The project provides an empirically grounded and theoretically elaborated view of the role of media in political decision-making and governance. It tests three common claims about mediatization (the increased influence of the media): (1) that the media operates with a logic of its own, (2) that the media is a crucial site of political action, and (3) that the media’s influence penetrates other institutional domains and policy networks. The project will address and contest these claims by focusing on two key areas of current politics: economic policy and environmental policy.
Publications
Reunanen, Esa & Väliverronen, Jari (2020) Tupo ja media. Talous- ja työmarkkinapoliittisen julkisuuden toimintahorisontit kolmella vuosikymmenellä (Labor market negotiations and the media. The action horizons of economic and labor market politics in public on three decades). Tampere: Tampere University Press.
Kumpu, Ville (2020) Ympäristö, politiikka ja julkisuus. Kolme tapaustutkimusta journalistisen julkisuuden rakentumisesta ja merkityksestä ympäristöpolitiikassa (Environment, politics, and publicity. Three case studies about the construction of journalistic public sphere and its role in environmental politics). Tampere: Tampere University Press.
Reunanen, Esa & Kunelius, Risto (2019) The Transformation of Communicative Power Into Political Power. Communication Theory. DOI: 10.1093/ct/qtz011
Kumpu, Ville, Kunelius, Risto & Reunanen, Esa (2019) From Competing Institutional Logics to the Action Horizons of Mediatised Political Performance: A New Approach to the Relationship between Media and Political Action. Javnost – The Public 26:3, 258-273. Abstract: doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2019.1588497
Kumpu, Ville (2018) Järki vai särki? Työ ja ympäristö kamppailussa Lievestuoreen sellutehtaasta keväällä 1971 (Reason or the roach? Jobs, environmental protection and the dispute over the Lievestuore pulp mill). Media & Viestintä 41:1, 29-50.
Reunanen, Esa (2017) Kiristystä vai kilpailukykyä? Auktoriteettiperformanssit ja strategiset kertomukset neuvotteluissa “yhteiskuntasopimuksesta”. (Blackmail of competitiveness? Authority performances and strategic narratives in the negotiations of “social contract”). Politiikka 59:2, 96-113.
Kunelius, Risto & Reunanen, Esa (2016) Changing Power of Journalism: The Two Phases of Mediatization. Communication Theory 26:4, 369-388. DOI: 10.1111/comt.12098.
Presentations
Kumpu, Ville, Kunelius, Risto & Reunanen, Esa: The grammar of contextualization: operationalizing the political actor perspective in mediatization. Nordmedia 2017 conference, Tampere 18.8.2017.
Kunelius, Risto & Reunanen, Esa: The emerging media landscape of political power. Nordmedia 2017 conference, Tampere 17.8.2017.
Reunanen, Esa & Kunelius, Risto: Authority performances in mediatized policy networks. International Journal of Press/Politics conference 28th – 30th September, 2016, Oxford.
Reunanen, Esa & Kunelius, Risto: Politiikkaverkostot ja media yhteiskuntasopimusneuvotteluissa (Policy networks and the media in the labour market negotiations). The Finnish Conference for Media and Communication Research, Helsinki, 8.4.2016.
Project period: 2015-2019
Funding: Academy of Finland
Principal investigator: Risto Kunelius, risto.kunelius@uta.fi