Table of contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

The Past and Future of Political Communication in Canada: An
Introduction / David Taras

PART I: The Changing World of Media and
Politics

1.    The Uncertain Future of the
News / Florian Sauvageau

2.    On the Verge of Total
Dysfunction: Government, Media, and Communications / Elly
Alboim

3.    Blogs and Politics /
Richard Davis

4.    The 2011 Federal Election and
the Transformation of Canadian Media and Politics / David Taras and
Christopher Waddell

5.    Berry’d Alive: The
Media, Technology, and the Death of Political Coverage /
Christopher Waddell

6.    Political Communication and
the “Permanent Campaign” / Tom Flanagan

7.    Are Negative Ads Positive?
Political Advertising and the Permanent Campaign / Jonathan
Rose

8.    E-ttack Politics: Negativity,
the Internet, and Canadian Political Partis / Tamara Small

9.    Myths Communicated by Two
Alberta Dynasties / Alvin Finkel

10.   Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: Canadian
Forces News Media Relations and Operational Security / Robert
Bergen

PART II: Citizens and Politics in Everday Life

11.   Exceptional Canadians: Biography in the Public
Sphere / David Marshall

12.   Off-Road Democracy: The Politics of Land, Water, and
Community in Alberta / Roger Epp

13.   Two Solitudes, Two Québecs, and the Cinema
In-Between / Dominique Perron

14.   Verbal Smackdown: Charles Adler and Canadian Talk
Radio / Shannon
Sampert    

15.   Contemporary Canadian Aboriginal Art: Storyworking
in the Public Sphere / Troy Patenaude

16.   Intimate Strangers: The Formal Distance Between
Music and Politics in Canada / Richard Sutherland

Final Thoughts: How Will Canadians Communicate About Politics and
the Media in 2015? / Christopher Waddell

Contributors

Index

A comprehensive, up-to-date, and probing examination of media and
politics in Canada.

Description

Over the past thirty years, the fundamental character of political discourse has been transformed. As the influence of on-the-spot TV coverage and opinion programs grew, print media—newspapers especially—began to lose their dominant position in the political landscape. More recently, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and BlackBerrys have emerged as important tools for political reporting and analysis and as platforms for the conduct of political campaigns. While the Canadian party system has proved surprisingly resilient, the rhythms of political life are now very different. A relentless, 24-hour news cycle has resulted in the “permanent” campaign. The implications of this new political style and its impact on political discourse are issues vigorously debated in this new volume of How Canadians Communicate, as is the question on every politician's mind: How can we draw a generation of digital natives into the current political dialogue?