For democracy, a necessary condition is openness to new political ideas. New ideas are often advanced by new political parties. New parties must rely on media to communicate with the electorate. In the process of that communication, it is inevitable that these media largely shape new parties' public image.
However, studies of new parties pay little attention to media. Vice versa, studies of media pay little attention to new parties.
As a result, we lack a full explanation of new party emergence. This hinders our understanding of the openness of democratic systems, and of their current renewal. While Vox in Spain, M5S in Italy, and AfD in Germany experience unprecedented success, we hardly know
1. how (much) news media cover new parties;
2. what factors shape that coverage;
3. how (much) that coverage facilitates new party emergence;
4. how (much) social media use facilitates new party emergence.
NEWNEWS addresses these questions by developing and testing an Integrative Framework of Political Party Gatekeeping. It adds to the literature in terms of theory (‘bringing in' media and voter perceptions) and methodology (experimental methods and data science).
The project seizes new opportunities:
-Thanks to cutting edge analytical models, it adequately tests causes and electoral effects of that coverage, taking into account agency of new parties and heterogeneity of news outlets and voters;
-Thanks to recent data collection, it encompasses all national-level new parties in 19 countries since 1950 (instead of only successful ones);
-Thanks to innovations in automated content analysis, it maps national-level coverage of these parties in various offline and online sources (instead of only newspapers).
NEWNEWS will reveal media portrayals of new parties, how these portrayals vary, and how they matter for election outcomes. This way, it will offer a novel theoretical framework, conceptualisations, operationalisations, data, and algorithms – and open up new lines of research on media and new voices.
The NEWNEWS research team of seven colleagues will include two PhD students.
How to apply:
To apply, please send a one-page CV, a one-page motivation letter, and relevant degree transcripts to date.
Send your application to Josephine.Carr@rhul.ac.uk
The closing date for applications is 15th September 2021 with the interviews scheduled for 27th and 28th September. The successful candidates may commence working with the NewNews Team during the Autumn Term or no later than 6th January 2022
A full-time Postdoctoral Researcher will also be advertised shortly.
For informal requests regarding the project please email JoostvanSpanje@rhul.ac.uk (available after 9th August 2021)
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