Big Thinking Podcast · Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Le nouvel art de se présenter aux élections

April 30, 2025·31 min·1 clip

Balado Voir Grand starts by placing political communication in the shifting world of election campaigns. Karine Morin introduces the episode as a discussion of how political figures build an image and win public attention. She frames the core question plainly: how do parties sell their message, and what does that cost? Thierry Giasson, professor of the Department of Political Science at Laval University, joins the conversation. Morin briefly traces his academic path from journalism at UQAM to graduate study in political science at the Universite de Montreal. That background creates a clear bridge between media practice and political analysis. Giasson explains that parties begin by identifying the voters they want to reach. From there, they build a plan de diffusion, a media plan, and a broader communication strategy. He emphasizes that this work is not limited to social media. Many Canadians still get information through traditional journalistic outlets. Others come across politics more casually, through shared posts in their networks. The episode uses that split to complicate the idea that media have simply replaced one another. Giasson argues that traditional media and digital media are better understood as overlapping channels. Information produced by professional journalism can move across both. The same political message can be adapted for different supports without changing the basic communication goal. The discussion also points to the continuing importance of people who are not especially interested in politics. They may not seek out political news, but they still encounter it when a story is shared or reposted around them. That makes distribution as important as persuasion. Giasson notes that the current platform environment is shaped by decisions made by large platforms and by Canadian regulation. He points out that Facebook does not allow the same sharing of Canadian news content on its platforms, which changes how information moves online. Even so, other platforms remain part of the circulation chain. The result is not a clean break between old and new media, but a layered system with different access points. The conversation stays focused on how communication is put together in practice rather than on abstract theory. It returns often to the fact that political outreach now has to account for both highly engaged audiences and people who only passively encounter public debate. The closing movement broadens the subject toward privacy and personal data. It ends by linking that concern to experience in British Columbia, where some elected officials are attentive to their constituents’ privacy interests. The episode leaves the impression of politics as a disciplined communication exercise with real consequences for democratic life.

As heard by us

A careful look at how campaign messaging moves through media, public attention, and political strategy.

This episode looks at political messaging as a matter of image, attention, and the way parties try to shape public debate through both digital and traditional media.

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Why you'd press play

You want the mechanics behind how parties sell their message, not the spin.

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