The quality of referendum debate: the UK's electoral system referendum in the print media

This paper analyses the quality of debate surrounding the UK’s 2011 electoral reform referendum as represented in the print media. It first considers how debate quality in the context of a referendum campaign may best be conceptualized. It then uses content analysis of media coverage to investigate three aspects of that debate: its quantity; the balance between Yes and No arguments, and the quality of reason-giving. It finds that the quantity of debate was comparable to other recent electoral reform referendums. Coverage was predominantly, but not overwhelmingly, hostile to change. The different indicators of the quality of reason-giving present a mixed picture. The paper concludes by considering how the analysis could be extended through further comparison with other cases.

'A hideously difficult country': British propaganda to France in the early Cold War

This article examines British propaganda efforts in the early Cold War in the light of a developing relationship in which the senders' own strategies were to be modified and challenged.The article argues that initiatives to broadcast propaganda from Britain into France via the BBC operated within a broader and developing information policy context. Broadcasting from outside the country through the BBC was supplemented with attempts by British personnel stationed in France to embed positive messages directly within the contemporary French media. By 1950 however, the Britsih propaganda initiative seemed inappropriate and outmoded, taken over by the French themselves and by a British desire to prioritise countries outside Western Europe.

The UK's Electoral Reform Referendum of May 2011

The UK’s second nationwide referendum, held in May 2011, offers rich opportunities for analysing the dynamics of a referendum campaign. The articles gathered together in this symposium address three themes. The first concerns the determinants and dynamics of public opinion during a referendum campaign, the second relates to the potential for interaction between the referendum and simultaneous elections, and the third focuses on coverage of the referendum in the media. Following a brief outline of the background to the referendum, this paper introduces the contribution that each article makes to these themes.

Terrorism and electoral accountability: one strike, you're out!

We examine the relationship between terrorism and electoral accountability. We find that terror has a robust positive effect on the probability that the incumbent government is replaced. The magnitude of the effect increases with the severity of the terrorist attack.

Is the future of electoral reform local?

The Electoral Reform Society has recently published two reports putting the case for electoral reform in local government. These suggest acceptance, in the wake of defeat in the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum, that the group’s ultimate goal of change to the Westminster electoral system is unlikely to be fulfilled soon and that a more gradual strategy is therefore needed. This paper examines this shift by asking three questions. First, is Westminster electoral reform really a dead letter? Second, is local electoral reform more likely—and, if so, just how much more likely? Third, would local electoral reform matter in itself?

Voices of Occupiers/Liberators: The BBC's Radio Propaganda in Italy between 1942 and 1945

The ambiguity of the role played by British propaganda in Italy during the Second World War is clearly reflected in the phenomenon of Radio London. While Radio London raised the morale of the Italian civilians living under the Fascist regime and provided them with alternative information on the conflict, the microphones of the BBC were also used by the British government to address a country they were planning to occupy. In this article, I will analyse the occupation/liberation operations that were run at the BBC Italian Service from two separate angles. On the one hand, the analysis of the programmes broadcast between the months preceding the Allies’ landing in Sicily and the actual occupation shows how the Allies built their image as liberators and guarantors of better living conditions. On the other, the analysis of the relationships between the Foreign Office and the anti-Fascist exiles reveals that the Italian BBC broadcasters were not always allowed to freely express their political opinion or to dispose of their own lives.

Tipologias de imitação estética na propaganda

O artigo objetiva propor tipologias conceituais que assinalem possibilidades de imitação estética na propaganda. Propor esta base conceitual é algo relevante por ser a prática imitativa na propaganda algo recorrente e de interesse no campo autoral e social. É um estudo exploratório que faz uso de pesquisa bibliográfica nos eixos temáticos de propaganda, imitação e elementos estéticos da comunicação publicitária. As tipologias encontradas foram: falsificação, pirataria, plágio, knockoff, adaptação e paródia.

O autodeboche na propaganda televisiva contemporânea como estratégia de criação e inovação

Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós-graduação da Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul como requisito parcial para a obtenção do título de Mestre em Comunicação

Onerosidade: o conflito entre a propaganda e a publicidade

A massa conjunto de consumidores sem vontade própria ganhou força após a abertura de mercado e a ampliação da concorrência. Ser percebido e tratado como único, desencadeou a necessidade dos fornecedores criarem diferenciais. Para traduzir esta percepção ao mercado o uso das ferramentas publicidade, propaganda ou publicidade comercial, se fez e se faz necessária. Estas ferramentas são estudas, analisadas e desenvolvidas por profissionais especializados para utilizarem os canais que mais acesse o consumidor e obtenham sua fidelidade com a marca, produto ou serviços e outras possíveis trocas. .A publicidade, a propaganda ou publicidade comercial, a diferença entre elas, quando é enganosa e ou abusiva serão itens a serem estudados.

Propaganda política e comercial: algumas aproximações

A propaganda política e a comercial (ou publicidade) sempre tiveram conexões entre si. Com a Revolução Industrial consolida-se a propaganda comercial, enquanto a propaganda política moderna tem grande impulso na década de 1930. Foram nos regimes totalitários do Ocidente que se desenvolveram fundamentos de uma propaganda política atual, com mecanismos de persuasão capazes de acionar sentimentos coletivos e universos simbólicos sociais, com estética elaborada pelos agentes conectados a ideologias e partidos políticos da época. O objetivo é apresentar e discutir conexões entre a propaganda política e a publicidade tendo em vista suas influências mútuas, advindas de suas experiências históricas. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório que faz uso de referencial teórico sobre os eixos temáticos da propaganda política e propaganda comercial com ênfase conceitual e histórica. A partir da sistematização do objeto de estudo, o artigo mostra que a intersecção da propaganda política e comercial se evidencia no início do século XX e intensifica suas conexões neste início de século XXI com o uso de recursos estéticos e discursivos mais sofisticados. Parece, portanto, que as experiências da propaganda comercial têm suprido campanhas eleitorais e a comunicação política, proporcionando cenários políticos caracterizados pela persuasão, efemeridade e apego estético nos moldes da concepção publicitária.