How parties’ issue emphasis strategies vary across communication channels : The 2009 regional election campaign in Belgium

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Version: Author's accepted manuscript
Serval ID
serval:BIB_56F858678991
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
How parties’ issue emphasis strategies vary across communication channels : The 2009 regional election campaign in Belgium
Journal
Acta Politica
Author(s)
Tresch  Anke, Lefevere  Jonas, Walgrave  Stefaan
ISSN
0001-6810 (Print)
1741-1416 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0001-6810
Publication state
Published
Issued date
24/01/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
1
Number
53
Pages
25-47
Language
english
Abstract
Issue ownership theory expects political parties to focus their campaigns on 'owned' issues for which they have a reputation of competence and a history of attention, and to avoid issues that play to the advantage of their opponents. However, recent empirical studies show that parties often campaign on the same issues. The literature has suggested several factors to account for this behavior, but has mostly neglected that issue emphasis strategies can vary across campaign communication channels and parties. Based on a quantitative content analysis of the manifestos and press releases of all seven parties competing in the 2009 regional elections in Flanders (Belgium), we make two contributions. First, we show that while there is some consistency in parties' issue priorities, they do not necessarily set the same issue priorities in their different campaign communication channels. Second, it appears that parties follow different strategies depending on their standing in the polls, and, to a lesser degree, according to their position in government or in opposition.
Keywords
saliency theory, issue ownership, political parties, communication channels, election
Create date
07/11/2016 11:26
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:11
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