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UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Popularization and personalization: a historical and cultural analysis of 50 years of Dutch political television journalism van Santen, R.A. Publication date 2012 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): van Santen, R. A. (2012). Popularization and personalization: a historical and cultural analysis of 50 years of Dutch political television journalism. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:24 Sep 2021 Popularization & Personalization Popularization Popularization & Personalization Politicians, journalists and scholars in the Netherlands and abroad regu larly express A Historical and Cultural Analysis of 50 Years their concern about the negative influence of Dutch Political Television Journalism of television journalism on the quality of public debate and political trust. The concern usually focuses on an alleged popularization of political journalism and personalization of politics. This dissertation shows that their concern is unjustified. Five systematic and longitudinal studies of political television journalism in the Netherlands show that there is no reason to worry about the scope and quality of public debate. Popularization and personalization, to the extent they occur, have not impoverished Dutch political television journalism. Rosa van Santen ISBN: 978-90-819161-0-3 Rosa van Santen POPULARIZATION AND PERSONALIZATION A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF 50 YEARS OF DUTCH POLITICAL TELEVISION JOURNALISM Popularization and Personalization A Historical and Cultural Analysis of 50 Years of Dutch Political Television Journalism ISBN 978-90-819161-0-3 © 2012 Rosa van Santen, Amsterdam Printed by: Almanakker, Oosterhout Cover design: Esther Ris, www.proefschriftomslag.nl Lay-out: Jeroen van Wijngaarden, www.proefschrift-opmaken.nl The Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) Kloveniersburgwal 48 1012 CX Amsterdam The Netherlands POPULARIZATION AND PERSONALIZATION A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF 50 YEARS OF DUTCH POLITICAL TELEVISION JOURNALISM ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op dinsdag 26 juni 2012, te 12:00 uur door Rosa Anthea van Santen geboren te Amsterdam Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Prof. dr. E.A. van Zoonen Co-promotor: Dr. R. Vliegenthart Overige leden: Dr. T. Akkerman Prof. dr. J.W.J. Beentjes Prof. dr. K.L.K. Brants Prof. dr. D. Houtman Prof. dr. C.H. de Vreese Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures viii List of tables ix Chapter 1 Introducing the historical and cultural analysis of 11 50 years of Dutch political television journalism Chapter 2 Popularization and personalization in political 23 communication Chapter 3 TV programming in times of changing political 51 communication. A longitudinal analysis of the political information environment Chapter 4 ‘Pop politics’ in Dutch current affairs television 75 Chapter 5 The personal in political television biographies 101 Chapter 6 Talking about the good old days? 127 Expert reflections on popularization and personalization Chapter 7 General discussion 153 References 167 Appendix 175 English summary 185 Nederlandse samenvatting 189 Dankwoord 195 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Popularization 40 Figure 2.2 Personalization 46 Figure 3.1 Relative number of programs per period of time 64 Figure 3.2 Relative number of programs in prime time per 64 period of time Figure 3.3 Relative broadcast time per period of time 65 Figure 3.4 Relative broadcast time in prime time per period of 65 time Figure 4.1 Concept of popularization 84 Figure 4.2 Over-time attention for top 5 domestic topics 89 Figure 5.1 Visual Reproduction of Personalization 106 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Overview similarities in discussion on tabloidization 32 Table 2.2 Overview similarities in literature of three 39 discussions Table 2.3 Forms of personalization 41 Table 3.1 Terminology and characteristics three phases of 58 political communication Table 3.2 Relative means of broadcast time in percentages 67 Table 3.3 Relative means of broadcast time in hours 68 Table 3.4 Number of broadcasted programs per phase per 69 meta-category Table 5.1 Coding Example 110 Table 6.1 Overview interviews 133 Table B1 Overview selected periods 177 Table B2 Television genres 178 Table C1 Topic overview 180 Table C2 Overview selected items on ‘justice & crime’ 181 Table C3 Overview selected items on ‘governmental affairs’ 182 Table D1 Overview portraits 183 ix Chapter 1 Introducing the historical and cultural analysis of 50 years of Dutch political television journalism CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION An alleged negative influence of television journalism on the quality of public debate and political trust is a well-known concern, voiced regularly in the Netherlands and abroad by politicians, journalists and academics; yet the factual role of popularization and personalization in political television journalism is contentious, just as their historical roots and cultural circumstances. Systematic and longitudinal research of a popularization of political journalism and personalization of politics is lacking, especially within the context of a mainland-European country. The aim of this dissertation therefore is to define, map and explain the occurrence of popularization and personalization in the Dutch democracy since the beginning of Dutch television journalism in 1956. Within the research project on Popularization and Personalization in the Dutch Democracy1 this study, or rather collection of studies, provides a historical and cultural analysis of changes in political television journalism in the Netherlands, questions in particular what forms of popularization and personalization of politics can be identified since Dutch television journalism’s inception in 1956 and to what features of political and media culture they can be attributed. The qualitative and quantitative studies presented in this dissertation offer content analyses of the occurrences of popularization and personalization, as well as an extensive literature review, a longitudinal analysis of TV programming and elite and expert interviews. This introductory chapter will end with a chapter outline, preceded by an overview of the main research questions, an explanation of the chosen research methods and a discussion of the contribution of this study to the field of political communication. But first of all, some words on ‘wording’. The title of this dissertation reads Popularization and Personalization. A Historical and Cultural Analysis of 50 years of Dutch Political Television Journalism, quite a long phrase. The words ‘Dutch’ and ‘television’ are indicators of the specific context the study focuses on and is consequently limited by. So what is actually under study here is ‘political journalism’, which might seem rather double. Is journalism not always political? No, just think of cultural or sports journalism, although these forms of journalism of course could be of political nature in the sense that in these areas too questions on 12 INTRODUCTION power and responsibility might be discussed. But this dissertation deals with ‘political journalism’ – journalism about politics – with which I mean all forms of political information on television. Information about the common sense understanding of institutional politics that can be communicated on TV through news and current affairs programs, but also through more entertaining genres such as talk shows, celebrity programs, quizzes, etc. This is purposely a broad understanding of ‘political journalism’ that refrains from excluding certain TV genres beforehand. Imposing selection criteria would mean to exclude certain programs or genres based on vague and undefined ideas, or even judgments about the kind of TV programs that should not engage with politics. But to obtain a better understanding of the popularization and personalization of political journalism and their significance for public debate and democracy, an open mind, wide focus and broad understanding of what political journalism is, or could be, is necessary. In this dissertation phrases such as ‘political television journalism’, ‘television political journalism’, ‘television journalism’, ‘political television’, ‘information on television’, etc., thus always refer to the general understanding of ‘all political information on television’. DEMOCRACY AND THE ROLE OF TELEVISION