Media coverage as mechanisms for shaping the social assessment of politicians on the example of the Polish presidential elections in 2015

Abstract

The main purpose of the presented article was to create a detailed analysis of media messages understood as mechanisms for supporting or worsening the social assessment of politicians and political parties during election campaigns. The author's research field was the Polish presiden-tial campaign of 2015. The first part of the study was devoted to the phenomenon of the media-tization of social and political life. Then, as part of the campaign's characteristics, the division of Polish media into mainstream media and right-wing media was presented, as well as their way of presenting the candidacy of Andrzej Duda and the Law and Justice party as a supportive or disavowing action. This confirms the author's thesis that the Polish presidential campaign of 2015 became a textbook example of the phenomenon of media bias during a permanent political battle. In the conclusion of the presented analysis, the author states that the actions of the favou-rable media can contribute to the electoral victory and the improvement of the politician’s image, despite the spectacular reluctance of the media hostile to him.