Populism and the media
Populist political communication


What is the relationship between populism and the media?
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Outline
1.Populism in the media
2.
2.Populism against the media
3.
3.Media populism
4.

Populism in the media
•Usually flamboyant personalities attracting media attention – „media complicity“
•Reporting about anything that „breaks the routine“ in the very core of the media (populists as
„newsmakers“)
•Tabloid vs traditional media – traditional media defending the status quo vs focus on
eccentric/negative aspects of the social reality
•Populist communication style including language and appearance („‘journalists liked to comment on
Haider’s various dress styles and labelled him a male model’“)
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Flamboyant populism
andrzejlepper.jpg bossi-dito.jpg meciar1-502ffcf2ead2c_275x183.jpg pim-cigar.jpg


Populism in the media
•Four structural positions of the media that affect the presence of populism (Kramer 2014):
1.They can speak directly to the people, therefore circumvening the political system (traditional
communication channels)
•Media as „powerful movement that only consists of public sentiment, shared moral concerns, and
collective mobilization“
•2. Symbolic power via the representation of society – depiction of the reality based on the life
of the common people, the real life X elites alienated from the everyday word
•3. Media as the fourth estate outside the structures of political power – BUT impartiality and
neutrality. Depends on the level of the bias of the coverage.
•4. Specific style and rhetoric – media may use the style and language different from the one used
by political elites: being more martial, radical, polemical
1.

Populism against the media
•Anti-elitist appeal as a defining feature of populist political communication
•Chameleonic nature of populism – receptive towards other ideologies
•Media often presented as part of the elitist conspiracy against the elites
•Specific framing depends on the content of populism („liberal media“, „welcoming media“, „“The
monopolistic media hide the true values for the people” /Csurka/,…)
•Media stealing the sovereignty of the people
•= anti-media populism

Not just anti-media populism
•Havlík, Kluknavská (in progress): Beyond anti-media populism: Legitimate and untruthful media in
the communication of PRR on Facebook
•Friend and foe relationship with the media: legitimate and untruthful media
•Information and communication functions X reference to untruthfulness
•Analysis of communication of Czech populist radical right on Facebook – claims analysis about the
media(various outlets, context of the crises)
•Conclusion: more than half of claims about the legitimate role, cca 1/3 post-truth accusations
•Post-truth accusations linked to media in general and PSM, far less disinformation media
•SPD more truth accusations than Dawn, immigration issue linke to information and communication
function
•Not just anti-media communication – more complex relationship

Media populism
•„‘populist media’ or ‘media populism’ – highly commercialized media production and/or news
coverage that yield to general popular tastes (Mazzoleni 2008)
•The process of mediatization (also „video democracy“ – Sartori)
•The transformation of political language into spectacle
•Mastering of TV broadcasting – „telepopulism“ (Blocher and ARENA -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njTtf1nRX1w&ab_channel=BlocherTV )
•Greater focus on personalization – emotions, dramatization (more suitable for populists or
populist communication) + populist parties usually more strongly identified with the leader (x
policies)
•Strengthened by the competition between private and public media since the 1990s (in Europe)
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+ populist media ownership
•Is media ownership more likely for populist politicians?
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•Not necessarily a strong theoretical linkage between populism and the media ownership
•BUT populism has little patience with checks and balances including the watchdog role of the media
•Any examples?
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•Berlusconi in Italy
•Babiš in the Czech Republic

Populist voters and media consumption
•Hameleers et al. (2017): The Appeal of Media Populism: The Media
•Preferences of Citizens with Populist Attitudes
•Theoretical assumption about attitudinal congruence between voters and the media content (echo
chambers, confirmation bias)
•citizens with populist attitudes are expected to self-select media content that articulates a
societal divide between “us” and “them”
•Three types of populism in the media: people centrality, anti-elitism, monocultural populism
•Expectations: tabloid media, entertainment media diet
•Exclusionism related to tabloid consumption (preferences for media stronger with preferences for
populist content)

Conclusion
•Different layers of the relationship between the media and populism
•Populism in the media – populist content or opportunities for the populist content shared by the
media
•Media populism – populism and populist political communication in the age of mediatization
•Populism against the media – media as part of the anti-media populist discourse
•Media ownership
•Media consumption