Politics: EU Election Award

Free Election

An EU-wide comparison of the TV conscience remains a distant vision. There is a world of difference between some of the best political news news coverage of the European programs in countries like Denmark and Slovakia and elections 2004 their counterparts in Great Britain and Estonia. Euro- pean integration can only be successful when all citi- Research Links: he dramatic differences in the coverage of the zens of the member states are suffi ciently informed www.oeaw.ac.at/ita/ T European elections in the 25 EU member na- about the union’s goals and the means by which they kwt04/ tions, but also in the media of those individual coun- should be reached. Only then will Europe’s citizens www.aim-project.net/ tries, show that, for now, a shared European public comprehend the relevance of the institution to their www.staatlichkeit. unibremen. Share of reports focusing on EU protagonists states in overall news coverage de/download/de/ forschung/B3_2003_ TV-avisen 21.00 (DR 1) Nyhederne 19.00 (TV2) abstract.pdf ORF TV - Zeit im Bild (ZIB 1) 20.30 (Tele5) News 21.00 (RTEI1) Swedish news () Tagesschau Finnish news (Yle) Telediario-2 21.00 (TVE1) NOS Joiurnaal 20.00 heute JT Meteo 19.30 (La Une) RTL Nieuws 19.30 (RTL) ET1 news News (MTV3) News (Ruutu4) Nine o' Clock News (BBC 1) RAI 1 SAT.1 18:30 Le Journal 19.00 (RTL-TV) RTL AKTUELL Noticias2 21.00 (Antena3) Rapport 19.30 (TV2) RTP1 news 20.00 Het Journaal 19.00 (VRT) Le Journal 20.00 (F2) Nyheterna 18.25 (TV4) Le Journal 20.00 (TF1) VTM-Nieuws 19.00 (VTM) Canale 5 Slovakian TV news News at Ten (ITV) Share of all articles SIC news 20.00 Rank second and third 0 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Source: Media Tenor 5/29 – 6/14/2004 Basis: 7,165 reports in 32 European TV news programs

Overall results: new EU members effective 5/1/2004

STV 1 TVN24 Markiza Latvian Television RTV TV POP TVP SA LRTV TV3 (Lithuania) Kanal 2 CTV: udalosti TVM (PBS) Super 1 T.V. 19.30 LNT NOVA - televizni noviny MTV 19.30 Polsat TV TV2 ETV 21.00 Share of all protagonists 0 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Source: Media Tenor 5/29 – 6/14/2004 Basis: 21,225 protagonists in 19 European TV news programs

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everyday lives and be able to grasp and judge the dif- a foregone conclusion. The share of coverage as part ference between the political opposites of a free trade of the overall news coverage varied widely by coun- zone and European federalism. try and medium – from almost 19% of the coverage on Ireland’s RTEI News or Hungary’s MTV to less TV news broadcasts play a key role in the process than 2% of the coverage in Dutch news broadcasts of opinion-formation regarding events in Europe or on German private TV stations. and the future of the union. In that regard, so-called On average, media in the new member countries top news events put the quality of the European paid only slightly more attention to the elections news coverage to the test – after all, news selec- than their counterparts in the old member coun- tion and up-to-date information are the hallmarks tries, with a 9.9% share of the coverage for the for- of TV news. Media Tenor’s European Election mer compared with a 7.2% share of the coverage Study 2004, which was conducted in cooperation for the latter. Overall, about two thirds of the cov- with researchers from universities of Amsterdam erage concerned developments in the respective and Twente as well as Emory University in Altanta, countries themselves, while the share of coverage Georgia, examined the media image of Europe in of other EU members made up 12.5% of the news the 25 member countries. The study attempted to coverage in the new member countries and 15.2% answer the question of how various opinion-leading of the coverage in the old member countries. media covered the European election by looking at The Portuguese media showed particularly little the extent of the news coverage of issues relevant interest in what was going on in the rest of the EU, to the union as well as the diversity of those issues, which received only a 6% share of the overall news the diversity of European protagonists, coverage of coverage.

Overall results: new EU members effective 5/1/2004

JT Meteo 19.30 (La Une) Nine o' Clock News (BBC 1) News at Ten (ITV) Telediario-2 21.00 (TVE1) Le Journal 19.00 (RTL-TV) ET1 news TV-avisen 21.00 (DR 1) SAT.1 18:30 Telecinco 20.30 (Tele5) Het Journaal 19.00 (VRT) VTM-Nieuws 19.00 (VTM) ORF TV - Zeit im Bild (ZIB 1) heute Finnish news (Yle) RTL AKTUELL NOS Joiurnaal 20.00 Tagesschau Noticias2 21.00 (Antena3) Nyhederne 19.00 (TV2) News (Ruutu4) Le Journal 20.00 (F2) News 21.00 (RTEI1) RTL Nieuws 19.30 (RTL) Le Journal 20.00 (TF1) News (MTV3) RAI 1 Rapport 19.30 (TV2) Canale 5 Swedish news (Yle) SIC news 20.00 RTP1 news 20.00 Overall results Nyheterna 18.25 (TV4) 0 6% 12% 18% 24% 30% Source: Media Tenor 5/29 – 6/14/2004 Basis: 3,639 reports in 19 European TV news programs

the member countries and the tone of the coverage National points of view of European protagonists. In most news programs, national perspectives domi- nated in the coverage of the EU. This was particu- Astonishing breadth larly apparent in the coverage of European protago- Contrary to the frequently voiced argument that the nists. In most media, the share of the coverage of circumstances dictate the news selection for opin- European protagonists – individuals, public offi ces, ion-leading media, the choice of the extent to which parties, companies or other institutions – was less the European election was covered was anything but than 3% of all protagonists. Britain’s ITV came in

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Criteria for the with the lowest ranking in that regard, with a share itself among media from the new member coun- EU Election Awards: of 0.3% of the coverage. tries. STV 1’s news program, from Bratislava, featured the most extensive coverage of European - Amount of cover- Neither scandals nor undeserved praise protagonists. At the same time, a third of its cov- age of the EU and In ITV’s news programs, the low presence of Eu- erage of Europe concerned issues other than the the European elec- ropean institutions goes hand in hand with harsh elections. tions (share of the criticism. Overall, the media image of the Europe- an Union in the old member countries is divided, Like STV 1, the news coverage of the EU was overall coverage) while the tone of coverage is still overall more only mildly critical on TV-Avisen and it scored - Visibility of Euro- pean protagonists in Overall results: old EU members prior to 5/1/2004 the coverage (share STV 1 of European institu- TVN24 tions/ leaders as Markiza Latvian Television part of the overall RTV TV POP protagonists) TVP SA - Amount of cove- LRTV TV3 (Lithuania) rage of EU member Kanal 2 states CTV: udalosti TVM (PBS) (share of the overall Super 1 T.V. 19.30 coverage) LNT NOVA - televizni noviny - Fairness in the EU MTV 19.30 coverage Polsat TV TV2 (difference between ETV 21.00 Share of all protagonists ratings of European 0 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% protagonists and Source: Media Tenor 5/29 – 6/14/2004 Basis: 21,225 protagonists in 19 European TV news programs ratings positive in the new member countries. additional points for its more than 13% share of of all other protago- Compared to the tone of coverage of all other coverage of Europe. Both of these news programs protagonists, most media treat European protag- showed what journalism can accomplish when the nists) onists fairly. Based on that fi nding, the negative issue of Europe is taken seriously. ck - Thematic diversity: media image of the EU appears to be less a re- Coverage of Euro- sult of bias in newsrooms than the concurrence pean politics unrela- of a lack of consistent coverage and criticism by Basis: protagonists from the respective countries in the Media: Germany: RTL Aktuell, SAT.1 news, ARD Tagesschau, ted to the European news coverage. ZDF heute; : VRT Het Journaal, La Une JT Meteo, elections RTL Le Journal, VTM Niews; Denmark: DR 1 TV-avisen, TV But controversy is not always necessarily a bad 2 Nyhederne, : YLE Finnish news und Swedish news, MTV 3 news, Ruutu 4 news; France: TF 1 Le Journal, F2 Le thing. At the very least, confl icts and controver- Journal; Greece: ET1 news; Great Britain: BBC Nine o’ Clock sies in the EU and among its member countries news; ITV news at Ten; Ireland: RTEI 1 news; Italy: RAI 1 tend to generate greater awareness in the media news, Canale 5 news; Malta: PBS TVM, Super 1 T.V.; The and subsequently among Europe’s TV audiences. Neatherlands: NOS Journaal, RTL Nieuws; Austria: ORF For instance, the emergence of the vehemently Zeit im Bild; Portugal: RTP 1 news, SIC news; Sweden: TV anti-European Independence Party in the U.K. 2 Rapport; TV 4 Nyheterna; Spain: TVE 1 Telediario; Antena signifi cantly increased voter participation on the 3 Noticias; Telecinco news; Poland: TVP SA news, TVN 24; British isles. Slovakia: STV 1 news; Markiza news; Czech Republic: Czech TV Udalosti, TVNOVA televizni noviny; Hungary: MTV news, TV2 news; Slovenia: RTV news, TV POP news; Estonia: ETV In terms of who paid the most attention to Eu- news, Kanal 2 news; Latvia: Latvian Television news, LNT rope and issues affecting the union, Danish news- news; Lithuania: LRTV news, TV3 news casts, led by DR1 TV-Avisen, were at the top of Time: 5/29 – 6/14/2004 (two weeks before the day of the Euro- the rankings among the old member countries, pean parliamentary elections) while the Slovakian news media distinguished Analysis: All articles/ reports

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