Fakta, fiksjon og politisk autentisitet

摘要

Distinctions between facts and fiction, true and false, are heavilydisputed in our time. Based on theories on visual signs and rhetoricthis article analyses the portrayals of three prime ministers andone prime ministerial candidate: whether and to what degree theyare perceived as authentic by audiences. Examples of authenticitycontracts and breaches of such contracts between politicians andaudiences are discussed. The analysis shows that visual signs andrhetoric are used in order to document, clarify and almost mirrora politician's qualities, but that they are also used to compensatefor, challenge and break with such qualities, something that hasconsequences for the social construction of their authenticity. Visualpolitical authenticity is linked to party membership, gender, timeand place, but also to the professionalization of political communication.The authenticity dimensions that are discussed are predictability,difference, closeness, distance, realness, spontaneity, transparency,ordinariness and non-artificiality.