ABSTRACT

The studies in this volume conceptualize populism as a type of political communication and investigate it comparatively, focusing on (a) politicians’ and journalists’ perceptions, (b) media coverage, and (c) effects on citizens.

This book presents findings from several large-scale internationally comparative empirical studies, funded by the European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST), focusing on communication and the media within the context of populism and populist political communication in Europe. The studies are based on comparative interview studies with journalists and politicians, a large-scale comparative content analysis, and a comparative cross-country experiment using nationally representative online-surveys over 15 countries. The book also includes advice for stakeholders like politicians, the media, and citizens about how to deal with the challenge of populist political communication.

This enlightening volume is ‘populist’ in the best sense and will be an essential text for any scholar in political science, communication science, media studies, sociology and philosophy with an interest in populism and political communication. It does not assume specialist knowledge and will remain accessible and engaging to students, practitioners and policymakers.

Chapters 1 and 12 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

chapter 1|14 pages

Introduction

Comprehending and Investigating Populist Communication From a Comparative Perspective

part I|54 pages

Populism and Communicators

chapter 2|17 pages

Perceptions of Populism and the Media

A Qualitative Comparative Approach to Studying the Views of Journalists and Politicians

part II|72 pages

Populism in the Media

chapter 5|31 pages

Dimensions, Speakers, and Targets

Basic Patterns in European Media Reporting on Populism

part III|92 pages

Populism and Citizens

chapter 8|25 pages

The Persuasiveness of Populist Communication

Conceptualizing the Effects and Political Consequences of Populist Communication From a Social Identity Perspective

chapter 9|15 pages

Investigating the Effects of Populist Communication

Design and Measurement of the Comparative Experimental Study

chapter 10|24 pages

Cognitive Responses to Populist Communication

The Impact of Populist Message Elements on Blame Attribution and Stereotyping

chapter 11|26 pages

Attitudinal and Behavioral Responses to Populist Communication

The Impact of Populist Message Elements on Populist Attitudes and Voting Intentions

part IV|20 pages

Conclusion

chapter 12|18 pages

Adapting to the Different Shades of Populism

Key Findings and Implications for Media, Citizens, and Politics