Abstract
The opening chapter, Definition/s of Political Communication, introduces this scientific (sub)discipline and its object of inquiry, involved actors, communication flows, models, principles, and the very meaning of the field. The subsequent chapter, Environment of Political Communication, compares two traditional theories of democracy and the two concepts of public sphere that follow from them..
Major part of the chapter on Systems of Political Communication is devoted to the path from the Four Theories to the Three Models (accompanied by an attempt to find an appropriate place for the Czech media system. The fourth, historical chapter looks back at the ages of political communication and political campaigns, the eras of political journalism, the developmental transformations of political parties, and the phases of the so-called mediatization.
The concluding chapter focuses on characteristics of contemporary political communication, i.e. the partial phenomena/expressions concerning the actors as well as the changes in the contents and, finally, the effects on audiences. In the conclusion, the author analyzes, with a strong critical stance, the increasing influence of techniques of public relations, spin doctoring, and political marketing in generaly.
The critical appendices of individual chapters briefly discuss the Marxist media theory and the approaches inspired by it, such as critical political economy of the media and cultural studies. More space is devoted to the radically-democratic approach to political communication, history of the relationship between political protests and the media, and the episodes from the struggle for democratization of the media.
The publication also reviews the principles and examples of political communication in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1948–1989) and reflects on the contribution of this implementation of the so-called Marx-Leninist media theory to the future of political communication and its research.