CONSTRUCTING THE POLITICAL SPECTACLE, PUBLIC AGENDA AND PUBLIC OPINION

Abstract

This volume falls into the vast literature focused on political communication and its relation to the functioning of democracy and the construction of social reality. In this paper we take over the constituents of the political spectacle identified by Murray Edelman – i.e. social issues, political leaders and opponents - and we go in depth with the way through which these political spectacle categories shape essential public opinion in deliberative democracy. But beyond the political spectacle that mobilizes the items identified by Murray Edelman, the legitimation of the political power and action is achieved by dicursive mechanisms. Throughout building political spectacle, the discourse is paramount, thus the process of identifying the role of discourse in evoking the political realities turns to be very important. Contemporary research showed that discourse is a key element, a creator of the social worlds people experience and not just a tool for describing the objective reality. Addmiting that television and Internet are part of the reality of our daily lives, we wonder how these communication platforms organize and structure the social life in terms of daily schedule and interaction, as well as background for collective perceptions.