Defining Political Communication

Governor Chafee, an early adopter of Snapchat, was one of the first candidates to drop out

Political communication is first and foremost the academic pursuit of an interdisciplinary understanding of the ways in which studies of political science (and the applied ‘politics’) interact with studies of communication (and applied fields including but not limited to ‘journalism’, ‘public relations’ and ‘advertising’).

Political Communication in the sense of the 2016 campaign season can be seen manifested in a number of ways. From the mundane (CNN hiring 40 political reporters) to the new and interesting (Snapchat hiring journalists), the face of political communication in a presidential election is always changing. At one point, at least seven candidates for president had Snapchat (this list doesn’t include Governor Lincoln Chafee, who had a Snapchat, but who dropped out early). Meanwhile it was big news when President Obama got a Facebook page.

The polling suggests that the discussion is set by the public, in that the public is most concerned with terrorism, and that seems to be all the debates are about. Though, anecdotally I’d say most of my friends and peers are more worried about economic issues and civil rights than they are about terrorism, but again, that’s purely anecdotally.

The goals and motivations of the candidates seems to be the easiest to discern. First and foremost candidates don’t get into races without the data that shows them that they have a fighting chance of winning. Sometimes it’s said that candidates will drop out of the race so that they may be able to influence the conversation. Lindsey Graham dropped out on December 21. Three days later U.S. News & World Report were asking “Who Will Get Senator Lindsey Graham’s Endorsement” and as important (or more?) than that singular endorsement is the support of those donors and public figures and officials who had endorsed Senator Graham.