The Political Control of Journalistic Information

Authors

  • Andreu Casero Ripollés Jaume I University of Castelló

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/10.4185/RLCS-64-2009-828-354-366

Keywords:

Journalistic Information, Political Communication, Political Control, Journalist Profession

Abstract

In today’s society, journalistic information represents an essential strategic resource for various reasons, including: its ability to define reality, the cognitive and symbolic capacity with which it can shape social meanings, its unquestionable ability to structure public visibility, and its potential to set the public agenda. In short, journalistic information has emerged as an element charged with symbolic power. For this reason, political actors have made it their priority to control journalistic information in their endeavour to structure the public sphere according to their own interests and objectives. However, this subordination has become increasingly difficult, due to the growing autonomy of the mass media system. This paper starts from the present arena, marked by the growing mediatisation of politics, to analyse the different ways in which the political system operates to control journalistic information in the current context, particularly in relation to television. Four major formulas are highlighted by which this control takes place: the adoption of media logic, the policy of alliances, news monitoring during election campaigns, and going public. A detailed description of each formula is accompanied by an analysis of various empirical illustrations. Finally, the study also offers an insight into the reactions of the mass media to these attempts by political agents to control them, in a context marked by the vigorous commercialisation of the communications sector. The research methodology is based on a combination of theoretical frameworks from political communication and the political economy of communication, thus taking an interactive approach that understands the relationship between the political and media systems as a constant process of exchange.

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Author Biography

Andreu Casero Ripollés, Jaume I University of Castelló

Andreu Casero Ripollés is University Professor of Journalism. He has been Dean of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences (2018-2022), director of the Department of Communication Sciences (2016-2018) and vice-dean of the Degree in Journalism (2009-2016). He was co-director of the University Master's Degree in New Trends and Innovation Processes in Communication (2012-2019). He has been coordinator for the field of Communication within the Social Sciences area of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) of the Government of Spain between 2016 and 2019. He is a member of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Philosophy and Social Sciences section).

He has developed a scientific production that includes more than 70 articles in scientific journals (25 indexed in JCR Web of Science (WoS) of Thomson Reuters), two monographic books, 40 book chapters, the edition of 10 collective books and the presentation of 110 communications in congresses. His h-index is 38, according to Google Scholar. His lines of research focus on political communication and digital transformations in journalism. He has four six-year periods and three five-year teaching periods.

Throughout his career, he has participated in 14 research projects. In the period 2008-2020, he has directed, as principal investigator, a total of 9 projects obtained in state and regional competitive calls. He has carried out research stays in some of the leading international research centers. In this sense, the stays carried out at Columbia University (2015) and at the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) of the University of Westminster (UK) (2014) stand out. In addition, he has previously made stays at UNESP in Brazil (2010), Université Paris 8 (2008) and Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca (2006).

He has been awarded the 5th. and 7th. Scimago-EPI Award for the best scientific article in Communication, II Research Award of the Association of Media Information and Communication (AMIC) (2018), the V University Research Award granted by the Catalan Association of Regional Press (2011 ), the XIV Prize for Educational Innovation awarded by Banco Santander and the University Jaume I (2014) and the Drago Award 2014 of the Latin Journal of Social Communication in the most cited article of 2009. Likewise, in 2014 he obtained one of the prestigious grants for researchers, innovators and cultural creators awarded by the BBVA Foundation.

Recently, he has been included by Stanford University within the 2% of the most outstanding scientists in the world in his discipline.

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Published

2022-06-28

How to Cite

Casero Ripollés, A. (2022). The Political Control of Journalistic Information. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, (64), 354–366. https://doi.org/10.4185/10.4185/RLCS-64-2009-828-354-366

Issue

Section

Miscellaneous