It is often remarked that politicians’ private lives are becoming a feature of political communication in many advanced industrial democracies. However, there have so far been no genuinely comparative studies examining the personalized nature of political communication.
Intimate Politics provides for the first time a systematic comparative analysis of such developments in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, it assesses the extent to which the private lives of politicians have become a feature of political communication in each democracy. The book provides a comprehensive account of the shifting boundaries between the public and private, and whether any developments are universal or more advanced in some democracies than others, and seeks to explain why this might be.
Intimate Politics will be of great value for students and scholars of communication and media studies and political science and is required reading for anyone who wants a fuller understanding of the transformation of mediated politics in advanced industrial democracies.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Contents
List of figures and tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Politicians’ Personal Lives in the Media Spotlight
1. Soft Focus: Leaders’ Personal Lives Close-up
2. Digging for Dirt: Publicizing Politicians’ Sex Lives
3. Changing Exposure: Critical Moments and the
Uncovering of Politicians’ Infidelity
4. Transnational Revelations: Flows, Access and Control in a Global News Environment
5. Drawing Conclusions: Intimization and Democratic Politics
Appendix: Notes on Research Methods and Indicators
References
Endnotes
Über den Autor
James Stanyer is senior lecturer in Media and Communication Studies at Loughborough University.