Darren started following the work of Mike Molesworth, Bournemouth University, Media School.
Darren started following the work of 3 people.
Darren started following the work of Dimitris Tsarouhas, Bilkent University, International Relations.
Faculty Member, Media School
Director: Centre for Public Communication Research
About
I am a researcher, author and lecturer in The Media School at Bournemouth University where I am Head of Research for the Corporate and Marketing Communication Academic Group, Director of the Centre for Public Communication Research. My academic interests are in the creation and reception of political communication, its professionalisation and marketisation.
The main focus of my research is the way in which political communication is constructed and received and, perhaps most fundamentally for both aspects of that research, why. This focus has included to date politician's use of the media and in particular studying the professionalisation of political communication and the use of marketign tools within election campaigns, as well as studying voter reception within both safe and marginal UK constituencies and the link between vote swings and the media profile of a candidate. The majority of my publications focus on these areas so please refer here for specific information.
Currently my interest has shifted towards online political communication and my questions relate to the way in which web users relate to the content produced by politicians and parties. Currently, in collaboration with Nigel Jackson, I am assessing the extent of Web 2.0 tool use by political parties with the intention of broadening this focus on elected members and candidates. This focuses on the top-down (or should that be facilitating interactive communication) by the parties.
An additional area, and one that was central to my doctoral research, was the tradition of pro-Sovietism within the British Labour Party, its origins and the attempts made to further the aims of a group of individuals that stood outside their own party but also the more organised pro-Soviet communist movement. This has led to work studying the development of links to develop peace within Europe during the Cold War, particularly relations between East and West Germany and the role British MPs played in the process of rapproachement. While still of interest, this work is on the backburner currently.
