Political Entertainment, Digital Interaction: A Systematic Review of Politainment Studies

Öz

This study aims to reveal the general trends in the international literature concerning the increasingly prominent phenomenon of politainment within the field of political communication. Politainment refers to the production of entertaining content by political actors in an efford to reach voters, blending political messages with element of popular culture. The study focuses on academic publications to identify scholarly trends in the field of politainment. In this context, 17 English language articles indexed in Scopus, each of which includes the term “politainment” in its title, abstract or keywords and has received at least five citiations were selected for analysis. These studies were examined through descriptive analysis, with a systematic evaluation of their subjects, data collection tecniques, research contexts, platforms utilized, and key findings. In line with the study’s limitations, the finding suggest that most prominent research emphasized social media platforms especially TikTok, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) which are predominantly used for producing entertaining content to enhance political visibility. However, the communication practices observed on these platforms tend not to foster deliberative interaction with citizens; rather, they tend to reduce citizens to passive spectators. Few studies criticaly engage with the deeper implications of the politainment phenomenon.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• political communication
• politainment
• new media
• social media platforms

Siyasal Eğlence, Sayısal Etkileşim: Politainment Çalışmalarına Sistematik Bir Bakış

Öz

Bu çalışma, siyasal iletişim alanında giderek daha görünür hale gelen politainment olgusunun uluslararası literatürdeki genel eğilimlerini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır. Politainment, politik aktörlerin seçmenlere ulaşmak için eğlenceli içerikler üretmesini ve siyasal mesajlarını bu içerikler aracılığıyla sunmasını ifade etmektedir. Çalışmada, politainment alanındaki akademik eğilimleri belirlemek amacıyla literatürde yer alan yayınlar incelenmiştir. Bu kapsamda, uluslararası alan indekslerinden Scopus’ta taranan; başlık, özet veya anahtar kelimelerinde “politainment” ifadesi geçen, İngilizce dilinde yazılmış ve en az beş atıf almış 17 makale değerlendirmeye alınmıştır. Seçilen çalışmalar, betimsel analiz yöntemiyle çözümlenmiş; ele aldıkları konular, veri toplama teknikleri, araştırma bağlamları, kullanılan mecralar ve ulaştıkları temel bulgular sistematik biçimde değerlendirilmiştir.Çalışmanın sınırlılıkları doğrultusunda elde edilen bulgular, politainment araştırmalarının büyük bir bölümünün özellikle TikTok, YouTube ve X (eski adıyla Twitter) gibi sosyal medya platformlarına odaklandığını göstermektedir. Bu platformların büyük ölçüde siyasal görünürlüğü artırmak amacıyla eğlenceli içerik üretiminde kullanıldığı anlaşılmaktadır. Ancak, bu mecralarda yürütülen iletişim pratiklerinin yurttaşlarla müzakere temelli etkileşimleri teşvik etmediği; aksine, yurttaşları edilgen izleyicilere indirgediği görülmektedir. Politainment olgusunun daha derin etkilerine eleştirel biçimde eğilen çalışmaların ise oldukça sınırlı olduğu dikkat çekmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• siyasal iletişim
• politainment
• yeni medya
• sosyal medya platformları

Kaynakça

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