From the preserves of the educated elite to virtually everywhere: A content analysis of Danish science news in 1999 and 2012

Abstract

In an attempt to qualify changes to science news reporting due to the impact of the Internet, we studied all science news articles published in Danish national newspapers in a November week in 1999 and 2012, respectively. We find the same amount of science coverage, about 4% of the total news production, in both years, although the tabloids produce more science news in 2012. Online science news also received high priority. Journalists in 2012 more often than in 1999 make reference to scientific journals and cite a wider range of journals. Science news in 2012 is more international and politically oriented than in 1999. Based on these findings, we suggest that science news, due partly to the emergence of online resources, is becoming more diverse and available to a wider audience. Science news is no longer for the elite but has spread to virtually everywhere in the national news system.

Science news in a closed and an open media market: A comparative content analysis of print and online science news in Denmark and the United Kingdom

“…In general journalism, more than half of all online news is copied from other media outlets or news agencies (Lund et al, 2009; Wurff and Lauf, 2005). Vestergaard and Nielsen (2015) confirmed this trend when they reported that only 58% of science news in 2012 was original. An increase in the use of foreign media sources was also found.…”

“…Bauer et al also documented a rise in science coverage, which has since been confirmed across countries: Italy (Bucchi and Mazzolini, 2003), Bulgaria (Bauer et al, 2006), Germany (Elmer et al, 2008) and by scholars in the United States (Clark and Illman, 2006; Pellechia, 1997). Surprisingly, however, the science coverage in Danish newspapers remained unchanged at 4% when comparing 1999 and 2012 (Vestergaard and Nielsen, 2015). Groves et al (2015) reached a similar result when they analysed Spanish online science news from 2002 to 2011.…”

“…The aim of this study is to compare science news in the United Kingdom and Denmark in order to locate small versus large country anomalies through content analysis. The Danish dataset follows from a previous study of Danish science news, which compared 693 print and online newspaper science news articles in 1999 and 2012 (Vestergaard and Nielsen, 2015), whereas the British dataset will be sampled and coded uniquely for this study. Both online and print science news articles were collected from three newspapers in each country from a specific November week in 2012.…”

“…Looking at the geographical origin of science news, Vestergaard and Nielsen (2015) found that 30% of Danish science news was based on foreign trigger events and less than one-fifth of the interviewed sources were foreign in 2012. Bauer et al (1995) have previously shown how about one-third (27%) of UK articles were based on foreign events, but this was before the Internet boom and the subsequent abundant availability of foreign science news material online.…”

Societal problem solver or deficient discipline? The debate about social science in the online public sphere

“…Regarding the visibility of the social sciences in the news coverage, differences by country are observable as well. While in Denmark the social sciences come in second in science coverage [Vestergård and Nielsen, 2017], they come in last in the U.K. [Vestergård and Nielsen, 2016] and are midrange in Croatia [Šuljok and Vuković, 2013]. While in Danish newspapers political triggers initiated coverage more often, scientific journals were an important trigger in the U.K. [Vestergård and Nielsen, 2017;Šuljok and Vuković, 2013].…”