Media logic in election campaign coverage

Abstract

The media logic thesis holds that the content of political news is the product of news values and format requirements that media make use of to attract news consumers. This study tests whether three content characteristics – personalized, contest and negative coverage – manifest a single media logic by analysing whether they co-vary over time. It also tests the implicit assumption underlying the media logic thesis that media adhere to a single media logic as one institution. A semantic network analysis measured the degree to which television and newspaper coverage of five Dutch national election campaigns (1998–2010) contained the three content characteristics. The study shows that personalized, contest and negative coverage form three indicators of a single logic that is shared by different media. Since the turn of the century, Dutch political news has simultaneously become decreasingly personalized, less focused on the contest and less negative.

First-order, second-order or third-rate? A comparison of turnout in European, local and national elections in the Netherlands

“…Nevertheless, based on separate campaign studies, it is fair to say that the media offered most information on the national elections. The 2010 campaign was in line with previous national campaigns covered extensively in all news media, television broadcasters created extra political programs and the three main election debates attracted a large audience (Van Praag and Van Aelst, 2010; Takens et al, 2013;Walter and Vliegenthart, 2010).…”

Towards A Typology of Conflict Frames

“…Some studies described conflict frames as being part of the game frame or horse-race coverage (e.g., Hänggli and Kriesi 2010;Takens et al 2013). Conflict frames also have been operationalized as fundamentally non-substantive (Gross and Brewer 2007).…”

La negatividad en las informaciones políticas de los medios españoles

“…En el meso-nivel, es decir, en el nivel de los tipos de organización mediática, encontramos que las características del medio pueden también ser condicionantes de los niveles de negatividad (Takens, Van Atteveldt, Van Hoof, & Kleinnijenhuis, 2013;Albaek, van Dalen, Jebril, & De Vreese, 2014;Strömbäck, 2008, Casero-Ripollés et al, 2014. Por ejemplo, se han encontrado niveles más altos en los medios online, comparados con los de los medios impresos (Quandt, 2008).…”