Jour 1111- Annotated Bibliography

Gurau, C, & Ayadi, N (2011) "Political communication management: The strategy of the two main candidates during the 2007 French presidential elections", Journal of Communication Management, 15, 5-22 doi: 10.1108/13632541111105222

The two authors, Calin Gurau, and Nawel Ayadi are both experts in the field of marketing who has gained credibility in that certain area. This journal article, depicts the political communication strategies using a case study approach through real life examples; two main candidates in the 2007 French presidential elections. The journal article introduces the readers/ viewers to the importance of political communication and how it is used in order to win votes. The two different types of political communication are portrayed through the article and the preferred strategy is identified. There were three different strategies outlined by the authors which were; the differentiation of the candidate within their party, the presentation of the political programme and the final confrontation between the main candidates. This was a credible journal article as the two authors use examples from the real world instead of just listing theories. Thus, these theories are applicable in actual situations and although the example is limited to two France candidates the strategies can still be encountered in most democratic systems. The article, however, loses credibility in the fact that both authors are not related to a political field. Thus, the political reasoning within the article would be opinionated losing credibility for the article.

Vogel, E (2012, May 12) Same-sex marriage separates candidates. Retrieved from http://www.lvrj.com/news/same-sex-marriage-separates-candidates-152253885.html

The author wrote the article on the Las Vegas Review Journal Article website about the separation between Candidate Mr. John Lee and Mr. Patricia Spearman. This separation occurred due to President Barack Obama’s support towards marriage equality. Mr. Lee disagrees and Mr. Spearman agrees with President Obama. The article depicts the different cultural background the two candidates hold and how this effects their decision. The article conveys both candidates’ positions and their political communication, therefore gaining credibility from the readers. Also, instead of the publishing the author’s own opinions the author only portrays the opinion of the two candidates. This is an example of a recent real life situation thus, depicts the story without being bias. The website the article is from is a commercial media where the audience are the consumers; this is different to the ABC news which is a form of public media. Thus, ABC focuses on the announcement of the President delivering solely facts about the situation unlike this article where it depicts a political fight. This is due to the fact that commercial media focuses more on producing ‘entertainment’ for the readers, therefore, this article loses more credibility compared to public media, ABC news.

  

O’Malley, N (2012 May 11). Obama finally comes out with views on gay marriage. The Age, p.8

The article portrays the fact that president Obama has been escaping in presenting his support towards gay marriage in public. It states, “IT IS a surprise to no one in the US that Barack Obama supports gay marriage,” implying the fact that President Obama has been secretly supporting gay marriage. The one thing it does not state is why he has been hiding his support. This is where the author loses credibility as he says, “That's not quite clear.” The article is opinionated throughout and does not clearly justify the reason for the thoughts. Although the author talks about the political communication and the impact, it is less emphasised behind the author’s opinions. This is another commercial media portraying similar aspects to the online article stated above. This print article, however, seems to have less credibility than the online article as the author of the online article excludes his own opinion. Being bias and opinionated can loses credibility which is not a good political communication. Both articles, created different stories for more entertain the readers/ viewers around the situation and unlike the ABC News tend to focus on one or two politicians.   

Klein, R (2012) President Obama - Gay Marriage: Gay Couples 'Should Be Able to Get Married'. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQGMTPab9GQ

The ABC News presented the issue of President Barak Obama supporting same sex marriage. The News not only depicts the fact that President Obama stated that gay and lesbian couples should be treated equality, however, also focuses on the political communication and the impacts this announcement could lead to. The fact President Obama stated the announcement, not any other, earned some credibility to the news. Also, how the news is presents the views of the politicians opposing to marriage equality depicts the fact how the news presented are unbiased, thus, increasing the credibility of the source. Unlike the two previous sources, the news does not focus on the entertainment, however, it focuses on getting the right message across. This is done through the interviews with President Obama himself and neglecting any opinionated views by others. The news portrayed the importance of political communication through the conversation of the new presenters. This however never focused on one politician, instead, they presented a general view on the two sides of the issue. ABC news portray many public media values which is another reason why many viewers would chose ABC news compared to The Age or online review journal article.