Abstract

This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the political communication elite– high-ranking journalists, editors, politicians and their communication advisors – that shapes the content and form of political messages, news, debate and decisions in modern democracies.

Based on an innovative combination of elite theory and political communication studies, the book develops an integrated and comprehensive approach to elite cohesion in political communication, focusing on the extent and patterns of attitudinal consonance among media and political elites.

Building on unique survey data from more than 1,500 high-ranking politicians and journalists in six European countries (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France and Spain), the book provides unique insights into current reality of mediatized politics, and the key players shaping it.
Eva Mayerhöffer is Assistant Professor of Journalism at the Department of Communication and Arts, University of Roskilde. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Communication from Freie Universität Berlin. Her research focuses on elites in modern democracies, political communication, comparative media studies, journalism cultures and populism.

Mayerhöffer’s book is a complex study of the role orientations of media and political elites in six European countries. It analyzes the impact of the political context on the degrees of distinction, cohesion and collusion among the three groups, drawing on theoretical approaches of both communications and elite research. This important book develops an innovative approach for studying the relations among elite groups that are of central importance for our modern democracies.