This book presents an overview of political communication in the Republic of Ireland from a multiplicity of perspectives and sources. It brings academics and practitioners together to examine the development, current shape, and the future trajectory of political communication in Ireland. The field of political communication, where politicians, public relations professionals and journalists interact, has always been a highly contested one fuelled by suspicion, mutual dependence and fraught relationships. While politicians need the media they remain highly suspicious of journalists. While journa ... More

This book presents an overview of political communication in the Republic of Ireland from a multiplicity of perspectives and sources. It brings academics and practitioners together to examine the development, current shape, and the future trajectory of political communication in Ireland. The field of political communication, where politicians, public relations professionals and journalists interact, has always been a highly contested one fuelled by suspicion, mutual dependence and fraught relationships. While politicians need the media they remain highly suspicious of journalists. While journalists remain wary of politicians, they need access to them for information. What emerges is a relatively stable relationship of mutual dependence with the boundaries policed by public relation professions. Access is negotiated, off-the-record quotations fill the journalists’ notebooks and politicians fly kites about possible initiatives. However, every so often, in times of political crisis or upheaval, this relationship gives way to a near free-for-all. Politicians, spokespersons and sometimes even journalists, become fair game in the battle for public accountability. The determination of public relations professions to avoid this and keep the relationship based on mutual dependence has become a central component of modern statecraft and systems of governance. Using Ireland as a case study, this book examines the process through which this need to keep politicians and the media ‘on message’ and use the media to inform, shape and manage public discourse has become central to the workings of government, opposition and interest groups. It also examines how the packaging of politics may impact on the democratic process.