Political communication observers and researchers recognise that the field is undergoing deep and multidimensional transformations. Numerous recent works presented and analysed the characteristics of the changes taking place and refer to the media, political actors or citizens. However, attempts at a multidimensional analysis of changes in the political communication ecosystem are much less frequent. This article aims to identify trends in contemporary political communication. A trend is a sequence of changes forming a certain regularity, showing strength and continuity over time, and the direction of development existing at a given moment. The research in this article identifies and analyses these trends, which should be understood as an interpretation of reality requiring an interdisciplinary and open heuristic approach. This approach will provide a broader view of the processes and changes taking place in the political communication ecosystem, allowing for further analyses and the formulation of hypotheses about the consequences and possible directions of the changes taking place, particularly those relating to trust in the media and politicians.

Media reliability is concerning not only media experts but also other researchers, including political scientists. Advances in technology and the changing habits of media users make this issue increasingly urgent. The article presents the research results conducted by the CAST lab, which focuses on TV broadcasts narratives and their construction.

Rapid environmental change is one of the most pressing global issues today. Understanding the factors influencing trust in climate change research provides an opportunity to develop effective communication strategies and build public support for the issue. This article aims to identify the factors determining public trust in science and environmental issues. The lack of public trust in climate science hurts the willingness of individuals, specific social groups, and political actors to find actionable ways to address the problem. Low levels of public trust can lead to a lack of support for climate change policies or hinder the mobilisation of public opinion and political will to address the issue. Ideology and political views, education, cultural differences and media use patterns are among key factors influencing trust in climate change.

The article refers to the communications carried out by Ukraine’s official Instagram account (ukraine.ua). Until February 24, 2022, it served as the country’s branding tool to promote the country’s tourism assets. On the day the war escalated, the account did not suspend its activities, but instead changed its content and target audience, and became an element of Ukrainian strategic communications. At the same time, the Instagram profile continues to be a component for branding the Ukrainian state and society, even though crisis and wars tend to hinder the shaping of a country’s image in the international arena. The author of the article applies a qualitative method to analyse published messages from the first few days of the war, paying special attention towards storytelling, i.e. narrative construction and the image of the society fighting against the occupying forces. The purpose of the article is to verify the thesis that Ukrainian narratives use universal patterns derived from pop culture messages and refer to archetypes commonly used in branding. These messages are key for Ukrainian external communications, which are focused on building both a coherent and credible image of a country invaded.

The article presents the results of comparative research on public/state media narratives on freedom of speech and democratic values. The starting point of the analysis is media coverage of the events in the United States in 2021 when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. Following this incident, owners of media companies decided to block the outgoing president’s social media accounts. This decision led to many controversies and became a pretext for redefining the concepts of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of the media and responsible speech by politicians. The method used in this study was content analysis, and 73 materials were coded in 85 categories. The article presents both quantitative and qualitative results. The main goal is to demonstrate how different public/state media in European countries (Poland, Russia and Germany) reported not only the events alone, but also constructed narratives about democratic values, and the role of the media and politicians. A country’s journalistic and political culture has a significant impact on the construction of meaning and contextualisation of certain concepts and values in a manner that their interpretation is completely different, despite journalists using the same terms. Findings indicate that this may potentially impact building civic awareness, the sustainability of the democratic system, and the credibility of the media as a source of information about politics.

The article concerns media bias using examples of public media in three countries: Poland, Russia, and Germany. The study aims to compare the degree of bias between television news outlets when covering the events of Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. The main research method used was the content analysis of news programming by public media outlets. 73 journalistic materials were coded, and the categorisation key contained 85 research categories. Quantitative methods were used to calculate the statistical significance of differences between broadcasters. Findings supported the hypothesis that bias exists in various forms and different intensities, as well as across many media, especially in Europe. In addition, biased silence, i.e., the avoidance of uncomfortable topics, may misrepresent the image of reality reported by the media. As a result, the recipient receives a distorted picture of the world, oriented towards ideas with which the editors sympathise, although it is extremely difficult to determine the direction of this sympathy.

In August 2022 the Polish media reported on a mass mortality of fish and other animals in the Oder, which occurred as a result of contamination of the river’s waters over a section of several hundred kilometres. The situation revealed that Poland lacked an effective water control system and procedures in the case of contamination. Polish authorities’ response and crisis communication, including with foreign partners in the Oder region, were widely commented on in foreign media. From the perspective of Polish-German relations – which have been strained in recent years – how such a crisis is communicated by the media in Poland’s western neighbour seems to be of particular interest. The article presents the results of the content analysis of selected German media in August 2022. The quantitative analysis covered the service of selected German opinion-forming media. The qualitative analysis covered printed editions of selected opinion-forming weeklies (F.A.S., WamS, BamS, Der Spiegel, Stern, Focus, Die Zeit) and weekend editions of two titles published in the border federal states (ger. Bundesländer) (Neues Deutschland/Die Woche, Sächsische Zeitung). The research aimed to evaluate how the actions of the Polish government were presented in the German media during the crisis caused by the ecological disaster.

The aim of the paper is to gain a better understanding of the effect of media on public opinion, with particular attention to Gordon Brown’s ‘bigotgate’ taking place in April 2010 during his campaign for the British general election. The paper seeks to argue that the event had a major impact on Brown’s political career as well as Labour’s image on the British political landscape. The corpus of the study includes a selection of 100 articles from The Guradian which are qualitatively analysed, using media agenda-setting and framing, and juxtaposed to 30 Ipsos Mori opinion polls dealing with the event and related issues. Results show that the event had major repercussions on the British political scene. It damaged Brown’s political career, contributing to Labour’s inability to secure their fourth term in Ten Downing Street and increased Britons’ concern about mass migration, particularly from Eastern Europe.