Electoral campaigning in a hybrid media environment

Abstract

In the current hybrid media environment, politicians have manifold opportunities to be in contact with voters during elections. Legacy news media still constitute an important campaign tool for politi- cians, but a range of social media have gained ground in electoral campaigning over the last decades as well. Against this backdrop, the aim of this study is to shed further light on politicians’ campaign practices in a hybrid communication environment, and whether the introduction of social media have introduced new dynamics into election campaigns. The study does so through a case study of Dan- ish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and opposition party leader Alex Vanopslagh’s social media campaigns and online news pres- ence during the 2022 national election. The study finds that Freder- iksen was more in the news during the election than Vanopslagh, but that social media was central in both campaigns. However, Van- opslagh was on a broader set of social media and to a greater extent capitalised on the platform affordances than Frederiksen.

Keywords

• political communication
• election campaigns
• hybrid media system
• social media
• parliamentary election