Political Communication Focus Area

The Department of Communication at the University of Missouri features a national and internationally known political communication faculty, whose study of politics and communication encompasses the communicative activity of citizens, individual political figures, governmental institutions, the media, political campaigns, advocacy groups, and social movements.

The Faculty

Mitchell McKinney
Research: presidential debates, political campaigns, media and politics, and presidential rhetoric.

Department Focus Areas

Focus Areas:
   Interpersonal Communication
   Organizational Communication
   Mass Communication
   Political Communication

Books

Communicating Politics: Engaging the Public in Democratic Life

The Millennium Election

Civic Dialogue in the
1996 Presidential Campaign

The 1992 Presidential Debates in Focus

Select Recent Publications

McKinney, M. S., & Rill, L. A. (2009). Who framed Sarah Palin: Viewer reactions to the 2008 vice presidential debate. American Behavioral Scientist, na.

McKinney, M. S., & Rill, L. A. (2009). Not your parents' presidential debates: Examining the effects of the CNN/YouTube debates on young citizens' civic engagement. Communication Studies, 60, 393-407.

McKinney, M. S., Davis, C. B., & Delbert, J. (2009). The first - and last - woman standing: Analyzing Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential primary debate performance. In T.F. Sheckels (Ed.), Cracked but not shattered: Hillary Rodham Clinton's unsuccessful campaign for the presidency ( na ). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

Kaid, L. L., McKinney, M. S., & Tedesco, J. C. (2009). Political communication. In L. R. Frey & K. N. Cissna (Eds.), Handbook of applied communication (na). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

McKinney, M. S. (2008). Political campaign debates. In L. L. Kaid & C. Holtz-Bacha (Eds.), Encyclopedia of political communication . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

McKinney, M. S. (2008). On becoming an informed voter: Understanding young citizens' media diet. Business Research Yearbook, 15 , 190-198.

McKinney, M. S., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2007). Political engagement through debates: Young citizens' reactions to the 2004 presidential debates. American Behavioral Scientist, 50 , 1169-1182

Tedesco, J. C., McKinney, M. S. (2007). On the young voters' agenda: Exploring issue salience during the 2004 presidential election. American Behavioral Scientist, 50 , 1290-1297.

Kaid, L. L., McKinney, M. S., & Tedesco, J. C. (2007). Political information efficacy and young voters. American Behavioral Scientist, 50 , 1093-1111.

McKinney, M. S. (2007). Presidential debates. In T. Schaefer & T. Birkland (Eds.), Encyclopedia of media and politics (pp. 221-224). Washington, DC: CQ Press.