Balancing Broadcasting and Narrowcasting Online as a Minority-Politician

• In Event: Asian American Politics

Abstract

Scholars have argued that minority politicians often use cultural and racial cues to attract voters and support, especially when running in or representing districts dominated by non-whites. These could include using non-English languages, emphasizing policy and issues related to race and minority groups, and making cultural references, for example by mentioning or discussing traditional foods and holidays (Collingwood, 2020). However, in the areas where political climates are less friendly to minorities, minority politicians and candidates may choose to broadcast to wider audiences across various racial groups and understate their origins and cultural heritage ; Instead, they may focus on broader issues related to health issues, education, and the economy (Collingwood, 2020; Dupuis & Boeckelman, 2008).
In this study we aim to examine the balance between broadcasting and racial narrowcasting in Asian-American senators' and representatives’ online messages. Specifically, we ask what the balance between narrowcasting and broadcasting is on average (RQ1), what aspects of race are being emphasized (policy / voters / culture / origin; RQ2) and whether it changes during elections and campaigning, when politicians need to attract support and votes (RQ3).
This study will use the computational method of the Analysis of Topic Model Networks (ANTMN, Walter & Ophir, 2019a) to examine the Twitter discourse of Asian American senators and representatives in the last ten years. Around 150,000 tweets were collected from 27 senators and representatives. We argue that a thematic and in-depth analysis of Asian-American politicians over a long period of time could shed light on the communicative challenges facing minority-candidates and politicians who try to balance between broadcasting and racial narrowcasting, as well as identify trends and changes over time.


 
References
Collingwood, L. (2020). Campaigning in a racially diversifying America: When and how cross-racial electoral mobilization works. In Campaigning in a racially diversifying America: When and how cross-racial electoral mobilization works. Oxford University Press.
Dupuis, M., & Boeckelman, K. (2008). Barack Obama, the new face of American politics. Praeger.
Walter, D., & Ophir, Y. (2019). News Frame Analysis: An Inductive Mixed-method Computational Approach. Communication Methods and Measures, 13(4), 248–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2019.1639145

Authors

• Shu-An Tsai, Tunghai University

• Yotam Ophir, University at Buffalo