FACETS OF POSITIVE CAMPAIGNING IN POLITICAL INTERVIEWS: AUTHENTICITY, HUMILITY AND FAIR PLAY
FACETS OF POSITIVE CAMPAIGNING IN POLITICAL INTERVIEWS: AUTHENTICITY, HUMILITY AND FAIR PLAY

Summary/Abstract: This paper looks into positive campaigning in political communication; more specifically, it tackles the way in which political contenders on the campaign trail resort to atypical self-assertion strategies like authenticity, humility and fair play in their discourse, so as to be perceived as truthful, relatable, trustworthy candidates and to form an emotional connection with potential voters. These strategies have been labelled as atypical since they are all self-effacing strategies, aiming to make the politician come across as a person just like everybody else rather than an outstanding leader endowed with exceptional qualities. In our research, we attempt to shed light on the costs and benefits of resorting to these techniques and to the ways in which candidates embed them into their discourse. The corpus covers three political interviews from the 2024 Romanian presidential elections campaign, the first round whereof was subsequently cancelled.

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