Abstract
The objectives of this research were to study the policy communication strategies of
the Palang Pracharat Party in Songkhla Province Region 1 in the 24 March, 2019
parliamentary election, including the political situation before the election, the process
of communication management and the tactics used. This was a qualitative research
based on participatory observation and in-depth interviews with 30 key informants,
consisting of the candidate, campaign workers, voters who were community leaders,
and academics/strategists, all chosen through purposive sampling for their
involvement in the topic under study. The results showed that voters were weary of
the usual political parties and local conflicts. They wanted a Member of Parliament
from a new party that could form a government and influence local development
policies. They were concerned with the rising cost of living, social inequality, low
wages and low prices for agricultural commodities. There were 4 steps in the Palang
Pracharat’s policy communication management process: (1) fact finding, emphasizing
the needs of voters; (2) planning; (3) multimedia communications to reach all target
groups; and (4) continuous evaluation to find ways to improve the communications.
The main policy communication strategies were (1) building awareness among all
target groups using both traditional media and new media; (2) building up key
communicators in every community; (3) building up a network of supporters and
allies among private and public sector organizations and the press; and (4) intensive
evaluation to assess levels of awareness, understanding, attitudes and voting behavior.
Author Information
Karn Boonsiri, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand
Paper Information
Conference: MediAsia2019
Stream: Political Communication and Satire
This paper is part of the MediAsia2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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