Holli A. Semetko

Framing Politics at the Launch of the Euro: A Cross-National Comparative Study of Frames in the News

This study of the main evening television news programs in four European countries focuses on the framing of news surrounding a major European event, the January 1, 1999, introduction of the common European currency, the euro. We investigated the visibility of political and economic news in general and of the launch of the euro in particular. We found variations across countries in the emphasis on political and economic news, with the proportion of the newscast normally devoted to these subjects ranging from 45% to 60%. Journalists in all countries were more likely to emphasize conflict (rather than economic consequences) in framing general political and economic news. In the coverage of the launch of the euro, there was a greater emphasis on framing the news in terms of economic consequences. The findings are discussed in terms of influences on framing practices internal and external to journalism and the value of the cross-national comparative approach.This study of the main evening television news programs in four European countries focuses on the framing of news surrounding a major European event, the January 1, 1999, introduction of the common European currency, the euro. We investigated the visibility of political and economic news in general and of the launch of the euro in particular. We found variations across countries in the emphasis on political and economic news, with the proportion of the newscast normally devoted to these subjects ranging from 45% to 60%. Journalists in all countries were more likely to emphasize conflict (rather than economic consequences) in framing general political and economic news. In the coverage of the launch of the euro, there was a greater emphasis on framing the news in terms of economic consequences. The findings are discussed in terms of influences on framing practices internal and external to journalism and the value of the cross-national comparative approach.

The news coverage of the 2004 European Parliamentary Election Campaign in 25 countries

This article analyses the news coverage of the 2004 European parliamentary elections in all 25 member states of the European Union (EU). It provides a unique pan-European overview of the campaign coverage based on an analysis of three national newspapers and two television newscasts in the two weeks leading up to the elections. On average, the elections were more visible in the 10 new member states than in the 15 old EU member states. The political personalities and institutional actors featured in news stories about the elections were generally national political actors and not EU actors. When evaluative, the news in the old EU-15 was generally negative towards the EU, whereas in the new countries a mixed pattern was found. The findings of the study are discussed in the light of the literature on the EU’s legitimacy and communication deficit.

Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: A New Approach

InthewakeoftheColdWar,democracyhasgainedthestatusofamantra.Yetthereisnoconsensusabouthowtoconceptualizeand measure regimes such that meaningful comparisons can be made through time and across countries. In this prescriptive article, we argueforanewapproachtoconceptualizationandmeasurement.Wefirstreviewsomeoftheweaknessesamongtraditionalapproaches. Wethenlayoutourapproach,whichmaybecharacterizedas historical, multidimensional, disaggregated,and transparent.Weendby reviewing some of the payoffs such an approach might bring to the study of democracy.

Cynical and Engaged Strategic Campaign Coverage, Public Opinion, and Mobilization in a Referendum

This study investigates the effects of exposure to strategic news coverage on political cynicism and campaign evaluations using a nationally representative two-wave panel study and a content analysis of the national news media coverage of the 2000 Danish referendum campaign on the introduction of the euro. The study shows (a) voters were generally cynical about the referendum campaign, (b) the level of political cynicism and negativity about the campaign increased during the campaign, and (c) exposure to news that reported about the campaign in terms of strategy contributed to an increase in political cynicism and negative campaign evaluations. Turnout, however, remained high, suggesting that strategic news coverage and political cynicism in the campaign did not diminish mobilization. The study suggests that the conclusions of previous research about the link between news, cynicism, and participation in U.S. elections need to be modified when other national and electoral contexts are considered.

Europeanised politics - Europeanised media?

Europeanised politics – Europeanised media? European integration and political communication Holli A. Semetko a , Claes H. de Vreese b & Jochen Peter b a Professor and Chair of Audience and Public Opinion Research, Amsterdam School of Communications Research , University of Amsterdam b Ph.D. candidate in the international Ph.D. programme at the Amsterdam School of Communications Research , University of Amsterdam Published online: 03 Dec 2007.

EU Politics on Television News: A Cross-National Comparative Study

Previous research tells us little about the ways in which the European Union is portrayed on main evening television news. We therefore content analyzed 11,722 stories broadcast in main evening television news in five EU countries over an 11-month period in 2000. There was an invisible importance to EU news: although the share of the news devoted to EU affairs was low, when EU news did appear it tended to be more prominent than other political news. We also found that the thematic structure of the EU news was similar across the countries and that EU coverage was not predominantly domestic in most of the countries. Evaluations of the EU were rare, but when they did appear they tended to be negative.

Political Balance on Television Campaigns in the United States, Britain, and Germany

This article compares news making on television during recent national election campaigns in the United States, Britain, and Germany and focuses on one of the most interesting problems confronting news professionals in modern democracies at election time: the concept of balance. The principle of balance conflicts with the principle of objectivity. Television news professionals are thus faced with a dilemma at election time: how to report the campaign impartially while adhering to news values as the basis for story selection. This article shows that this dilemma is resolved differently in each country, based on data from observation and interviews in TV newsrooms as well as content analysis of main evening news coverage during the final weeks of recent election campaigns. The article argues that the way in which the dilemma is resolved in each country is influenced by journalistic culture, itself shaped by systemic factors, institutional rules, and political culture.

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.

Agenda-Setting, Agenda-Reinforcing or Agenda-Deflating? A Study of the 1990 German National Election:

If an issue is frequently reported in the news, but in a way that diminishes the urgency of the problem, it may cause a decline in salience. In this two-wave national panel study, it was discovered that interest in political stories on television news was positively associated with an increase in the salience of environmental problems as an issue (agenda-reinforcement). Exposure to campaign coverage in Bild, a high circulation national tabloid, was negatively associated with the salience of problems in the former East Germany (agenda deflation). Among other factors, this study finds that the tone of political coverage, as well as its frequency, is important.

Reporting Germany's 2005 Bundestag Election campaign: Was gender an Issue?

Research conducted in the United States and Canada shows that female candidates for political office are covered differently in the news than their male counterparts: Female candidates receive less coverage, their electoral prospects are more negatively assessed, and the focus of reporting is often on “soft” issues compared with coverage of male candidates. We examine reporting during the 2005 Bundestag election campaign to assess the degree to which findings can be extended from North American and European contexts. Germanys first female chancellor candidate, Angela Merkel, and her male opponent, incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, were the main focus of campaign news. Drawing on an analysis of the four main evening national television newscasts and the most widely read newspaper in the six weeks prior to Election Day, we show that while the two candidates were rather equal in terms of visibility in the news, and did not differ substantially in terms of the issues on which they were reported, gender did play a considerable role in framing certain stories.