Who Drives the Agenda: Media or Parties? A Seven-Country Comparison in the Run-Up to the 2014 European Parliament Elections

Abstract

The long-lasting consensus Europe is a side-or even a non-issue in the public discourse has been challenged. Europe and European issues have gained attention. However, little research analyzed who drives this EU attention-the media or parties-what the optimal time lags for these influences are and, finally, how cross-national variations in these media-party interactions can be explained. To answer those questions, we rely on quantitative content analysis of newspaper articles and party press releases in seven countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom) during the twelve weeks prior to the 2014 European Parliament (EP) election. Our results from daily-level vector autoregression (VAR) analysis shows parties are the main driver and the influence occurs in most countries within a short timeframe of one day. However, our findings also indicate elite's opinion polarization and elite's EU salience cannot fully explain cross-national variations.

Content Analysis in the Research Field of Political Coverage

“…Also, in contrast to Meyer et al (2017), Maier et al (2017)-using a different analysis technique-show that Austrian parties were able to steer the media agenda on EU related issues. The same dynamic has been unfold by Jansen et al (2018) and van der Pas et al (2017). Looking at other organizations than political parties, Grömping (2019) demonstrates that first of all, the media institutions determine the room to manoeuvre, which is similar to the findings of Meyer et al (2017), and second, Grömping (2019) shows that for human rights organizations individual strategies matter for their media attention, and thereby agenda setting power-i.e.…”

Are they finally talking about European Politics? Analysis of the issues discussed by the parties in the 2019 EP election as signs of politicization

“…The salience of EU issues in political campaigns is linked to the levels of polarization". For their part, Jansen et al (2019) consider that conflicts reduce the visibility of Europe related issues, stating that "The absence of conflict enables campaigning by all parties on EU issues and high levels of conflict lead to more nation-centred campaigns" (Jansen et al, 2019). Therefore, a scenario in which national policy is less polarized would be more conducive to the emergence of EU issues.…”

“…From the analysis of both the issues "raised by the parties" and the "agenda" of the elections, previous investigations have concluded that during the electoral period, political parties are the main agenda-setters. It is these parties that set the media agenda, and not the other way around (Jansen et al, 2019). The issues then raised by the media and the various "frameworks" built into their discourse influence the process by which the public interpret the elections, not merely absorbing them passively, but actively seeking out alternative information sources (Shamir et al, 2015).…”

“…Italy has had 66 different governments since World War II, and perhaps this greater political polarization could explain the smaller voice given to more specific European issues. The absence of conflict enables campaigning on EU issues by all parties and high levels of conflict lead to more nation-centred campaigns (Jansen et al, 2019). The question of the polarization of national politics could also explain the relative lack of politicization of other more specific terms in Spain with respect to France and Germany.…”

“…From their analysis of both the issues "raised by the parties" and the "agenda" of the elections, previous investigations have concluded that during the electoral period, political parties are the main agenda-setters. It is these parties that set the media agenda, and not the other way around (Jansen et al, 2019). Twitter is one of the preferred channels for political parties to communicate ideas and priorities.…”