Title: | Political communications in the Icelandic general election campaign of 1987 |
Author: | |
Advisor: | Tom Nossiter |
Date: | 1991 |
Language: | English |
University/Institute: | London School of Economics |
Subject: | Alþingiskosningar 1987; Fjölmiðlar; Doktorsritgerðir |
URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/452 |
Citation:Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason, (1991). Political communications in the Icelandic general election campaign of 1987 (doktorsritgerð). London School of Economics, London.
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Abstract:The thesis is a study of political communications in a general
election campaign in Iceland in 1987. The theoretical background is the
so-called agenda-setting approach to communication.
A multimethodological approach was used: first, a content
analysis was applied to printed pamphlets published by the political
parties, election broadcasts on TV, daily newspapers, television news
and current affairs programmes over a period of eight weeks; second,
a three wave panel survey of a sample of 1500 voters, twice before the
election and once immediately after it; third, a survey of news-reporters’
attitudes towards media and their job, organized and run by
students at the University of Iceland; and fourth, a qualitative study
of practices and atmosphere inside the State’s TV newsroom some days
before the election.
The thesis is divided into four main parts, which are further
divided into sub-sections. The first part deals with theoretical
considerations, offers an outline of Icelandic history and social reality
and discusses the methodologies employed.
Part two is based on the panel survey, a survey of newsreporters
and a qualitative study inside the state’s TV newsroom. Part
two considers the uses of media in the campaign and attitudes towards
them. It reports on news values and practices as found in the survey
of news-reporters and the qualitative survey inside the TV newsroom.
Part three is based on content analysis and the survey. It
discusses the "three agendas": the party agenda, the media agenda and
the voter agenda.
Part four is an assessment of the research. An effort is made to
relate the three agendas, in order to measure statistically their impact
on one another. A final chapter discusses the conclusions that can be
drawn from the various parts of the thesis about the agenda setting
process.
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