This conceptual article argues that the strategic use of personal storytelling to attract public attention and gain political impact is insufficiently theorized in political communication, journalism studies, and lobbying research. Claiming the need to study backstage relations among interest groups, professional communication workers, journalists, and decision-makers, it conceptualizes how lay personal stories, with strong moral appeal and claim to authenticity, constitute a powerful form of live information subsidy in both indirect and direct communication strategies to influence decision-makers. Extending the classic theory of information subsidies, the article unpacks the particular value of personal storytelling regarding credibility, legitimacy, and appeal and hypothesizes how and when interest groups select, craft, exchange, and communicate lay personal stories to create public support and influence political decisions. The theorization of strategic personal storytelling is based on the synthesis of distinct research literatures and abductive multi-sited field studies of Norwegian interest groups, government communication, and journalistic source relations, heading the calls for more mixed-method, cross-disciplinary research to advance political communication overall.

中文翻译：

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当信息补贴生效时：概念化个人讲故事的战略作用


这篇概念性文章认为，在政治传播、新闻研究和游说研究中，战略性地利用个人故事讲述来吸引公众注意力并获得政治影响的理论化还不够。它声称有必要研究利益集团、专业传播工作者、记者和决策者之间的后台关系，概念化了具有强烈道德感召力和真实性的民间个人故事如何构成间接和间接的实时信息补贴的有力形式。影响决策者的直接沟通策略。本文扩展了信息补贴的经典理论，揭示了个人故事讲述在可信度、合法性和吸引力方面的特殊价值，并假设利益集团如何以及何时选择、制作、交换和传播普通个人故事，以赢得公众支持并影响政治决策。战略性个人故事讲述的理论化基于不同研究文献的综合以及对挪威利益团体、政府沟通和新闻来源关系的溯因多地点实地研究，呼吁采取更多混合方法、跨学科研究来推进总体政治沟通。