What is an acceptable tone and approach in Political Communications?
What is Political Communication?
Political communication can be described as the process by which information, ideas and narratives around politics are transmitted and received between politicians, the media and the public and how these interactions influence perception, public opinion and shape government policy.
The key elements to consider in taking a look at political communication are therefore as follows:
- ideas
- information
- narratives
The key players in the political space are:
- Politicians
- Public Sector and Government Officials
- The Media
- Citizens
- Political Influencers
- Opinion Leaders
- Policy-makers
Role and importance of political communications
This has become more critical in recent times with the advent of social media, the internet and the smart phone. Politicians and government officials fight for airspace in the media and are seeking to control the flow of ideas, shape public opinion on issues and also seek to control the narrative in this regard.
Every government requires some level of space and support to do their job. Governance is easier when you have the trust of the people. However, unfortunately in most cases, the tone and language of communication is often aggressive, hostile, abrasive and defensive.
In many countries, there is strong polarization of debate in many cases, and the opportunity to have a constructive conversation with political players is often lost because the conversation is more likely to descend into personal insults and accusations. Political dissent is also frowned up and contrasting opinions are actively shut down on social media through bots or organized deflection campaigns. As far back as 2019, the University of Oxford in the UK issued a Global Disinformation Report, noting that the use of social media to manipulate public opinion had become a global problem.
The report found that organised social media manipulation campaigns had become prevalent in 70 countries around the world (more than doubling from 28 in 2017). This figure is likely to have increased even further by today. Regrettably, social media manipulation, misinformation, disinformation and derogatory use of language has become acceptable way of communications in politics, governance and in public sector contexts.
The question to consider in this context is why should political communication operate at a lower bar than business communication? Why should political communicators be able to use the sort of language and tone that is unacceptable in any other non-political context?
Professional Practise
A key aspect of communications is understanding how to use language, content and tone. It is possible to communicate displeasure without falling back on abuse. It is also possible to challenge a narrative or raise questions about authenticity without relying on personal insults and character assasination to prove your point.
Having to resort to all of the above as tactics to win a political argument or score a point in the political space, is like accepting that you do not have a stronger moral or logical argument so you need to appeal to emotion or sentiment rather than appeal to logic.
Populism in Political Communication
Unfortunately the appeal-to-sentiment approach in political communication has become the pattern and trend in modern day politics. This has greatly impacted on governance outcomes for the people because rather than discussing the issue, an approach of whipping up sentiment is taken. The focus is on winning at all costs rather on doing what is right for the people and the governed.
Populism unfortunately plays to the worst sentiments of the people and evokes a them vs us narrative that enrages one group of people against the other. And there are examples of this in political contexts around the world eg. Europe, Amercia, Africa, Asia etc.
According to research carried out by by Michael Hameleers, Carsten Reinemann, Desiree Schmuck, and Nayla Fawzi in 2019 (The Persuasiveness of Populist Communication) – populism content and narratives can be very persuasive and sway large groups of people in one direction.
Unfortunately, it does nothing to solve real world problems. Neither is there any evidence that it delivers any benefits other than to enable winning of elections and help ambitious politicians and political powers to attain power at the expense of the rage of the people.
Acceptable Tone In Political Communication
An acceptable tone in political communication should be like what obtains everywhere else. Factual, respectful, sharing independently verifiable content, demonstrating care, control and commitment with empathy where necessary. Decisive and firm without being rude or abrasive. Acknowledging divergent opinions, stating the facts and communicating the official position and perspective in a respectful manner.
Way Forward
The challenge of political communication in 2025 and beyond is how to increase media literacy and civil education within all demographic groups and enable people to understand when political communication is manipulative and designed to evoke negative emotion and deflect constructive scrutiny and public accountability. Understanding the relationship between media and political communications systems within your local context is also key.
Communications researchers also need to begin to bring out more information to help citizens understand how to navigate the political communication system without falling victime to the manipulation of political players who understand the system and are expert at manipulating it for selfish gains. Professional bodies may also need to weigh in at some point to emphasize codes of practise for professional communicators in political and public sector contexts with a focus on safety, compliance and professionalism. Most especially citiens must begin to exert their influence more deliberately into the political communications space. The absence of global regulation and thought leadership in this space is providing room for communications malpractise that would be intolerable in any other context apart from the political or public sector space. And this is a global problem that requires global thinking to highlight the nature of the problem and what should be done going forward.
Sola Abulu & Associates (SA&A) is a strategy and communications consulting and training firm focused on enabling businesses, brands and organizations to achieve their desired objectives through strategic communications, organizational effectiveness and reputation management.
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