Narratives of a race: how the media judged a presidential debate

The first debate in 2008 was a turning point in the presidential electioncampaign: a race that was close before the debate turned decisively inObama’s favor following it. This article explores how the media reachedtheir verdict that “Obama won.” We examine two aspects of this problem:how, in practice, the media reached this verdict and whether they madethe right decision from a normative standpoint. Based on content analysisof debate transcripts, we argue that the media interpreted the debate bysynthesizing three pre-debate narratives in roughly equal proportions.Crucially, two of these narratives favored Obama. We also find that the“Obama won” verdict was consistent with what we might expect had thedebate been judged by a public-spirited umpire.

Mortgage nation : the 2004 Australian election

A comprehensive study of the historic win by the Howard Coalition Government providing analyses of the campaigns, an insight from the key players at the centre of devising the campaigns and covers election results and their interpretation.

The campaigns

It is arguable that the 2007 election was decided on longer term issues, and longer term campaigning. This article focuses on the campaigning side. The campaigning commenced with the election of Labor's new leadership team of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard in December 2006. The Howard Coalition Government, after a minor cabinet reshuffle, pressed on with the promotion of its policies and programmes; but by May 2007 was forced to change tack, making concessions on the unpopular WorkChoices policy, and then introducing a controversial Aboriginal intervention programme. The election campaign was anti-climactic. The article includes a postscript on the election aftermath, comparing Kevin Rudd with Gough Whitlam in his rapid implementation of key campaign policies.

Julia 2010 : the caretaker election

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of one of Australia’s most historic elections, which produced a hung parliament and a carefully crafted minority government that remains a heartbeat away from collapse, as well as Australia’s first elected woman Prime Minister and the Australian Greens’ first lower house Member of Parliament.

The volume considers the key contextual and possibly determining factors, such as: the role of leadership and ideology in the campaign; the importance of state and regional factors (was there evidence of the two or three speed economy at work?); and the role of policy areas and issues, including the environment, immigration, religion, gender and industrial relations. Contributors utilise a wide range of sources and approaches to provide comprehensive insights into the campaign. This volume notably includes the perspectives of the major political groupings, the ALP, the Coalition and the Greens; and the data from the Australian Election Survey. Finally we conclude with a detailed analysis of those 17 days that it took to construct a minority party government.

Older persons' perception of risk of falling : implications for fall-prevention campaigns

Objectives. We examined older people's attitudes about falls and implications for the design of fall-prevention awareness campaigns.

Methods. We assessed data from (1) computer-assisted telephone surveys conducted in 2002 with Australians 60 years and older in Northern Rivers, New South Wales (site of a previous fall-prevention program; n=1601), and Wide Bay, Queensland (comparison community; n=1601), and (2) 8 focus groups (n=73).

Results. Participants from the previous intervention site were less likely than were comparison participants to agree that falls are not preventable (odds ratio [OR]=0.76; 95% confidence interval [Cl]=0.65, 0.90) and more likely to rate the prevention of falls a high priority (OR=1.31; 95% CI=1.09, 1.57). There was no difference between the groups for self-perceived risk of falls; more than 60% rated their risk as low. Those with a low perceived risk were more likely to be men, younger, partnered, and privately insured, and to report better health and no history of falls. Focus group data indicated that older people preferred messages that emphasized health and independence rather than falls.

Conclusions. Although older people accepted traditional fall-prevention messages, most viewed them as not personally relevant. Messages that promote health and independence may be more effective.

Public relations campaigns

Designed to guide current and aspiring Public Relations professionals through the campaign development and implementation process. It illustrates the application of planning theory to real life scenarios to provide a practical approach for planning a successful campaign. M. Sheehan, Deakin University; R. Xavier, QUT.

Overview of twentieth-century campaigns

Aims of this Chapter:
• To understand the early foundations of public relations in Australia and New Zealand
• To examine the development of public relations through a campaign perspective