Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen Departement Politieke Wetenschappen Media Storms: Mechanisms, Conducive Factors, and Effects Proefschrift voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van doctor in de Sociale wetenschappen: Politieke Communicatie aan de Universiteit Antwerpen te verdedigen door Anne Hardy Promotoren: Prof. Stefaan Walgrave Prof. Amber Boydstun Antwerpen, 2016 Members Doctoral Commission: Prof. dr. Pieter Maeseele Prof. dr. Emiliano Grossman Members Doctoral Jury: Prof. dr. Knut De Swert Prof. dr. Rens Vliegenthart Copyright © Anne Hardy No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means, without permission from the author. Cover design: Dienst Nieuwe Media www.m2p.be TABLE OF CONTENT List of Tables .................................................................................................................... III List of Figures ................................................................................................................... IV Voorwoord ..................................................................................................................... VII Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Why Media Storms Matter ................................................................................................................................. 1 Studying Media Storms: Concept and Operationalization ................................................................................. 3 The Mechanisms, Conducive Factors and Effects of Media Storms ................................................................... 3 Contributions ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 Data Collection ................................................................................................................................................... 9 Overview of Chapters ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Media Storms ....................................................................... 15 1.1. What Are Media Storms? .................................................................................................................... 15 1.2. Criteria to Define Media Storms .......................................................................................................... 17 1.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2: Operationalizing Media Storms ...................................................................... 23 2.1. Research Setting: Belgium (Flanders) ........................................................................................................ 23 2.2. Data............................................................................................................................................................ 26 2.3. Operationalizing Media Storms ................................................................................................................. 28 2.4. Media Storms Compared to Non-Storms .................................................................................................. 34 2.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 3: The Mechanisms Underlying Media Storms .................................................... 49 3.1. Illustrating the Mechanisms of Media Storms ........................................................................................... 50 3.2 Just an Ordinary News Day ......................................................................................................................... 52 3.3. What a Difference a Day Makes: Media Storm Alert ................................................................................. 54 3.5. Conclusion and Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 60 I Chapter 4: The Conducive Factors of Media Storms ......................................................... 63 4.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 63 4.2. Forecasting a Storm ............................................................................................................................. 64 4.3. Data and Methods ............................................................................................................................... 68 4.4. Results ................................................................................................................................................. 72 4.5. Conclusion and Discussion ................................................................................................................... 77 Appendix: Overview of Stories: Storms and Non-Storms (Conducive Factors) ................................................ 79 Chapter 5: The Political Agenda-Setting Effect of Media Storms....................................... 83 5.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 83 5.2. Political Agenda-Setting: Why Politicians Respond to Media Storms ................................................. 84 5.3. Hypotheses: How Politicians React to Media Storms .......................................................................... 86 5.4. Data and Methods ............................................................................................................................... 88 5.5. Results ................................................................................................................................................. 90 5.6. Conclusion and Discussion ................................................................................................................... 96 Appendix : Overview of Stories: Storms and Non-Storms (Effects Chapter) .................................................... 98 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 103 Summary of Key Findings................................................................................................................................ 103 The Implications of Media Storms .................................................................................................................. 107 Limitations & Avenues for Further Research .................................................................................................. 110 Final Words ..................................................................................................................................................... 114 Appendix: Overview of media storms............................................................................. 117 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 121 II LIST OF TABLES Table 0.1: Overview of the data and the empirical chapters Table 1.1: Overview of literature on media storms and related concepts Table 2.1: Overview of literature on the method and operationalization of media storms and related concepts Table 2.2: Number and statistical features of media storms in De Standaard, VRT and VTM (2001- 2008 depending on different cut-off points (explosiveness and size). Table 2.3: Top five issues: Non-storm coverage vs. media storm coverage Table 2.4: Overview of storms in De Standaard, VRT News and VTM news (2001-2008) Table 3.1: List of interviews with general editors (2013) Table 3.2: List of interviews with news managers (2016, after Brussels Bombings) Table 4.1: List of independent variables Table 4.2: Descriptives (list of independent variables, N=56) Table 4.3: Logistic regression on the conducive factors of media storms Table 5.1: Descriptive data on political reaction (N=72, storms and non-storms) Table 5.2: Cross-table of political reaction of storms vs. non-storms Table 5.3: Logistic regression on political reaction Table 5.4: Cross-table of various types of political reaction for storms vs. non-storms Table 5.5: Logistic regression on statement by a member of parliament Table 5.6: Logistic regression on statement by the prime minister Table 5.7: Logistic regression on the action parliamentary question Table 5.7: Logistic regression on the action parliamentary question Table 5.8: Logistic regression on the action bill (only storms included in the analysis) Table 5.9: Overview of media storms leading to a bill III LIST OF FIGURES Figure 0.1: Classic scheme of communication research Figure 0.2: Overview of dissertation Figure 2.1: Comparing non-storm vs. storm coverage of issues in De Standaard Figure 2.2: Comparing non-storm vs. storm coverage of issues for VRT News Figure 2.3: Comparing non-storm vs. storm coverage of issues in VTM News Figure 2.4: Media attention (VRT NEWS and VTM NEWS) for SABENA Figure 2.5: Media attention (VRT NEWS, VTM NEWS and De Standaard) for the Tsunami Figure 3.1: Level of imitation