Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland
This thesis examines the dissemination of political information in Iceland through an investigation of three interlinked and under-studied areas of research in the country. The research gaps concern perceptions of routine political news coverage, the politician-journalist relationship, and the impac...
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ftgoldsmithuniv:oai:eprints.gold.ac.uk:26852 2024-09-15T18:13:27+00:00 Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland Olafsson, Jon Gunnar 2019-07-31 text https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26852/ https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26852/1/MED_thesis_OlafssonJ_2019.pdf eng eng Goldsmiths, University of London https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26852/1/MED_thesis_OlafssonJ_2019.pdf Olafsson, Jon Gunnar <https://research.gold.ac.uk/view/goldsmiths/Olafsson=3AJon_Gunnar=3A=3A.html>. 2019. Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis] cc_by_nc_nd Accepted Version Thesis NonPeerReviewed public 2019 ftgoldsmithuniv 2024-08-06T23:37:00Z This thesis examines the dissemination of political information in Iceland through an investigation of three interlinked and under-studied areas of research in the country. The research gaps concern perceptions of routine political news coverage, the politician-journalist relationship, and the impact of social networking sites on interactions between the public, journalists and politicians, as well as on news coverage of politics. The data in this mixed methods study is comprised of 50 semi-structured interviews with Icelandic politicians and journalists, and survey answers from a representative questionnaire (N= 1,264). In filling these research gaps, the Icelandic case is used to expand existing paradigms. Iceland has been routinely ignored in the comparative political communication literature, and the same goes for other small states. The thesis illustrates how qualitative differences between small and large states open up new areas of investigation. The findings demonstrate that the Icelandic legacy media is perceived to be breaking down and routinely bypassed in political dissemination. The smallness of the Icelandic society means that there is much more direct interaction between politicians, journalists and the public than in larger states. This happens in informal settings offline, as well as online, particularly on Facebook. In order to study these online forms of communication, I show that there is a need to probe the more private avenues, in addition to the public arena. I introduce the concept of a ‘two-level online sphere’ in relation to this. The thesis contributes to theory building by constructing frameworks based on four dimensions of ‘scaled down’ political communication dynamics: 1) offline network density, 2) online network density, 3) mobile multifunctionality, and 4) flexible autonomy. In addition, I show that the Icelandic case can be seen as a ‘canary in the coalmine’ in relation to political communication developments in the larger democracies of the world. Thesis Iceland Goldsmiths University of London: Goldsmiths Research Online |
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Goldsmiths University of London: Goldsmiths Research Online |
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This thesis examines the dissemination of political information in Iceland through an investigation of three interlinked and under-studied areas of research in the country. The research gaps concern perceptions of routine political news coverage, the politician-journalist relationship, and the impact of social networking sites on interactions between the public, journalists and politicians, as well as on news coverage of politics. The data in this mixed methods study is comprised of 50 semi-structured interviews with Icelandic politicians and journalists, and survey answers from a representative questionnaire (N= 1,264). In filling these research gaps, the Icelandic case is used to expand existing paradigms. Iceland has been routinely ignored in the comparative political communication literature, and the same goes for other small states. The thesis illustrates how qualitative differences between small and large states open up new areas of investigation. The findings demonstrate that the Icelandic legacy media is perceived to be breaking down and routinely bypassed in political dissemination. The smallness of the Icelandic society means that there is much more direct interaction between politicians, journalists and the public than in larger states. This happens in informal settings offline, as well as online, particularly on Facebook. In order to study these online forms of communication, I show that there is a need to probe the more private avenues, in addition to the public arena. I introduce the concept of a ‘two-level online sphere’ in relation to this. The thesis contributes to theory building by constructing frameworks based on four dimensions of ‘scaled down’ political communication dynamics: 1) offline network density, 2) online network density, 3) mobile multifunctionality, and 4) flexible autonomy. In addition, I show that the Icelandic case can be seen as a ‘canary in the coalmine’ in relation to political communication developments in the larger democracies of the world. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Olafsson, Jon Gunnar |
spellingShingle |
Olafsson, Jon Gunnar Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland |
author_facet |
Olafsson, Jon Gunnar |
author_sort |
Olafsson, Jon Gunnar |
title |
Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland |
title_short |
Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland |
title_full |
Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland |
title_sort |
media, democracy and small states: political communication in iceland |
publisher |
Goldsmiths, University of London |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26852/ https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26852/1/MED_thesis_OlafssonJ_2019.pdf |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Accepted Version |
op_relation |
https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26852/1/MED_thesis_OlafssonJ_2019.pdf Olafsson, Jon Gunnar <https://research.gold.ac.uk/view/goldsmiths/Olafsson=3AJon_Gunnar=3A=3A.html>. 2019. Media, Democracy and Small States: Political Communication in Iceland. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis] |
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cc_by_nc_nd |
_version_ |
1810451225108283392 |