Leen d'Haenens

News in Online and Print Newspapers: Differences in Reader Consumption and Recall

How readers consume and recall news presented in online and print versions of two newspapersin the Netherlands are investigated in this experimental study. Few differences are found between the online and print versions in terms of news supply. Reader attention to the news stories varies, depending on the newspaper and news category. No consistent reading pattern is evident and the print version readers do not read more than the online version readers. News Consumption seems to be more dependent on the news category, reader gender and interest in a particular topic than on whether the news appears in print or online. Finally, on the basis of cued and free recall questions, no consistent pattern differentiates readers of the print newspapers from the online versions. In conclusion, evidence has not been found that online readers consume and retain news differently from readers of the print versions examined in this study.

Reinventing public service broadcasting in Europe: prospects, promises and problems

New information technologies, liberalizing policies and rapidly changing societies – from mono- to multicultural – entail serious consequences for the prospects of European public service broadcasters in a network society. The European concept of PSB as a comprehensive and universal service is challenged by both EU and national authorities at three levels: 1) mission and program task (comprehensive or complementary programming?), 2) organization (central organization or ‘distributed public service’?) and 3) financing (license fee, advertising or ‘state aid’?). There are pressures towards a more ‘pure’ model of public service broadcasting and/or towards de-institutionalization of PSB and ‘distributed public service’. Recent pleadings for (e.g., in the Netherlands) and practices (e.g., in New Zealand) of new PSB policy directions will be evaluated. The paper deals with the question whether the European full-fledged PSB model is still realistic or a more small-scale public service a la the American PBS would be a more viable prospect.

Bridging or bonding? Relationships between integration and media use among ethnic minorities in the Netherlands

Abstract This article will first of all present a brief literature review on media use and identity construction and integration. This overview will be given in light of two phenomena: The concepts of ‘social quality’ and ‘cultural participation’ and the role played by the media in this on the one hand, and the multicultural composition of Dutch society on the other. The present contribution looks at the four largest ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands: Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese and Antillean youngsters (13 to 24-year-olds), and adults (25 years of age and above). The key issue is ‘integration’ with its six dimensions, among which the extent to which ethnic minorities endorse norms and values of Dutch society, and the minorities’ motivation with respect to integration. We also focus on related features, such as religious outlook and linguistic fluency. The measure of participation or integration in Dutch society is related to the use of four kinds of media: Radio, television, print media, and the Internet. The present contribution addresses the following question: To what extent are, on the one hand, bonding (i. e., an immigrant’s slant towards maintaining contacts with the ‘homeland’) or, on the other, bridging (i. e., the desire to familiarize oneself with Dutch society and to participate in it socially and culturally) predictors of media use among ethnic minorities? We will address the relative importance of these four media in terms of media time and their twofold ‘bridging’ and ‘bonding’ capacities; for each of these media we check the extent to which ethnic minorities favor media from their native country and use applications which focus on their country of origin or their own group.

Online risks: Coping strategies of less resilient children and teenagers across Europe

Exposure to online risks does not necessarily result in harm, but some groups of children prove to be less resilient than others when facing a potentially harmful situation online. The aim of this article is to better understand and explain which children under which social conditions are more likely to be more or less resilient. Children with low self-efficacy and more psychological difficulties are more vulnerable online as they experience stronger negative feelings and are more likely to go offline for a while or simply hope the problem would go away. A higher level of digital literacy is related to the use of online coping strategies aimed at solving the problem and protecting the child from further harm. Girls and younger children are more susceptible to sexual risks. Parental mediation and monitoring do not result in more online resilience. Mediation from peers and teachers has rather ambigous outcomes.

Social networking sites and contact risks among Flemish youth

This study investigates how teenagers use social networking sites (SNS) and other online communication applications, to what extent they are exposed to online contact risks related to the use of these online tools and how they cope with these risks. A written survey was administered among 815 Flemish adolescents aged 14–19. The study controls for sociodemographics and psychosocial factors, and it concludes that boys, pupils in technical or vocational education, adolescents living in lower SES families, teens with either low or high self-confidence and those having a bad relationship with their parents are more at-risk.

The European and Global Dimension: Taking Small Media Systems Research to the Next Level

State size matters. However, small states do not only share structural peculiarities but also feature different political and historic traditions. This helps explain why the connection between smallness and media regulation is far from clear. Thus, it is suggested here to amend existing typologies of media systems with the notion of smallness, which would allow for more systematic comparative research. In addition, future research on small states needs to consider issues of Europeanization and globalization, examining the role of small states in decision-making on the supranational and international level.

Euro-Vision : The Portrayal of Europe in the Quality Press

This article monitors news coverage on the European Union and EU-related matters in terms of news frames and news discourses adopted in online versions of seven quality newspapers (six European and one American) over a period of four months (December 2001-March 2002). During this period the EU Council Summit was held in Laeken, Belgium, on 14 and 15 December 2001. The selection of the national quality press outlets is carried out on the basis of a general, significant readership and centrality to the current media debate on European issues in the country. The seven countries are interesting cases in terms of their varying role in the history of European integration as well as their current attitude towards the EU. The research literature identifies five recurrent news frames (conflict, human interest, economic consequences, morality and responsibility): this article assesses the relative visibility of each of these news frames in the coverage on the EU and its institutions in the news outlets under study. Furthermore, it asks which discourse is more dominant when it comes to the shaping of European identity as portrayed in the news reporting. Four types of discourse (culture, expansion, in- and exclusion and power) are examined.

Culture-specific features as determinants of news media use

Abstract This article, which looks at exposure to and the use of host and home media by Turkish diaspora in Belgium, illustrates that media use is determined by cultural as well as socio-demographic features. By means of a quantitative survey among four hundred respondents of Turkish origin between the ages of eighteen and sixty, the use of host and home media (i. e., old and new) in general and news contents in particular were analyzed in relation to culture-specific features such as ethnic cultural position, religion, and command of language, alongside with socio-demographic features such as age, gender, education, years of residence and socio-economic status. Our investigation showed religion, ethnic-cultural position and command of the Turkish language to be the strongest determinants for home language news media use, while host language news media use was strongly determined by command of the Dutch or French language, length of residence and educational level. These findings, especially those pertaining to news use, bring nuance to a certain number of earlier findings with Turkish youngsters in the Netherlands and Flanders (12–19), whose media use was predominantly related to socio-demographics.

Diversity Monitor 2005: Diversity as a quality aspect of television in the Netherlands

Abstract This article looks into the way in which public-service as well as commercial TV stations in the Netherlands assume their social responsibility towards a pluralist society. After all, television channels are expected to be ‘mirrors of society’; the key question is then how successful their programs are in conveying a well-balanced representation of all groups in society. By means of a quantitative analysis, the Diversity Monitor charts the (re)presentation of different groups, with a particular focus on gender, age, and ethnicity. Apart from diversity, and as a subcomponent of the Quality Card (McKinsey, 2003), the Monitor also reviews innovation as an indicator of program quality. The results reveal a wide diversity of TV programs in the Netherlands, but diversity as such is no guarantee of a balanced (re)presentation of society at large. Due to selection mechanisms on the side of the broadcaster and the public, what the viewer eventually gets is at the most a mirror of his or her own group.

Ownership and use of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media among ethnic minority youth in the Netherlands. The role of the ethno-cultural position.

Abstract The starting point of the present study is to investigate which environmental factors play a role in the media behavior of ethnic minority youth. To what extent do socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, education, SES and country of origin) influence ownership and use of the media? We also address the role of religion, cultural origin and the cultural distance between ethnic minority youth and indigenous Dutch youth. Three numerically important groups of ethnic minority youth are discussed: Turks, Moroccans (as examples of a group with greater cultural distance from indigenous Dutch youth) and Surinamese (with less cultural distance from indigenous Dutch youth). In a survey conducted among Turkish, Moroccan and Surinamese youth aged between 12 and 19, residing in the Netherlands, we investigated which environmental factors play a role in the media behavior of ethnic minority youth. A control group of indigenous Dutch youth was established and likewise exposed to the variables under study.