"Agenda Setting Can Decide an Election"

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Agenda Setting Interview „Agenda Setting can decide an election“ Interview with Brettschneider: I would disagree with that one. Abstention is not remotely as pronounced, at least Prof. Frank Brettschneider, not in national elections. In fact, turnout in Ger- University of Augsburg man parliamentary elections has been on the rise. After all, the question which party leads the fed- Media Tenor: In Bulgaria, voters get a chance to eral government really does make a win the lottery for going to the polls. What has difference. The European elections, gone wrong for people to make so little use of for their part, are another matter. their voting rights, only 15 years after the end of Voter turnout dropped to 43 percent. the dictatorship? Never since the fi rst direct election of the European Parliament in 1979 Prof. Frank Brettschneider: A lot can go wrong. has voter participation in Germany People may get the impression that, whether they been as low as on June 13th, 2004. It cast their vote or not, doesn’t make a difference to is attributed to several reasons: Some their lives anyway. Moreover, they may be frus- consider the European Parliament trated because their expectations were not met. to be a comparatively insignifi cant Why should I go and vote, when the promised institution with few responsibilities. Prof. Dr. Frank Brettschneider economic upswing did not materialize? Or as Ber- The election is therefore thought of tolt Brecht said: “First comes food, then comes as a kind of second order election teaches Communication Sciences morals.” First people have to organize their own with few pertinent issues. Moreover, at the University of Augsburg. lives and then they will deal with politics. Obvi- many lament that political decision-making with- ously there is a lack of information that one thing in the EU is too opaque, that the European Com- is dependent on the other. The American political mission works out its proposals at the exclusion scientist Key said as early as in the 60s: “Voters of the public and that European decision-making are no fools… In the large the electorate behaves processes are more strongly infl uenced by admin- about as rationally and responsibly as we should istrative measures on the national level. expect, given the clarity of the alternatives pre- sented to it.” MT: Let’s stop here for a moment. What do you think of this allegation? MT: How do you evaluate the Bulgarian gov- ernment’s attempt to lure people to the polls by Brettschneider: Well, there are defi nitely defi cits providing the prospect of winning a television or that deserve criticism: the ineffi ciency of much of radio? the decision-making, the fact that Brussels bureau- crats spend their time and efforts on trifl ing issues Brettschneider: It seems to be an entirely new such as standardizing the size of tractor seats etc. perspective on the question whether or not the Yet this does not entirely explain the lack of inter- media can decide elections… No, joking aside: It est. After all, the European Parliament has become is both a sign of helplessness and cynicism. Help- increasingly important, particularly after the Single lessness, because obviously they don’t know what European Act came into effect in 1987, adding a else to do. Cynicism, because it only reinforces number of important responsibilities. Today most the idea that politics is unimportant and just like of the European laws and directives require the a game. The next step would be to elect the next Parliament’s approval. president by way of a talent show, the latest ex- The European Commission cannot be nominated pression of media democracy… In fact, it would without its approval, either. At the end of 2004, for be far more important to demonstrate through po- example, the Parliament asserted itself in a presti- litical actions why the participation in elections gious power struggle around selected commission- is a crucial political right. On the one hand, poli- ers of the Barroso-Commission. But despite this ticians have to communicate this. On the other increase in power, the German television and daily hand, there must be a range of political proposals, newspapers rarely cover the European Parliament so that the people can see a point in going to the – only to ostentatiously lament the low German polls. If voting does not make a difference in the turnout in their editorials afterwards. Yet the ques- politics on offer, it remains worthless. tion remains: Where, if not in the mass media, can the people possibly fi nd information on the work MT: In the West, the turnout is not much better. of the European Parliament? Direct and immediate What are the reasons for that? impressions are not available to the vast majority of 6th International Agenda Setting Conference, Lugano 25 551-2528.indd1-2528.indd 3 002.12.20052.12.2005 114:23:584:23:58 Agenda Setting Interview people. Therefore they rely on the coverage by the Particularly in television news, it received less at- mass media, as well as on the media’s responsibil- tention than the upcoming European Cup. Even ity to inform, create a forum for public debate and before the fi rst kick-off it attracted three times control politics. more television news coverage than the European MT: How do you defi ne rare coverage? elections. And Germany brought up the rear with- in European countries. In all the other EU mem- ber states, the media reported more frequently on Presence of European elections the elections. ‘99/’04 in 13 German media MT: Has it always been like that? Brettschneider: No, the German mass media covered the fi rst direct elections of the European Parliament differently. With positive results: The people’s knowledge on the European elections increased. Campaign issues became more famil- iar to the citizens. The European Parliament was considered to be progressively more important and the turnout increased along with media con- sumption. In 2004, the international comparison showed: Wherever newspapers and television had reported on the European parliamentary elections more frequently, voter turnout was higher than in countries where the coverage remained below the awareness threshold. April May June April May June MT: What other reasons are given for the low Share of news stories on European election to overall coverage turnout and what do you think about them? Source: Media Tenor Basis: a total of stories 04/01 – 06/30/1999; 2004 in 5 print- and 7 TV- Media Brettschneider: Many also blame the political parties for it, saying that they only nominated un- Brettschneider: Firstly, Europe is a quantité né- known front runners for the European Parliament gligeable in the media, it has not arrived in the who would not be able to attract the citizens’ at- editorial rooms, yet. In ordinary times, total news tention. “Charismatic fi gures”, it is claimed, are coverage on Europe reaches about fi ve percent. rare in European politics. For a long time, parties The people therefore get very little information on tended to send politicians to Strasbourg and Brus- European politics through the mass media. What sels who had become obsolete in national politics. little there is, often deals with clichés or routines, So they continue to be accused of following the such as handshaking at summit meetings. rule “If you have nowhere to place him, Europe Secondly, the media cover the European Parlia- can take him!”, making it unattractive for the me- ment both rarely and negatively. Of the total cov- dia to report on those candidates. There is some erage on the European Union, barely fi ve to ten truth to this. However, that practice has changed percent deal with the democratically elected as- signifi cantly over the past few years, as was sembly. The Council and Commission are much manifested, among others, in the candidatures of more often the focus of reporting. And when the Daniel Cohn-Bendit for the Greens and Silvana European Parliament actually appears in the me- Koch-Mehrin for the FDP (Liberal Democratic dia, more often than not it is portrayed negatively. Party). But the parties are charged with yet an- Against this backdrop it is not surprising that peo- other misconduct, namely that federal and Länder ple view the European Parliament as unimportant (state) politicians misuse the European elections and incapable – and subsequently abstain from to achieve domestic policy goals, for example by voting. This was particularly true for the cover- making “those guys in Brussels” responsible for age in the run-up to the most recent European par- unpopular decisions in their own country. Obvi- liamentary elections. Throughout the preceding ously this does not raise interest and trust in the two weeks, only two percent of news coverage European Parliament. Again, there is some truth to addressed the elections, the parties’ positions etc. this accusation. But it does not tackle the real issue, 26 6th International Agenda Setting Conference, Lugano 551-2528.indd1-2528.indd 4 002.12.20052.12.2005 114:24:384:24:38 Agenda Setting Interview because in the end it is the mass media that offer a fo- If personality was as important as the media make rum to politicians. In the run-up to the 2004 Europe- us believe, Heide Simonis would still be Minister an parliamentary elections, the German candidates President of Schleswig-Holstein, Jürgen Rüttgers for the Parliament were more or less presented as would not be Minister President in North-Rhine/ “incapable extras”. “Extras”, because they were Westphalia and Roland Koch would never have hardly reported on. Whenever the question of Eu- been able to achieve the absolute majority for ropean integration was raised, the media passed the CDU (Christian Democrats) in Hesse.
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