, plays a pivotal role in shaping politicians’ propensity for negativity. Specifically, politicians resort to negativity because it aligns with the media’s negativity bias, thereby increasing their chances of securing media access and public attention. I test this expectation […]
- by Marina TulinThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. The recent surge of false information accompanying the Russian invasion of Ukraine has re-emphasized the need for interventions to counteract disinformation. While fact-checking is a widely used intervention, we know little about citizen motivations to read fact-checks. We tested theoretical predictions related to accuracy-motivated goals (i.e., seeking to know the truth) versus directionally-motivated goals (i.e., seeking to confirm existing beliefs) by analyzing original survey data (n = 19,037) collected in early April to late May 2022 in nineteen countries, namely Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, […]
- by Ayala PanievskyThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. These are challenging times for journalists’ relationship with their audiences. Attacks against “the media” and the increasing weaponization of social media to harass journalists have drawn the attention of scholars worldwide. In the current climate, journalists are not only distrusted but also hated, which creates a series of distinct ramifications. In this article, we suggest a new framework to study journalists–audiences relationship, particularly in times of hostile populism: the imagined journalists approach. A mirror image of the much-studied concept of imagined audiences, imagined journalists refers to the entirety of ideas, feelings, stereotypes, […]
- by Arista BeselerThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. Extant research on alternative media in Western democracies has focused on scrutinizing their content, organization, production, and audiences. However, the extent to which alternative outlets are linked to powerful foreign actors has not yet been analyzed, despite the fact that a plethora of outlets have openly sided with Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, spreading the Kremlin’s propagandistic narratives. To fill this gap, this study adopts a case study approach. It selects Germany as a revelatory case of a key target country of Russia’s foreign influence efforts, raising […]
- by Frederik Møller HenriksenThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. The study investigates the dissemination of news content from two Russian state-backed media outlets, RT and Sputnik, within digital alternative news environments in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. We investigate these media outlets as parts of a Russian “sharp power” strategy, aimed at establishing informational influence within Western news environments. The analysis includes over 3.4 million social media posts containing URLs to RT and Sputnik content, published between January 2019 and March 2022. Drawing on a combined network analytical and computational text analysis approach, we examine the dissemination of RT and Sputnik content […]
- by Luigi CuriniThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. Populist radical right (PRR) parties tend to stress their differences from other parties. Yet at the same time, PRR parties have increasingly sought to integrate into party systems across the globe. In seeking to understand the way that PRR parties negotiate this paradoxical situation, the literature tends to focus on their policy offerings or discourse. We, on the contrary, investigate an underestimated aspect of their political communication: their visuals. Namely, we focus on the question of if and how PRR parties communicate their similarities or differences from other parties via the color […]
- by Ariel HasellThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. Political cynicism is rising in many democracies throughout the world. At the same time, people increasingly use social media to access news and political information. However, much of the political content people see on these platforms is hostile, uncivil, and attacking. This study examines whether exposure to these political attacks on social media is associated with political cynicism and, if so, whether negative emotions like anger and anxiety play a mediating role in this process. Using data from a panel survey of American adults (N = 1,800) collected during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, […]
- by Manuel Alejandro GuerreroThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. The term captured-liberal has been proposed as an approach to Latin American media systems. Here, we contend these systems result from the region’s particular democratization path (i.e., competitive and open access to power but a flawed exercise of power). We also contend that since media systems operate at structural levels, the concept does not seem flexible enough to explain conjunctural variations and particular dynamics in the media landscape. We propose that these aspects are better explained by looking at regimes (roles) rather than systems (structures). Thus, we advance the concept of media […]
- by Gunn EnliThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. The rise of populism is often explained by political factors, economic factors, and media and communication factors. This article analyzes populism in the context of an increased focus on authenticity in political communication. The main aim is to discuss to what degree mediated authenticity strengthens the populist message and what consequences the nexus between authenticity and populism might have for the quality of democratic governance. As a theoretical backdrop, the article discusses the implications of increased valorization of authenticity in times of distrust, and how perforned truth is a key appeal of […]
- by Per Oleskog TryggvasonThe International Journal of Press/Politics, Ahead of Print. The UN climate summits represent decisive moments for climate change policy. Under significant media coverage, world leaders gather for intense negotiations over policies to address global warming. Given the enormous political, economic, and environmental issues at stake, news media typically frame these summits in terms of success or failure. Still, we know surprisingly little about how these mediated mega events influence public perceptions both during and beyond the specific summit. Focusing on the 2021 Glasgow summit (COP26), this study combines a media content analysis and a two-wave panel survey with a rolling […]