This long-term project focuses on the interaction between political actors and the political communication arena. Studies in this area look at actor-related changes in the political and political communication arenas (political personalization) and their effects on actors’ performance, and at the role of actor-related characteristics in the competition over the political communication arena (charisma; affective priming).
Relevant Publications
Sheafer, T. (2001). Charismatic Skill and Media Legitimacy: An Actor-Centered Approach to Understanding the Political Communication Competition. Communication Research, 28(6), 711-736.
Sheafer, T., & Wolfsfeld, G. (2004). Production Assets, News Opportunities, and Publicity for Legislators: A Study of Israeli Knesset Members. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 29(4), 611-630.
Sheafer, T., & Tzionit, S. (2006). Media-Political Skills, Candidate Selection Methods and Electoral Success. Journal of Legislative Studies, 12(2), 179-197.
Wolfsfeld, G., & Sheafer, T. (2006). Competing Actors and the Construction of Political News: The Contest over Waves in Israel. Political Communication, 23(3), 333-354.
Rahat, G., & Sheafer, T. (2007). The Personalization(s) of Politics: Israel 1949-2003. Political Communication, 24(1), 65-80.
Sheafer, T. (2008). Charismatic communication skill, media legitimacy and electoral success. Journal of Political Marketing, 7(1), 1-24.
Balmas, M., & Sheafer, T. (2010). Candidate image in election campaigns: Attribute agenda setting, affective priming, and voting behavior. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22(2), 204-229.
Balmas, M., Rahat, G., Sheafer, T. & Shenhav, S. R. (forthcoming). Two Routes to Personalized Politics: Centralized and Decentralized Personalization. Party Politics.
Van Aelst, P., Sheafer, T., & Stanyer, J. (2012). The personalization of mediated political communication: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings. Journalism, 13(2) 203–220.
Balmas, M., & Sheafer, T. (2013). Leaders first, countries after: Mediated political personalization in the international arena. Journal of Communication, 63(3), 454-475.