Political Communication, the Media

& the “Creation” of a Leader

Eleni Kioumi

MA in Communication Policy Studies – City University London, UK

Member of the board and representative of the Public Relations Association of Northern Greece
Smirnis 14, 55236 Panorama Thessaloniki
Tel. +30 2310 345983
Fax. +30 2310 341835
Email: elenikioumi@gmail.com, kioumiel@otenet.gr

Refereed paper presented to the

4th International Political Marketing Conference
Sinaia, Romania
19 April – 21 April 2007
 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

ABSTRACT. Political communication and political marketing techniques are

nowadays an important part of every political campaign, in national or local level, in

most of the contemporary western democracies. The influence of the public opinion is

a primary goal of every political communication campaign. Given the fact that the

media are the main source of information for the majority of the public, they play a

crucial role in most of the campaigns, especially those in national level. In Greece the

use of political communication consultants has developed radically the last few years,

a fact that will also be thoroughly presented.

[Keywords: political communication, political marketing, media, Greek elections,

media use in campaign periods, political communication in Greece.]

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Introduction

Political communication is nowadays one of the most crucial elements for

politicians and political parties. Political communication advisors play an important

role in the effective leadership activities of a modern democratic country. It is a fact

that most political actors, in national or local level, consult on a permanent basis

political communication companies, which in turn develop strategies based on the

person’s or party’s needs. Given the rate of media penetration, particularly television,

their importance should be obvious for political communication advisors.

The link between media and political communication is much more evident during

an election period, when all the attention is focused on politicians, political parties,

their positions, and their actions. Generally, though, apart from election periods,

media are able to promote, construct and even destroy the profile of a leader and/or

governmental policies.

Greece doesn’t seem to be an exception in either of the cases suggested above. It

seems that the role of the media and political communication has in fact become more

crucial throughout the years.

At first, political communication was largely connected by the public to the

attraction of media attention, publicity and advertising. Nowadays, most election

campaigns in Greece are planned in detail, according to the principles of one, or

segments of numerous, political marketing strategy. Furthermore, the influence of

political communication advisors has evolved and is beginning to affect leadership

activities.

Despite the fact that the role of political communication consultants in leadership

activities can be characterised as highly controversial, it is unrealistic to suggest that

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

such phenomena can not be identified in recent Greek administrations, national or

local.

In this paper we will try to explain in what ways political communication

techniques, especially those that involve media, are affecting political campaigns and

the creation of the profile of a leader. First, we shall present the social environment of

contemporary political communication. Second, basic terms in political

communication and political marketing will be explained, along with the presentation

of techniques and strategies. Third, the special role of the media will be determined in

relation to political communication and election campaigns. Next, we will present the

Greek phenomenon, namely how and in what extend do political communication

advisors in Greece use the media. Finally, the case of a Greek politician and candidate

in the local elections in 2006 will highlight recent evolutions in the field of political

communication in local elections in Greece.

The social environment of contemporary political communication

Political communication can not be characterised as a recent phenomenon.

Politicians around the world have always had a type of political communication

consultant, in the form of someone trustful to give them advices and make

suggestions. Even though main characteristics and techniques have changed radically,

the fact is that political communication has always been there. The political

communication consultant of our time may be totally different from a consultant from

another age, but his importance could be considered higher.

The social, technological, economic, political changes have very much affected

the practice of political communication. According to Blumler and Kavanagh (1999)

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recent social trends, such as modernization – social fragmentation and the emergence

of identity politics; individualization – emphasis on the personal needs and reduced

interest for politics; secularization – decreased status of politicians and party loyalty;

economization – increased power of economic factors that now may influence the

political agenda and other social areas; aestheticization – people are more

preoccupied with image, fashion and style; rationalization – everything is based on

research and the use of techniques; and “mediatization” – increased influence of the

media – have a strong effect on political communication.

Another key notion of contemporary political communication and election

campaigning that question many scholars (Kavanagh, 1995, Negrine, 1996, Swanson

and Mancini, 1996, Negrine and Papathanassopoulos, 1996, Blumler and Gurevitch,

2001) is “Americanization”, which supports the idea of a leading country, based on

the fact that most political communication strategies originate in the US. The

particular notion may not be quite new, but “it has gained greater currency as the mass

media, and television in particular, have moved to centre stage in social and political

life”, (Negrine, 1996, p.149).

For Blumler and Gurevitch (2001, p.380), the notion “Americanization” is

globalization’s “junior brother”. Swanson and Mancini (1996, p.4) define the term

based on the hypothesis that “campaigning in democracies around the world is

becoming more and more Americanized as candidates, political parties, and news

media take cues from their counterparts in the United States. Many campaign methods

and practices that have been adopted by other countries developed first in the United

States, so Americanization suggests itself as an easy characterization of this pattern of

innovation. The appropriateness of the term is contested, however, by some who argue

that surface similarities obscure important national adaptations and variations”.

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It is a fact that there are similarities in the political communication practices in the

countries that they are used. We may also stress that most of the practices first appear

and develop in the US. All these, of course, do not imply that we are facing a

complete imitation of American practices. The cultural, political and legal differences

between the countries lead to the adaptation of practices according to each country’s

characteristics. Campaigning practices may present similarities but they couldn’t be

exactly the same. (Blumler and Gurevitch, 2001)

As a general comment we will state that the notion of Americanization can not

fully describe or explain the changes in the field of political communication. In fact,

scholars tend to discard this notion as highly controversial and oversimplified. For

instance, Plasser’s, Sheucher’s and Senft’s (1999) research tries to examine whether

there is a European style of political marketing and if so, how it has evolved.

Probably, the most important similarity is the actual use of political communication

and political marketing in every election campaign in most of the developed and

developing countries. Still, the techniques and practices are employed according to

the special characteristics and needs of each country.

Discarding the notion of Americanization, Swanson and Mancini (1996) suggest

that the more general process of “modernization”, which as we stated is also adopted

by Blumler and Kavanagh (1999), is primarily responsible for the changes.

Modernization is responsible for developments and changes in the society that go far

beyond politics or communication. Consequently, “the more advanced is the process

of modernization in a country, the more likely we are to find innovations in

campaigning being adopted and adapted”, (Swanson and Mancini, 1996, p.6). Let us

now see how modernization relates to political communication.

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A structural characteristic of modernization is the increasing social complexity. By

that we mean the intense procedure of social differentiation and fragmentation and the

development of citizens’ identities. As we have already seen the creation of social

groups affects the political process leading to the decrease of party loyalty and the

personalization of politics, with emphasis on politicians rather than parties. Media,

also, play a significant role in this evolution. Especially television favours and

promotes personalization, a fact evident in every contemporary political

advertisement. (Mancini and Swanson, 1996) “Increasing social complexity and its

associated transformations in politics and government and in the status of mass media

produce what amounts to an epochal change in all spheres of community life that

formerly performed political function” (Mancini and Swanson, 1996, p.12)

The key elements of modern, or modernized, campaigning, according to Swanson

and Mancini (1996) are: the personalization of politics; the “scientificization” of

politics, a term first used by Habermas in the 1960s and is related to the increasing

role of political communication consultants, advertisers and technical experts, which

resulted to a candidate centered campaign; the detachment of parties from citizens,

and; the autonomous structures of communication. Modern media are more powerful,

more independent and more focused on their interests and needs. This makes

politicians more depended on them, since the media set the issues of the agenda.

Media are also responsible for the last element of modern campaigning, which is

spectatorship instead of citizenship. This is highly connected to infotainment and the

fact that contemporary campaigns are seen as spectacles, rather than part of the

political and democratic process.

So far we have determined the social environment in which political

communication has evolved. This environment seems to apply to most of the western

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democracies, developed and developing. Next, we shall present the ways the new

environment affects political communication and the techniques and strategies of

political marketing.

Political communication and political marketing:

Techniques & Strategies

Political communication, a “purposeful communication about politics” according

to McNair (2003, p.4), and political marketing techniques and strategies have

experienced several evolutions throughout the years and given the social changes.

According to Blumler and Kavanagh (1999, p.213) political communication is

now at its Third Age. This new age is still emerging and “is marked by the

proliferation of the main means of communication, media abundance, ubiquity, reach,

and celebrity”. The multiplication of television channels and radio stations – with

cable and satellite technology, and the still evolving digitization of the signal – as well

as the multiplication of television and radio sets in houses and cars made it possible

that people constantly receive vast information. Computers and the Internet made it

even easier for the circulation of ideas, political news and messages. Blogs and social

networks are a whole new platform for the politicians and their advisors.

This new circumstances led to the emergence of a more complicated political

communication form. Politicians and journalists were forced to keep up with the

continuous news creation, they had to comment on or present. Blumler and Kavanagh

(1999) distinguish five trends that could reshape political communication during this

age.

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First is the Intensified Professionalization of Political Advocacy. As we have

already stated, politicians and political parties become even more depended on

political communication professionals, mostly to manage the media and avoid their

constant pressure. In an era, where the control of the media messages that will be

delivered to the audience is crucial and political actors try to remain in public eye, we

may easily adopt the notion of the “permanent campaign”, which we will present in

the next chapter. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999, Nimmo, 1999)

Second, the new circumstances led to Increased Competitive Pressures. Even

though, in Europe the existence of public television may partly ensure equal media

presentation for all subjects, the fact is that private media seem to prefer programmes

like talk shows and tabloid news, rather than political conversations. The emergence

of “infotainment” has changed the way politicians present themselves and their

arguments. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

All this resulted to the third trend, Anti-Elitist Popularization and Populism. The

public sphere is much more different than what it used to be. The language and the

presentation of news have been altered, so that they are closer to the language and the

experiences of everyday people. This development had its own effect on political

communication, since messages should be adapted to what ordinary people find

interesting, engaging and accessible. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

Fourth, Centrifugal Diversification is the result of the multiplication of channels

and the fragmentation of the audience. Everyone has a chance to be heard. Politicians,

with the help of political communication consultants, must be very careful on how,

when, how often and where they express their opinion. Political messages are very

carefully distributed and declared, and some times need to be focused on a special

group. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

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Fifth and final, the Audience Reception of Politics is utterly different than what it

used to be. According to what we have already presented, the media messages

regarding political issues, and not only, have experienced multiple alterations. This of

course changed the way the audience perceives political messages that are now more

negative, sensational and populistic. (Blumler and Kavanagh, 1999)

Based on the above, we have tried to define political communication and identify

the main characteristics that shape the form of political communication in our age. We

shall now come to the presentation of key features of political marketing and its

strategies.

Many scholars (Kotler and Kotler, 1999, Scammel, 1995, Johansen, 2005) identify

a close relation between political marketing and marketing in the business field.

Businesses give out products and services and they take money and costumer loyalty

in return. In campaigns, politicians give out promises, favours and policy preferences

in exchange for votes or contributions. (Kotler and Kotler, 1999) Even though there

are obvious similarities between political and business marketing, there are also many

differences. Political marketing may indeed apply techniques based on business

marketing, but there is always a political basis. (Scammel, 1995) In addition to that, in

politics, characteristics such as emotions, conflicts, beliefs and partisanship are highly

important, while they do not exist in the business field. As we have seen before, today

people seem to show limited interest in politics and politicians, therefore political

marketing strategists examine ways and techniques to attract the public’s attention.

Politicians, with help from their consultants, need to build an attractive image for the

voters and keep their attention with messages that interest them. (Kotler and Kotler,

1999)

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Media, as we have already stated, seem to be an important part of our social

environment and it is obvious that they play an important role to every political

communication campaign and political marketing strategy. We can determine that this

is the case by taking a glance at the strategies suggested by Kotler and Kotler (1999)

and Stamatis (2005), which are similar.

According to Kotler and Kotler (1999), there are six stages in a political marketing

strategy. First is the Environmental Research. This stage is very important since it sets

the basis for the development of the strategy. In this phase we examine the state of the

economy, the mood, the demographics and the critical concerns and issues of the

electorate. Another environmental factor is the “personality” or profile of an electoral

district. It is very important for the politician to know all the characteristic of the

electorate and its environment in a district, so he is always advised to invest money

and time in this stage.

The second stage is the Internal and External Assessment Analysis. It defines the

candidate’s, the campaign organization’s and the opponent’s strengths and

weaknesses. It also discovers the possible opportunities and threats for a campaign or

a candidate. Next, at the third stage, comes the Strategic Marketing. At this point, the

different voter segments are identified and it is determined which of these segments

will be primarily targeted. Additionally, the candidate is positioned in relation to his

opponent. According to this positioning his strategist will then construct his image

and the concept of his campaign. This process will continue in the fourth stage, Goal

Setting and Campaign Strategy, where the personal style of the candidate is

developed, related to issues and policy preferences. Furthermore, a set of messages is

build and transmitted, based on the politician’s image and the campaign’s philosophy.

(Kotler and Kotler, 1999)

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The fifth stage, Communication, Distribution, and Organization Plan, entails the

use of marketing tools, such as advertising and publicity. At this point, the candidate

decides upon issues relevant to fundraising, media appearances, personal contacts and

allocation of his resources. Finally, at the sixth stage, Key Markets and Outcomes, the

candidate’s key markets, for example the voters and the donors, are reached and his

media exposure and publicity are planned. (Kotler and Kotler, 1999) “In this final

stage, the candidate and his or her campaign organisation are focused on outcomes –

the number of messages necessary to mobilise voter turnout, the number of votes

needed in the various precincts of an electoral district, and so on”, (Kotler and Kotler,

1999, p.10).

The plan proposed by Stamatis (2005), a Greek political communication

consultant is quite similar to Kotler’s and Kotler’s (1999). He also suggests as a first

step, an environmental research, which will identify the strengths, the weaknesses, the

opportunities, the threats and the problems for the completion of a successful

campaign. The next step is the creation of the image of the political actor, the

positioning and the allocation of the campaign funds. The main goal is to attract the

attention, to create interest, to stimulate desire, to convince and lastly, to act in favour

of the political actor. The third step is the formation of the messages based on the

preceding steps. At the fourth step the timetable for every move is set and the budget

is decided. At the final and fifth step, there is the quantitative and qualitative

evaluation of the actions taken.

One of the most crucial elements for a successful political communication strategy

is political advertising in all of its forms. Political advertisements, as all other

advertisements, have a main purpose, which is to inform the public. During an

election period, people are called to make rational choices based on the information

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given by journalists and advertisements. Political advertising offers an idea about

“who is standing and what they are offering the citizenry in policy terms”, (McNair,

2003, p.98). Additionally, negative advertising is part of every contemporary political

campaign and has as its main purpose to undermine the opponent. It is indicative that

30% to 50% of all political advertising produced could be described as negative,

especially in the US. (Johnson-Cartee and Copeland, 1991) The case is the same in

the UK.

After the theoretical background of political communication and political

marketing we shall now present the leading role of contemporary media.

The Media

So far we have several times underlined the importance of contemporary media

for the society, and political communication, of course. The effects after the

emergence of television and the wide spread of mass media were obvious since the

1980s, at least. Scholars (Trent and Friedenberg, 1983, Lang and Lang, 1984)

identified the power of contemporary media and its influence on politics, a fact that

was also recognised by most academics studying political communication (Kavanagh,

1995, Negrine, 1996, Swanson and Mancini, 1996, Negrine and Papathanassopoulos,

1996, Papathanassopoulos, 1999, Blumler and Gurevitch, 2001, Chairetakis, 2002,

Demertzis, 2002, Palmer, 2002, Papathansopoulos, 2002). Lang and Lang (1984,

p.13) recognised, that “although television could be used for elevating the political

consciousness of the public, many feared that politics would now be marketed much

like toothpaste”. Perhaps this is not exactly the case, but it did show that technology

has very much affected the way campaigns are conducted.

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The media abundance has affected politics in many ways. Nowadays there is a

wide range of information and sources of information that enable citizens to choose

the information closer to their beliefs and needs. The constant flow of information led

to a frequent change of issues and themes that interest the public. Politicians have to

be well prepared in order to stay in public eye. They have to work hard to maintain a

certain image, from their opinion on different issues till their clothes and gestures. The

formats in which political information and issues are presented through the media are

different than what it used to be. This includes “the depth or detail of presentation, the

employment of tabloid and entertainment styles, and the relative uses of narrative,

analysis, and ideology”, (Bennett and Entman, 2001, p.6). In addition to these, there is

a need for a balance in the political messages between the social and the personal

identity. Finally, in this era, the way citizens engage with and communicate their

reactions to political messages they have received from the media is far more direct

and interactive, especially after the emergence of new information technologies, such

as the Internet. (Bennett and Entman, 2001)

The time when politicians had the power to control the content of public, then,

media is long gone. Today, some media industries are international and more powerful

than ever. Scholars tend to characterise contemporary politics as mediated (Bennett

and Entman, 2001), since political communication techniques are partly, if not

principally, focused on the management of the media in order to reach, inform and

form public opinion, for example on issues and policies. During an election period the

need to shape part of the media content is a primary goal for the professional political

communication consultants. A political communication strategy is considered to be

successful when a candidate has enough media attention, through advertising, but also

news coverage, and can still preserve the interest of the public without becoming

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tiresome. Citizens these days seem to have limited interest in policies and political

information, a situation that led to the evolution of infotainment, which is informing

with means borrowed from entertainment. As a result political actors try to create new

ways to attract the public’s attention.

We have several times presented the key characteristics of our time. Notions like

the growing professionalisation in the political communication field, the dominance

of populistic politics, the multiplication of media outlets and the constant information

flow through 24-hour television and radio channels and the Internet, have been

already introduced. “Modern elections have become mass-media elections”,

(Kavanagh, 1995, p.39).

We have identified the key notions of our era related to political communication

and the media. Next, we will see how all these have embodied in the Greek reality.

Political Communication and the Media in Greece

i. Historical background

The political environment in Greece transformed utterly after the political

changeover in 1974 with the elimination of the dictatorship, king’s Constantine pieta,

and the establishment of a constitutional democracy. Nowadays, the Greek citizens

elect a new government every four years along with 300 parliamentary representatives

from all over the country, according to the population of each prefecture. (Greek

Constitution) After the 1980s the two largest political parties claiming the office are

PASOK (the Greek Socialist Party) and Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy, the

conservative party). Other parties that usually elect representatives are KKE, the

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Greek communist party, Synaspismos (Coalescence), another left party, and recently

LAOS, an extreme conservative party.

Political communication also first appeared around that time. (Demertzis, 2002)

The politicians’ image was ever since important. The two central political figures of

the first period on the re-established Greek democracy were Constantine Karamanlis,

leader of the conservative party, and Andreas Papandreou, leader of the socialist party.

They were responsible for the foundation of New Democracy and PASOK

respectively. Karamanlis presented the profile of the stable and traditional political

leader, while Papandreou represented change and reform. These differences between

the two politicians were obvious from the way they addressed to the public till their

clothes. Characteristically, Karamanlis seemed unapproachable and preferred classic

suits, while Papandreou had a more popular profile and wore high necked pullovers,

jeans and hardly ever ties. In general, the first was an icon for the old generation and

the latter a representative of the younger generation. Both of them probably had some

kind of political advisor. They both had experience from the political situation in other

countries, and Papandreou in particular was familiar with the political system in the

US. Therefore we may easily assume that they might have been partly influenced by

other political communication practices.

It is very difficult to determine when politicians turned to political communication

professionals. Most of them have always had volunteers and supporters willing to

assist them in anyway. The application of political communication techniques and

political marketing strategies by professionals is a phenomenon of the last years.

Political parties, and politicians in the capital, acknowledged the use of political

communication practices much earlier than politicians from other smaller cities, more

likely due to the highest competition.

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Coming now to the media, the Greek television market was a public monopoly

until 1989, when the first private channels appeared. Until then, newspapers had a

large influence to the citizens. The liberalisation and privatisation of the media market

and the end of the state monopoly supposedly would ensure plurality and information

diversity. But, as it happened in most of the other countries, in Greece the media are

owned and controlled by powerful businessmen that use them according to their

interests. The relationship between media and politics in Greece has always been very

close and it will be presented in a following section. The importance of the use of

political communication became even more essential due to the new media

environment.

The changes in the media market and the establishment of television as the leading

medium in Greece assisted in the growth of political communication businesses.

Political advertising, televised debates and political talk-shows made it essential for

politicians and political parties to create and establish their image that would not

conflict with the trends first presented in television.

After these historical background information we shall now present the current

status of political communication in Greece, with information provide by the Greek

political communication consultants, Mr. George Flessas, Mr. Spiros Rizopoulos, Mr.

George Stamatis and Mr. Antonis Zairis.

ii. Current status: Media environment

As we have indicated several times political communication in Greece is at a much

earlier stage than in other countries, such as the US and Britain. This fact may be

responsible for the confusion around the role and the work of political communication

consultants. According to Mr. Flessas (04.07.2006), the last few years large parties

and well-known politicians prefer and acknowledge the work of professional political

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communication consultants. “People understand that there is the right person for every

job. When they don’t feel well they go to a doctor. When they have a legal problem or

they need to make a contract they go to a lawyer. When they need a planned and

organised political image they should address to a professional political

communication consultant” (George Flessas, 04.07.2006).

Let us next examine the close relationship between politics, and politicians in

particular, with the Greek media. Media owners are considered to be the most

influential people now in Greece. It is indicative that most Greek media owners are

principally successful in other fields. For instance, Ch. Mpompolas, one of the co-

owners of the Mega Channel and one newspaper, has a constructing business and V.

Vardinogiannis, another co-owner of the same station, has a large shipping company

and is involved in several other companies. The owner of ANT1 television channel

and radio stations, M. Kyriakou, has also a shipping company, a record firm and is

involved in other businesses and organisations. Finally, D. Kontominas, the owner of

Alpha channel, is also the owner of a large insurance company and has interests in

other companies. And these are the largest national television channels in Greece.

It is highly questionable why these people, who own very successful businesses in

other fields, choose to own a television channel or any media firm, which has limited

economic profit in a small market. The fact is that by owning media, e.g. television,

radio, newspapers, magazines, Internet portals, publishing firms, the Greek

businessmen primarily aim in exercising pressure on politicians. This pressure, or its

possibility, is extremely important and useful when they want to obtain a public

contract of large economic value for another of their companies. The ability to shape

public opinion seems to be a quite helpful business tool for the Greek media

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proprietors and television is the leading medium for such purposes.

(Papathanassopoulos, 1999, Papathanassopoulos, 2001)

According to this model, Greek politicians may be manipulated by the economic

powers they helped to be developed. The government seems to be unable to control

the large private stations, but the stations are able to affect the work of politicians and

governmental officials. Of course, even if they do have the power, media owners

hardly ever, actually, harass politicians, since they have great interests coming from

public constructing contracts and other public affairs. Still, politicians try not to

provoke them and they prefer their other businesses for the public contracts. This

balance forms the quality of information and the public opinion in Greece. (Sims,

2003, Papathanassopoulos, 2001)

We can easily conclude that Papathanassopoulos (2001) identifies that the

relationship between political actors and media owners is based on the principal of

‘give and take’. In the small Greek media market the media owners are actually able

to use the media businesses in order to succeed the goals of their other businesses. “It

is obvious that Greek media owners want to have the means to put pressure on

politicians because of the huge financial interests they hold, such as

telecommunications, shipping, refining, etc. […] This is due to the structure of the

Greek economy, in which the state plays a much larger role than in developed

capitalist countries and so many important decisions affecting entrepreneurs rest in the

hands of politicians” (Papathanassopoulos, 2001, p.519).

In addition to all the above and given the relationship between media owners and

the media, we may easily understand the close relationship between politicians and

journalists. Greek journalism has changed radically after 1989. Journalists, who were

considered neutral, critical, objective and independent, are actually market oriented,

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and part of the entertainment industry with television leading the way. Regarding now

their relations to politicians, as Papathanassopoulos (2001, p.513-514) argues, most

Greek journalists “have aligned themselves to political parties and are very close to

becoming active politicians themselves. […] In a country where politics and the

media maintain a very close relationship, politics has not been a terra incognita for

Greek journalists, nor can one distinguish journalism from politics or vice versa”. It is

indicative that a lot of former well-known journalists become members of the

parliament or governmental officials, such as Theodore Roussopoulos the

government’s spokesman, and others work for politicians or a party while maintaining

a job in a newspaper and/or a television channel.

As a general conclusion, we may state that journalists in Greece represent and

defend the interests of the party and the politicians they are affiliated with, while the

media proprietors use their media in order to profit from their other businesses.

iii. Current status: Political Communication

Political communication consultants in Greece are well aware of the contemporary

media environment and the existing inter-relations. All political communication

consultants that were interviewed acknowledge the importance of having close

personal relationships with journalists. Characteristically, Mr. Flessas stated that in

Greece the relations between politicians and the media are weird, because “the low

level of journalists’ ethics leads politicians to compromises in exchange to publicity.

Politicians are then media ‘hostages’ by either withholding their true positions or

adjusting them to what the media and the journalists expect to hear so that they don’t

come to direct conflict of opinions and remain popular. By that they ensure media

attention and invitations to good television panels” (our translation: George Flessas,

04.07.2006).

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

At this point we should make a very significant separation. In a small country like

Greece where large national media are based in the capital there are important

differences in political communication practices for politicians that are elected in

small districts than those in the capital. This distinction was highlighted by all the

consultants interviewed. Even though we could suggest that these differences do exist,

there are also examples to support the opposite. For instance, the Ionian Islands

elected as their representative in the 2004 national elections a former actress and wife

of a famous Greek singer, Angela Gerekou, while the former Minister of Agriculture

and candidate in the same prefecture for many years, George Drys, lost his place in

the Greek parliament.

“Greece is a country where the image is more important than the essence”. This

was stated by Mr. Stamatis during his interview (05.07.2006), but he pointed out that

this only relates to some cases. Still, it is indicative that in elections people prefer

politicians that are one way or another famous or have an attractive image. For

example, Panagiotis Fassoulas, former basketball player, and Elena Koundoura,

former model, were both elected as representatives, even if they had no prior relation

to politics, just because they were well-known public figures. Mr. Rizopoulos

(05.07.2006) also acknowledged the importance of image, while Mr. Flessas

(04.07.2006) indicated that in Greece “politicians confuse politics with life style”. The

star system in Greece is very much influential not only in the capital, but in other

cities. Except from Mrs. Gerekou in Corfu, Thessaloniki, the second largest Greek

city, has developed a tradition of electing attractive women as representatives, such as

Elena Rapti, and famous people, such as John Ioannidis, a former basketball player

and basketball coach. It seems that political parties encourage the candidacies of well-

known people, such as actors, models, athletes, since they ensure media attention with

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

low cost, or even no cost at all. Still, according to Mr. Zairis (05.07.2006), behind an

attractive image there should be essence in order for the politician to hold a position.

Even if well-known people are most likely to get elected, in the majority of small

cities and other regions than the capital, media have limited influence regarding the

promotion of local representatives. Political communication consultants state that in

these cases the most essential form of communication is the personal contact with the

voters, as indicated by Mr. Zairis, Mr. Stamatis and Mr. Flessas.

Another key characteristic of the Greek political scene, identified by Mr. Zairis

(05.07.2006), is that politics has evolved to a ‘heritable business’. The access to

parliament and a government position is much easier for the relatives of older

politicians. The most indicative example is that both the leaders of the two largest

parties in Greece, New Democracy and PASOK, namely Kostas Karamanlis and

George Papandreou, are respectively nephew and son of the founders of these parties.

One of the main reasons for the preceding characteristics of Greek politics could

be the fact that it is not very easy for most candidates to gather adequate funds to

compete with other candidates that already have access to the media, one way or

another, especially in the capital. The campaign funding problem has also occupied

the Greek parliament several times. Many representatives raised questions regarding

campaign funds. (http://www.parliament.gr/ergasies/showfile.asp?file=Es010222.txt)

Most of them acknowledge that their expenses are more than what the law and the

constitution foresee.

Political communication consultants acknowledge this fact and even though they

suggest the use of a strategy that contemplates all forms of communication, such as

advertising, public relations and personal contacts, they are forced to shape their plan

according to the candidate’s needs and funding abilities. It is a fact that for candidates

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

in the capital the cost of an election campaign is larger than the cost for a candidate in

another region. In Greece media are preferred by the parties, especially for political

advertising, while politicians depend on other promotional techniques, such as

posters, banners, leaflets, and rarely radio ads. Therefore we should state that political

communication consultants adopt different strategies depending on whether they

represent a person or a party. Generally, parties have the ability to spend larger

amounts of money for a campaign, while politicians individually have limited funds.

All consultants stressed a few focal points of every political communication

strategy. First, all forms of communication should be used in a well planned campaign

strategy, but always according to the economic ability of the party or the politician.

They identified that it is much more difficult for a young person to enter the political

scene, especially if he has no political family background or if he is not part of the star

system. Second, it is best if a party or a politician has well developed and strong

media relations. Even politicians in smaller regions need their names to be heard by

the local, and even better, the national media. A consultant needs to be prepared to

provide the right news to the media. This situation is also valid for parties; along with

their organised advertising strategy in all the media, there is the need for strong and

carefully planned media relations.

We have thoroughly presented the contemporary political communication and

media environment in Greece, based on recent examples from the last national

elections in 2004 and on the knowledge and experience of well-known Greek political

communication professionals. Next, we shall examine the case Mr. Karamanis, who

was a candidate for Prefect of Pella in Northern Greece in the local elections in

Greece in 2006. His campaign was very successful and he is determined to use his

political communication advisor in other leadership activities.

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

The case of Michael Karamanis:

The “creation” of a leader

Michael Karamanis, Prefect in the Prefecture of Pella in Northern Greece, was

elected in October 2006 with a significant difference from his opponent. Before we

present the most important steps of his campaign, let us provide some background

information.

Mr. Karamanis was elected as a member of the council of Pella’s Prefecture in

1998, and after the resignation of the Prefect in 2000, he replaced him for the rest of

his incumbency. In 2002 he was candidate for Prefect as a representative of PASOK,

which was then governing the country. At that time, Mr. Karamanis choose to

disregard most of the strategic moves suggested by his political communication

consultant, namely Mrs. Anastasia Tsochantaridou, and lost the elections. Most of the

Greek politicians blame their consultants for any loses, especially in the local

elections. Mr. Karamanis acknowledged the fact that he held the largest part of the

responsibility for the course of his campaign, since he wouldn’t accept the strategic

advices from the consultant.

Before the local elections in 2006 Mr. Karamanis consulted his political

communication advisors, namely Mrs. Anastasia Tsochantaridou and Mrs. Elpida

Simeonidou, on whether he should be candidate given the political scene in the

Prefecture of Pella. Mr. Karamanis was again supported by PASOK, which was now

the opposition, and his opponent by the New Democracy, the party that was now in

government. The candidate supported by New Democracy wasn’t accepted by many

of his fellow members of the party in Pella and that was one important factor in

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

favour of Mr. Karamanis. It is indicative that some actually expressed their support to

Mr. Karamanis in public.

It is a fact that the people who were in Mr. Karamanis’ political coalition were

very carefully selected to ensure unity. As we have seen, and as political

communication advisors indicated, it is extremely important for politicians in Greece

to have good personal contacts. In the case we are presenting, the candidate developed

personal contacts with members of the opposing party, important members of the

society that were campaign contributors, owners of local media and, of course, simple

people. As Mrs. Tsochantaridou underlined, people in small cities all know each other,

and is very important to befriend the right people who can support the candidate in

many levels. The people of Pella sympathised Mr. Karamanis for some personal

problems he had experienced and due to the fact that he has always been friendly and

easy to talk to.

The candidate’s campaign was based on political alliances and a very good

advertising program. His presence in local television channels was carefully selected

and seldom. Still, his policy suggestions and thoughts were frequently published in

the local press, with articles and interviews. Banners and leaflets were strategically

designed and distributed. It is indicative that two leaflets were designed, from which

the one targeted only young people and was thought to be the most successful one.

Mr. Karamanis, with the assistance from his political communications consultants,

succeeded in building the profile of a friendly, approachable and decisive leader, who

was able to distinguish and solve the problems of the people and the Prefecture of

Pella. His victory was correctly predicted by the poll that took place one month before

the elections. In fact the results after the elections gave Mr. Karamanis a clear lead of

10% from his opponent.

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

The new Prefect of Pella, Michael Karamanis, acknowledged that political

communication techniques and the construction of a political marketing startegy is

very important during an election period. Political communication is a crucial factor

of the contemporary democratic process and the application of political

communication techniques are needed even after an election period, especially when

the candidate aims to build a successful political career. Given this fact, Mr.

Karamanis expressed interest in consulting his political communication advisors often

as a Prefect, especially in important issues.

Conclusion

We may easily suggest that political communication and the media are closely

related. It is extremely important for the successful completion of a political

marketing strategy the proper use of the media, regardless it involves a party or a

person. Many well-known politicians were characterized as leaders after the careful

management of their profile by political communication specialists. The most

indicative example is Lady Margaret Thatcher, who with the assistance of Saatchi &

Saatchi changed utterly her outside appearance and “created” the Iron Lady. A most

recent case is G. W. Bush, whose political communication consultant Karl Rove

prepared a careful campaign for the nomination for the presidency and after the

nomination the campaign that led to the White House. Bush was in the eyes for

millions of Americans, and for many still is, an ideal leader. The example of the new

American president, Barack Obama, should also be mentioned, although it hasn’t

been examined earlier in this paper.

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

Coming now to the case of Greece, there are several social factors that largely

affect the nature of Greek political communication. Indicative is the fact that the bond

between Greek media, politicians and political parties is very strong. It is commonly

acknowledged that politicians and parties rely heavily on their affiliation with certain

media. The emergence of private television has strengthened this relation. These

evolutions influenced political communication in Greece. Political communication,

political marketing and political advertising are part of every party’s campaign.

Politicians in the capital and most of the other regions depend highly on their

professional political communication advisors. Still, the notion of permanent

campaign is not part of the Greek campaign reality. Parties and politicians, according

to the political communication professionals interviewed, are not ready yet to realize

the importance of permanent campaign.

The nature of the relations between the political scene and the media lead to the

point where a great deal of political communication plans depends heavily on the

media relations, especially if the client is a large party. “A politician should know,

preserve, protect, develop and expand his personal contacts with media people, so that

he is invited to participate in political shows and panels” (our translation: George

Stamatis, 05.07.2006). It seems that for Greek political communication professionals

personal contact with people from the media and the voters is the most crucial part of

a campaign.

Political communication advisors adapt their strategies according to the needs and

goals of their client. After a careful environmental research they plan the political

communication strategy. Media are an essential part of every strategy. Television can

be used for campaign purposes largely by parties, especially when we are referring to

political advertising. Politicians individually rely on their personal contacts and the

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

contacts of their consultants to ensure media publicity. Relations with journalists or

other media people are the only way that can provide access to the media for a

candidate.

A deciding part of a candidate’s political communication campaign is the personal

contact with the voters of a region. All political communication consultants

interviewed were absolute on their statement that personal contact and discussion with

the voters is the most important practice during a campaign in Greece, especially in

smaller cities. For the Greek people the ability of personal communication with their

representatives is a decisive point for their voting behaviour.

As it seems, Mr. Karamanis understood the need to consult a political

communication specialist, who could estimate the social environment in Pella and

suggest the correct moves to build the profile of the winner. We have already stated

that he will in fact ask the assistance of political communication advisors. Perhaps this

event will signal the arrival of the notion of permanent campaign in Greece.

As a general conclusion we could state that political communication does not

actually create leaders. What it does is that it can project to the people those

characteristics of a candidate that make him the most suitable person for the position.

And in order for the elected politicians to sustain their position they would probably

need to use political communication consultants in other leadership activities. The US

and the UK are leaders in all the evolutions related to political communication, but as

it seems country like Greece, even at a local level, are following closely.

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 Eleni Kioumi: Political Communication, the Media & the “Creation” of a Leader

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Businesses Association and Lecturer in Athens University of Economics

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of ALPR Communication & Research

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Note:

The interviews were condusted as part of the dissertation for the completion of the

MA in Communication Policy Studies of Eleni Kioumi titled “The Use of the Media

by Political Communication Professionals in Greece”.

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