ABSTRACT
The media, or those who work in them, should be viewed as important political actors in themselves. Not only do they transmit the messages of political organisations to the public, but they transform them through various processes of news-making and interpretation. What the politician wishes to say is not necessarily what the media report him or her as having said. In addition, the media make statements about politics in their own right, in the form of commentaries, editorials and interview questions. These statements may have a significant impact on the wider political environment. The relationship between the media and the political process is a dialectical one, involving action and reaction. The media report on and analyse political activity, but they are also part of it, available as a resource for political actors and their advisers. The latter thus have a major interest in understanding how the media work, and how best to achieve their communication objectives through them.
