Youtube and Political Communication Case study – Romanian’s Parliamentary Parties

• Main Authors: Nicoleta Grasu, Tănase Tasențe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Danubius University 2014-12-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Danubius: Communicatio
• Subjects: online political communication; social media analysis; political parties; Romania; Youtube
• Online Access: http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/communicatio/article/view/2424/2342
• ISSN: 1844-7562; 2069-0398

The study aims at examining the extent to which the parliamentary parties in Romania use YouTube in order to promote the image and the political message of the certain political party as videos. This research is focused on the videos that can be seen on the official channels of the Social Democratic Party, of the National Liberal Party and of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania. It will also be taken into consideration the grouping of the videos into categories such as: interviews, statements, public debates, official meetings, mass meetings of the party, press conferences and appearances in the media, leisure and electioneering. The research was limited by the fact that not all the parliamentary parties in Romania have an official Youtube channel and by the fact that two official channels work in the Social Media for about two years, although Romania is ranked 13th in the world among the countries with the highest download speed. This occurs in the context in which there is a Youtube channel in the United States, since 2007, where citizens were debating matters of public interest with the politician / candidate.