AN INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISM NORMS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF POLITICS

In addition to providing an overview of this special issue of Politica l Communication, this introduction identifies a preliminary set of rul es that journalists use for representing politics in the news. These r ules guide news decisions in keeping with underlying journalistic norm s about the workings of politics and the role of the press in the poli tical system. Such political norms must also be reconciled with profes sional journalism norms of fairness, and with the economic norms of ef ficiency and profit that increasingly drive the news business. Reconci ling news content aimed at citizens in a democracy with traditional jo urnalism standards and entertainment values has transformed the news i tself. Increasingly sensationalistic narratives and dramatic productio n values both bridge and reflect the tensions among the various norms and practical rules that guide journalists in their daily representati ons of the political world.