Communicating Politics Political Communication in the Nordic Countries Political Communication in the N Ordic Countries Communicating Politics
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Communicating Politics Political Communication in the Nordic Countries Political Communication in the Communicating Politics Modern politics is mediated politics, and the media constitute the most important source of information and channel of communication between the governors and the governed. Media and politics are thus inextricable linked together, with the media playing an important role in contemporary democracies and for political processes. While this is true for virtually all advanced democracies, there are still important N ordic Countries differences between countries depending on, for example, their media systems and political systems. The purpose of Communicating Politics: Political Communication in the Nordic Countries is consequently to de- scribe and analyze both the political communication systems and cases of political communication processes in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Taken together, the chapters explore differences as well as similarities between the Nordic countries, and provide a broad view of political communication systems, practices and research perspectives in the Nordic countries. Jesper Jesper Strömbäck is Professor at the Department of Information Technology and S Media, Mid Sweden University, and Research Director at the Centre for Political trömbäck, Communication Research at Mid Sweden University. Mark Ørsten is Associate Professor of Journalism and Political Communication at the Department of Communication, Business and Information Technology at the M University of Roskilde, Denmark. ark Ørsten & Toril Aalberg is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim). T oril A COMMUNICATING POLITICS alberg (eds.) POLITICAL COMMUNICATION NORDICOM Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES University of Gothenburg Box 713, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden Telephone +46 31 786 00 00 (op.) Edited by Jesper Strömbäck, Mark Ørsten & Toril Aalberg Fax +46 31 786 46 55 NORDICOM E-mail: [email protected] www.nordicom.gu.se NORDICOM NORDICOM’s activities are based on broad and extensive network of contacts and collaboration with members of the research community, media companies, politicians, regulators, teachers, librarians, and so forth, around the world. The activities at Nordicom are characterized by three main working areas. • Media and Communication Research Findings in the Nordic Countries Nordicom publishes a Nordic journal, Nordicom Information, and an English language journal, Nordicom Review (refereed), as well as anthologies and other reports in both Nordic and English languages. Different research databases concerning, among other things, scientific literature and ongoing research are updated continuously and are available on the Internet. Nordicom has the character of a hub of Nordic cooperation in media research. Making Nordic research in the field of mass communication and media studies known to colleagues and others outside the region, and weaving and supporting networks of collaboration between the Nordic research communities and colleagues abroad are two prime facets of the Nordicom work. The documentation services are based on work performed in national documentation centres attached to the universities in Aarhus, Denmark; Tampere, Finland; Reykjavik, Iceland; Bergen, Norway; and Göteborg, Sweden. • Trends and Developments in the Media Sectors in the Nordic Countries Nordicom compiles and collates media statistics for the whole of the Nordic region. The statistics, together with qualified analyses, are published in the series, Nordic Media Trends, and on the homepage. Besides statistics on output and consumption, the statistics provide data on media ownership and the structure of the industries as well as national regulatory legislation. Today, the Nordic region constitutes a common market in the media sector, and there is a widespread need for impartial, comparable basic data. These services are based on a Nordic network of contributing institutions. Nordicom gives the Nordic countries a common voice in European and international networks and institutions that inform media and cultural policy. At the same time, Nordicom keeps Nordic users abreast of developments in the sector outside the region, particularly developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe. • Research on Children, Youth and the Media Worldwide At the request of UNESCO, Nordicom started the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media in 1997. The work of the Clearinghouse aims at increasing our knowledge of children, youth and media and, thereby, at providing the basis for relevant decision-making, at contributing to constructive public debate and at promoting children’s and young people’s media literacy. It is also hoped that the work of the Clearinghouse will stimulate additional research on children, youth and media. The Clearinghouse’s activities have as their basis a global network of 1000 or so participants in more than 125 countries, representing not only the academia, but also, e.g., the media industries, politics and a broad spectrum of voluntary organizations. In yearbooks, newsletters and survey articles the Clearinghouse has an ambition to broaden and contextualize knowledge about children, young people and media literacy. The Clearinghouse seeks to bring together and make available insights concerning children’s and young people’s relations with mass media from a variety of perspectives. www.nordicom.gu.se Communicating Politics Communicating Politics Political Communication in the Nordic Countries Jesper Strömbäck, Mark Ørsten & Toril Aalberg (eds.) NORDICOM Communicating Politics Political Communication in the Nordic Countries Jesper Strömbäck, Mark Ørsten & Toril Aalberg (eds.) © Editorial matters and selections, the editor; articles, individual contributors; Nordicom ISBN 978-91-89471-63-4 Published by: Nordicom University of Gothenburg Box 713 SE 405 30 Göteborg Sweden Cover by: Daniel Zachrisson Cover photo by: Magnus Fröderberg / norden.org Printed by: Livréna AB, Göteborg, Sweden, 2008 Environmental certification according to ISO 14001 Contents Preface 7 I: Political Communication Systems in the Nordic Countries Chapter 1 Jesper Strömbäck, Mark Ørsten & Toril Aalberg Political Communication in the Nordic Countries. An Introduction 11 Chapter 2 Anders Esmark & Mark Ørsten Media and Politics in Denmark 25 Chapter 3 Tom Moring Media and Politics in Finland 45 Chapter 4 Ólafur Th. Hardarson Media and Politics in Iceland 63 Chapter 5 Helge Østbye & Toril Aalberg Media and Politics in Norway 83 Chapter 6 Jesper Strömbäck & Lars W. Nord Media and Politics in Sweden 103 II: Cases in Nordic Political Communication Chapter 7 Tom Andersson Conflicting Representations in the European Parliamentary Elections 125 Chapter 8 Jens E. Kjeldsen Visualizing Egalitarianism. Political Print Ads in Denmark 139 Chapter 9 Tom Carlson & Kim Strandberg Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose? The Evolution of Finnish Web Campaigning 1996-2004 161 Chapter 10 Bengt Johansson Popularized Election Coverage? News Coverage of Swedish Parliamentary Election Campaigns 1979-2006 181 Chapter 11 Monika Djerf-Pierre & Lennart Weibull From Public Educator to Interpreting Ombudsman. Regimes of Political Journalism in Swedish Public Service Broadcasting 1925-2005 195 Chapter 12 Iben Have & Anne Marit Waade Aestheticizing Politics. Non-verbal Political Communication in Danish TV Documentaries 215 Chapter 13 Øyvind Ihlen & Sigurd Allern This Is the Issue: Framing Contests and Media Coverage 233 Chapter 14 Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud Organizing Audiovisual Campaign Coverage. Influence on Power Relations Between Media and Politics in Norway 249 Chapter 15 Mark Ørsten, Toril Aalberg & Jesper Strömbäck Conclusions. Similarities and Differences between the Nordic Countries 267 List of Contributors 273 Preface The idea of this book was born in 2005, following the renewed interest in comparative political communication research that was sparked by influential books with titles such as Comparing Political Communication and Comparing Media Systems. In the latter book, Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini identified three different models of media and politics among Western democracies, and the Nordic countries were characterized as almost indistinguishable cases of what they referred to as the Democratic Corporatist Model. While the Nordic countries certainly appear similar from an international perspective, it raised the question as to whether there really is a Nordic model of political communica- tion. One purpose of this book is consequently to address this question. Another reason for why we thought that the time was ripe for a book on political communication in the Nordic countries is the fact that political com- munication research has become more prominent within these countries during the last ten years. However, most scholars still publish most of their research in their native language, with the end result that this research does not reach or influence the international scholarly community. Another purpose of this book is thus to present Nordic political communication research to an international audience of scholars and practitioners. Yet another reason for why we decided to edit this book is related to the fact that American and to some extent British theory and research dominates the international literature on political communication – as well as many other fields