The Dynamics of Political Communication

This fully updated fourth edition continues to provide comprehensive coverage of communication and politics, again focusing on the way politics and media impact democracy. The book explores the intersection between politics and communication, drawing from leading scholarship in communication, political science, and political psychology. It describes the nature of today’s political media; political socialization; key media effects, such as agenda-setting and framing; myths, biases and facts in political news; political advertising and presidential debates.

This edition includes new and expanded discussions of free speech and misinformation on social media, presidential rhetoric, the 2022 and 2024 election campaigns and the January 6th investigation narrative. It also examines international examples such as the Ukraine War, populism in Hungary and Turkey, Russian propaganda, and TikTok. The book is ideally suited for upper-level undergraduate and graduate political communication courses in communication, journalism, and political science programs.