This document discusses the strategic reputation management and political PR of private life issues for Czech politician Jiří Paroubek. It analyzes media coverage of Paroubek's two wives, Zuzana and Petra, and how their private lives were used in political communication. While gaining media attention, the case studies show that promoting or concealing a politician's private life through PR tactics does not necessarily translate to more political votes. The document examines these issues through critical discourse analysis of media coverage from 2005-2010.

1. Gaining the media coverage through
reputation management and PR of private-life
issues in political communication on the
example of Czech politician Jiří Paroubek
PhDr. Denisa Kasl Kollmannová, Ph.D.
Charles University in Prague

2. Theoretical/conceptual framework
Strategic reputation management, image making
and political PR of private-life issues has become an
instant part of political marketing and
communication
In electronic, print and new media, the private-life
and lifestyle issues of politicians and their family
members became a stable part of news coverage
(Stanyer 2007, Corner 2003)
Mediated private life of politicians became a soap-
opera-like (van Zoonen 2005) or romantic-novel-
like format (Kasl-Kollmannova 2009 and 2010)

3. Socio-political consequences of
mediated privacy of politicians
• Politicians and their private significant others have
become intimate strangers (Stanyer 2007) or distant
heroes (Meyrowitz 2008), thus forming a new
definition of mediated privacy (Couldry 2003) („people
we know“)
• The new “authentic self” of a politician (van Zoonen
2005) is but a well prepared, constructed and
managed image which is marketed to the different
types of media and publics by public relations and
political marketing specialists (Lilleker 2006, Lees-
Marshment 2004, Ewen 1996, etc.)
• We talk about political package (Franklin 1994) or
design politics (Scammell 1996) which include private
life

4. Hypothesis and methodology
• Focus: pre-election political communication of the
Czech Social Democratic Party leader Jiří Paroubek and
his wifes Zuzana (1) and Petra (2) concerning private-
life issues.
• Hypothesis 1) private-life issues of a politician are
professionally managed and they are used as a “PR
stunts” to manage the politician’s visibility in media,
gain media attention and enhance political power
• Examined by using critical discourse analysis (CDA, van
Dijk 1996 and Fairclough 1996) of media coverage on
private-life issues of Jiří Paroubek and his family (2005-
2010)

6. Using the concept of „privacy“ in
context of political PR and reputation
management (graph field A)
• 1) publicizing and mediatization of privacy
issues and family life as a PR tool to gain
positive or neutral media coverage and
„create buzz“ = goal: gain votes
• 2) demarketing and concealing of privacy
issues and family life in concern of possible
negative effects on image of politician = goal:
not lose votes

7. Jiří Paroubek: A Czech Politician
• April 25th 2005- August 16th 2006 Prime
Minister (Social Democrats)
• 2004-05 Minister for regional development
• 2006-10 Social Democratic Party leader
• Wives:
1) Zuzana (1979-2007)
2) Petra (2007-now)

8. Mediated private life of Jiří Paroubek
Case study 1: First wife: Zuzana

9. Mediated political image of private life
„My wife will be somehow invisible, like the
wife of detective Columbo“

11. Media reaction
Harsh jokes
„No taste“
„You can burn her
down today“ (Aha!)
„Advice on restyling“

12. Media framing

13. Political reaction: Restyle and
Demarketing
• New set of „official
portraits of Mrs Prime
Ministers´ Wife“
• Attempt to replace the
„negative images“
• Media reaction: gaining
interest yet not
respecting it
• Role of a „wife“: charity
and PR book

15. Mediated private life of Jiří Paroubek
Case study 2: Second wife: Petra
Divorce and marriage in 2007

17. PR tools used to boost the image
• Interviews with Petra Kováčová
– Paroubková
• Media relations

18. Petra´s own media engagement

19. Celebrity PR of Petra
• Executed by Media
Agency Médea
(owner Jaromír
Soukup)
• Pavel Poulíček
(consultant)
• Médea also a media
agency for Soc-Dem
party
• Financial relations
never disclosed
(„helping Petra“)

20. Event management

21. Event management (wedding, birth
and christening)

22. PR
image
Media
image

23. Controlling the press conferences

24. Book release

25. Linking political PR and marketing

26. Media reaction: comparing image
according to the voters / readers taste

27. Demasking political PR and ironizing it

28. Political PR vs. Election results
Elections 2006
Elections 2010

29. Not visibility, but emotional factor in PR of
private life is crucial
Media logic does not respond to voting behavior
Figure 1 Media relations, news factors, and PR media influence: a reciprocal model
(Kleinnijenhuis 2012)

30. Conclusions
Jiří Paroubek used both ways of political PR
1. Demarketing (1st wife)
2. Promoting (2nd wife)
However, gaining the media attention does not
mean getting political votes
• Celebritization of private life of politician and
using private images in political PR does not link
directly the political succes, however, it is an
indispensible part of political image
• Image of private life has to respond to the target
group (eg. voters of social-dem.)

31. Limits of the reseach
• CDA primarily covers the
„media visibility“ and
public information
• Yet information about
processing and managing
strategic reputation of
politicians is a very
discreet process
• Other possibilities of
research:
• Expert interviews –
however great (self)-
censorship of information