Media logic in election campaign coverage

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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. © The Author(s) 2013.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)277-293
JournalEuropean Journal of Communication
Volume28
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

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