Fictionalizing Populism: a music analysis of recent political journalist soundtracks

Martin Knust, Linnæus University

Résumé de l’article :

Background music in political journalism has a long history. It is as old as audio and audiovisual mass media, that means, about a century. Surprisingly, media and journalism research have virtually ignored this communicative layer in journalism and focused entirely on texts and images. This means, that there are no theories or methods for investigating this kind of mass media music that is heard by millions every day and thus part of a popular culture. This essay is the first attempt from a musicological perspective to get a grip on non-diegetic music in political journalism. It will present the problematic nature of this music that shares features with fictional film music on a surface level. But since it accompanies stories, images and statements that are non-fictional, its function and ontology have to be seen as fundamentally different from feature film music; it is linked to political opinion shaping and the articulation of political programs and does in fact share features with political propaganda on a deeper level