Still the Main Source: The Established Media

Election Night Broadcasts and the Hybrid Media System: A Case Study of Australia

“…The Australian news media appear to be particularly powerful in their coverage of elections for several interrelated reasons (Denemark et al 2007: 107; Young 2010: 87–88, 232). First, Australia has some of the highest concentrations of media ownership in the world (Newman et al 2018: 126; Tiffen and Gittins 2004: 182–83), and the news media has increasingly become highly partisan, and competitive (Brookes 2020: 326), particularly during elections, with a more centrist position in the 2004 election (Gans and Leigh 2011) giving way to outright partisanship in most elections (Carson and McNair 2018; Young 2017: 885) leading politicians to take the power of media owners “very seriously” (Young 2010: 242). Second, many Australians make up their minds during the campaign, and these people are often most open to media influence (Young 2004: 45).…”

“…Australian research is scant. Surveys have reported that the audience for election night broadcasts tends to be politically interested and older (Cameron and McAllister 2016: 8; Young 2010: 35–37), while studies of reporting are largely limited to stating viewing figures (Carson and McNair 2018; Carson and Zion 2020). Orr (2015) presents a legally framed overview of Australian election night broadcasts among other countries, but Orr’s study lacks the kinds of granular analysis called for by Chadwick.…”

“…Third, no study has, as yet, analyzed Australian election coverage through the prism of Chadwick’s hybrid media system. Research has been limited to passing mentions of intermedia agenda-setting (Carson and McNair 2018: 440; Young 2010), with many studies separating media into different categories or focusing on descriptive content analysis (e.g., Carson and McNair 2018; Chen 2018) rather than the process by which content is produced.…”

“…Many of the issues Young described continue to play an important role. Carson and McNair (2018) analyze print and broadcast reporting on the 2016 Federal election. They find that, while diminished, print media remains important, placing politics, and particularly negative campaigning on the front page.…”

Exposure to Campaign and Partisan Voting: The Moderating Roles of Voters' Political Predispositions

“…In the 2016 Australian election, for instance, the media prioritized negative over positive stories, and those negative campaigns attacked opposing parties over issues including Medicare, asylum seekers, and other disputes. 64 Exposure to messages attacking opponents can lead voters to increasingly dislike their opponents and bolster partisan-based views of their opponents. 65 From the study's finding, it follows logically that exposure to a negative campaign strengthens the ALP and Coalitions supporters' prior attitude towards their opponents and increases their partisan strength, which makes it more likely for voters to support their own party.…”