Edmund Lauf

Online newspapers: A substitute or complement for print newspapers and other information channels?

Abstract Research suggests that online newspapers are not as good as their printed counterparts in widening the range of topics their audience is aware of. But should we be concerned about that? So far, visiting online newspapers does not seem to be a substitute for reading traditional newspapers. But the evidence is scarce; only a few studies specifically look at the impact of online newspapers. In this study we look at to what extent online newspapers ‘take over’ from printed newspapers and other information channels. We investigate the relation between using online newspapers and other media channels, and look into the usefulness of online newspapers for different types of information compared to their offline counterparts and other information channels. A recent survey of almost 1,000 respondents, representative for the Dutch adult population, shows that visiting online newspapers is negatively related to using print newspapers among the young, and more time spent on them seems to reduce the time spent watching television, at least, among males and lower educated respondents. Online newspapers do not seem to diminish the use of other media or the time spent on them though. On the contrary, their visitors use some information channels more often and more extensively, even after other plausible reasons for media use are controlled for. Furthermore, they regard printed newspapers and television as better suited for their information needs.

Research Note: Online and Print Newspapers: Their Impact on the Extent of the Perceived Public Agenda

Printed newspapers are known to widen the range of public topics, events and issues their audience is aware of. There are reasons to assume that their online counterparts help increase their audience’s perceived agenda to a lesser extent. The way print newspapers are structured and used is supposed to lure readers into reading stories they may not have been interested in beforehand. Online papers support more activity and control by their users; becoming aware of a narrower range of topics according to one’s individual interests is more plausible. A representative survey of almost 1000 respondents shows it is more complicated than that. Both channels in fact contribute to widening the audience agenda. But whereas online newspapers show this effect only in the highest educated group of society, print newspapers are able to expand the horizon of those whose range of interests is at most average.

Research Note: The Vanishing Young Reader Sociodemographic Determinants of Newspaper Use as a Source of Political Information in Europe, 1980-98

Europe has a variety of newspaper markets and, yet in almost all European countries newspaper readership is in decline. Research from the US suggests that this decrease may be connected to only a few demographic factors: gender, education, income and age. This analysis of audience data from nine EU member countries in 1980, 1989 and 1998 indicates that the decline is mainly due to both age and cohort effects. As in the US, young people do not read current affairs news daily any more.

Television Coverage of the 1999 European Parliamentary Elections

European parliamentary elections are the defining event for political participation in the European Union (EU). Little, however, is known about how recent European parliamentary election campaigns are covered in television news, the most important source of information for most Europeans. We analyzed the main evening television news in 14 EU countries over the last 2 weeks before the 1999 European parliamentary elections (5,477 stories in total). Our results show considerable variation among the EU countries in the amount of coverage devoted to the European election campaign and the visibility given to EU representatives. Using multivariate analyses, we establish that there is more coverage of the European elections on (a) public broadcasting channels, (b) when elite opinion about the EU is polarized, and (c) when citizens are dissatisfied with their national governments. We also find that EU representatives are less visible in the news as a country participates in more European elections. The study provides a baseline for assessing the role and impact of news in future parliamentary elections and offers an explanatory approach to the study of news content.

Reliability in Cross-National Content Analysis

Cross-national assessment of coding reliability and its methodological problems have largely been neglected. In an exploratory first study and a more elaborate second study, we investigated how coder characteristics such as language skills, political knowledge, coding experience, and coding certainty affected inter-coder and coder-trainer reliability. The second study showed that language skills influenced both reliability types, albeit mediated by coding certainty. Politically knowledgeable coders coded more reliably, while coding experience did not affect reliability. Overall, the results suggest that cross-national researchers pay more attention to cross-national assessment of reliability.

Research Note: Distinction and Integration Sociodemographic Determinants of Newspaper Reading in the USA and Germany, 1974-96

Who reads daily newspapers in the USA and in Germany? Despite a steady decline of newspaper reading, the sociodemographic determinants of newspaper readership have been surprisingly stable in both countries since the mid-1970s. A long-term comparative analysis of audience data suggests that newspapers serve different cultural functions: in the USA, they seem to be more and more an instrument of social distinction; in Germany they also maintain a function of social integration.

Politicians on TV News: Getting attention in Dutch and German election campaigns

Different strategies apply in the Netherlands and in Germany when TV channels have to decide how often politicians are mentioned or shown in the news during national election campaigns. Extensive content analyses in the 1990s suggest that Dutch political and media traditions promote a more equally distributed attention to different political positions. In Germany, TV news focuses almost exclusively on the incumbent candidate for the top function of the national government (the office of Chancellor) and his challengers. The likely causes are not only the politicalsystem and the particular circumstances of the 1990s (with the pre-eminence ofHelmut Kohl), but also recent developments in the way in which German journalists define their task.

Differential Employment Rates in the Journalism and Mass Communication Labor Force Based on Gender, Race, and Ethnicity: Exploring the Impact of Affirmative Action

This paper examines whether gender, race, and ethnicity are associated with employment in the journalism and mass communication labor market and—if discrepancies in employment exist—what explanations might he offered for them. The data show strong evidence that race and ethnicity are associated with lower levels of employment among journalism and mass communication graduates. These discrepancies in success in the job market are explainable in highly specified situations by factors normally associated with hiring, such as type of training, type of institution offering the training, or qualifications such as internship experience and level of performance in the classroom.

Content or design? Factors influencing the circulation of American and German newspapers

Abstract What is it that helps newspapers gain or at least keep readers; is it the specific content they offer or measures of design? In an explorative secondary analysis, local daily newspapers in Germany are compared to daily newspapers in the US. The newspapers used in this study were analyzed twice, both in the 1980s and the mid-1990s. In the US, visualizing information and displaying it more generously were more important for positive developments in circulation than in Germany. In Germany, community orientation and an increased retrievability of content helped newspapers secure their sales figures. These different recipes for newspaper success point to cultural differences in what reading a newspaper means.

Research Note: The Vanishing Young Reader

Europe has a variety of newspaper markets and, yet in almost all European countries newspaper readership is in decline. Research from the US suggests that this decrease may be connected to only a few demographic factors: gender, education, income and age. This analysis of audience data from nine EU member countries in 1980, 1989 and 1998 indicates that the decline is mainly due to both age and cohort effects. As in the US, young people do not read current affairs news daily any more.