WHAT IS POLITICAL COMMUNICATION ?

The essence of politics is talk or interaction. Broadly defined, political communication is the role of communication in the political process. It can take place in a variety of forms (formal or informal), in a variety of venues (public and private) and through a variety of medium (mediated or unmediated content). It includes the production and generation of messages by political actors, the transmission of political messages through direct and indirect channels, and the reception of political messages.

Political communication is a process that includes political institutions and actors, the news media and, importantly, citizens. Every act of political communication produced by parties, interest groups, or the media is geared toward citizens, to inform them, to influence them. It is the interaction between these three groups that matter in political commuication. Within politics, communication flows move in many directions: downward from governing authorities to citizens, horizontally between political actors, including news media, and upward from citizens and groups to the political institutions.

In short, political communication is concerned with being actively engaged with local, regional, state, national, European, and international issues and how the power of information, persuasion and strategic message design can be used to understand and affect outcomes at those levels, particularly in the area of governance and governmental and societal behaviour.