The Infotainment of Politics

News Consumption and Its Unpleasant Side Effect

“…Soft news programs therefore have proportionally less attention for the negative topics that dominate hard news (Baum, 2002;Grabe, Zhou, & Barnett, 2001). Soft news, instead, is relatively more likely to also report on celebrities (Grabe et al, 2001), heroism (Baum, 2003) or positive affairs (Brants & Neijens, 1998); therefore, being less negative overall.…”

“…Though soft news sometimes may contribute to knowledge of high profile issues, such as political scandals or stories that involve celebrities (Baum, 2002), it rarely provides knowledge about for example (the war on) terrorism, or crime, while hard news audiences have been shown to learn about this (Prior, 2007). So, while soft news viewers are at times exposed to depictions of tragic events and a "mean world" due to the sensational nature of these programs (Baum, 2003), these news items are often mixed with lighter and positive stories (Brants & Neijens, 1998;Lehman-Wilzig & Seletzky, 2010), which arguably provide more of a means of relaxation and break away from current events than hard news provides (Boczkowski & Mitchelstein, 2010).…”

“…Though soft news sometimes may contribute to knowledge of high profile issues, such as political scandals or stories that involve celebrities (Baum, 2002), it rarely provides knowledge about for example (the war on) terrorism, or crime, while hard news audiences have been shown to learn about this (Prior, 2007). So, while soft news viewers are at times exposed to depictions of tragic events and a "mean world" due to the sensational nature of these programs (Baum, 2003), these news items are often mixed with lighter and positive stories (Brants & Neijens, 1998;Lehman-Wilzig & Seletzky, 2010), which arguably provide more of a means of relaxation and break away from current events than hard news provides (Boczkowski & Mitchelstein, 2010).Regarding the second dimension to distinguish hard news from soft news (i.e., the focus in news coverage), events are more frequently portrayed in a human interest-framed, episodic manner in soft news than in hard news programs that, by, contrast tend to provide a (political) system-oriented perspective (Reinemann et al, 2012). Though also an element of hard news coverage (Iyengar, 1991), soft news more regularly exemplifies abstract topics by means of laypersons or with the help of an eyewitness camera (Grabe et al, 2001;Hendriks Vettehen, Beentjes, Nuijten, & Peeters, 2011).…”

Infoentretenimiento periodístico en la cobertura de las elecciones. El caso de los debates presidenciales

“…Ahora bien, una manera adecuada de categorizar las expresiones periodísticas relacionadas con el infoentretenimiento es mediante el recurso teórico metodológico del encuadre, 2 que ayuda a describir en qué consiste su tratamiento. Respecto a la cobertura de las elecciones, la literatura internacional reporta, por un lado, la prevalencia de un macro encuadre temático tradicional, centrado en la sustancia de la política y orientado al desempeño democrático de los medios; éste se refiere a problemas y soluciones de polí-tica pública, discusión de los temas públicos (causas, soluciones y medidas), posiciones de los políticos acerca de los mismos, descripciones de legislación o programas de gobierno, e implicaciones de las mismas (Berganza, 2008;Brants y Neijens, 1998;Lawrence, 2000).…”

Eleições presidenciais no Brasil: o que veicula a mídia impressa / Presidential elections in Brazil: what conveys the printed media

“…Neste âmbito, verificam-se alguns estudos com foco em pesquisa sobre campanhas eleitorais, de opinião e intenção de voto, os quais ressaltam o processo político tangenciado a temas de interesse do jornalismo e a propaganda/marketing (Brants & Neijens, 1998;Panke, 2010).…”