Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 Comparing Political Journalism Comparing Political Journalism is a systematic, in-depth study of the factors that shape and infl uence political news coverage today. Using techniques drawn from the growing fi eld of comparative political com- munication, an international group of contributors analyse political news content drawn from newspapers, television news, and news websites from 16 countries, to assess what kinds of media systems are most conducive to producing quality journalism. Underpinned by key conceptual themes, such as the role that the media are expected to play in democracies and quality of coverage, this analysis highlights the fragile balance of news performance in relation to economic forces. A multitude of causal factors are explored to explain key features of contem- porary political news coverage, such as strategy and game framing, negativity, political balance, personalization, and hard and soft news. Comparing Political Journalism offers an unparalleled scope in assessing the implications for the ongoing transformation of Western media systems and addresses core concepts of central importance to students and scholars of political communication world-wide. Claes de Vreese is Professor and Chair of Political Communication at the Uni- versity of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is the founding Director of the Center for Politics and Communication (www.polcomm.org). His most recent book is Political Journalism in Comparative Perspective (2014, with Erik Albæk, Arjen van Dalen, and Nael Jebril). Frank Esser is Professor and Chair of International and Comparative Media Research at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He co-directs the National Research Center on the Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century (NCCR Democracy). His most recent book is Mediatization of Politics (2014, with Jesper Strömbäck). David Nicolas Hopmann is Professor with special responsibilities at the Centre for Journalism and the Department of Political Science at the University of South- ern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 Communication and Society Series Editor: James Curran This series encompasses the broad fi eld of media and cultural studies. Its main concerns are the media and the public sphere: on whether the media empower or fail to empower popular forces in society; media organisations and public policy; the political and social consequences of media campaigns; and the role of media entertainment, ranging from potboilers and the human-interest story to rock music and TV sport. For a complete list of titles in this series, please see: https://www.routledge. com/series/SE0130 . Journalism in Context Practice and theory for the digital age Angela Phillips News and Politics The rise of live and interpretive journalism Stephen Cushion Gender and Media Representing, producing, consuming Tonny Krijnen and Sofi e Van Bauwel Misunderstanding the Internet Second edition James Curran, Natalie Fenton, and Des Freedman Africa's Media Image in the 21st Century From the ‘Heart of Darkness’ to ‘Africa Rising’ Edited by Melanie Bunce, Suzanne Franks, and Chris Paterson Comparing Political Journalism Edited by Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, and David Nicolas Hopmann Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 Comparing Political Journalism Edited by Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, and David Nicolas Hopmann Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 selection and editorial matter, Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, and David Nicolas Hopmann © 2017 individual chapters; the contributors The right of Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, and David Nicolas Hopmann to be identified as authors of the editorial matter and the authors of their individual chapters has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Vreese, C. H. de (Claes Holger), 1974– editor. | Esser, Frank, 1966– editor. | Hopmann, David Nicolas. Title: Comparing political journalism / edited by Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser, and David Nicolas Hopmann. Description: London New York : Routledge, 2016. Identifiers: LCCN 2016001725 | ISBN 9781138655850 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138655867 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315622286 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Press and politics. | Journalism—Political aspects. Classification: LCC PN4751 .C55 2016 | DDC 070.4/4932—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016001725 ISBN: 978-1-138-65585-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-65586-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-62228-6 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 Contents List of fi gures vii List of tables ix List of contributors xi Preface xiii Acknowledgements xv Praise for this edition xvi 1 Our goal: comparing news performance 1 CLAES DE VREESE, FRANK ESSER, AND DAVID NICOLAS HOPMANN WITH TORIL AALBERG, PETER VAN AELST, ROSA BERGANZA, NICOLAS HUBÉ, GUIDO LEGNANTE, JÖRG MATTHES, STYLIANOS PAPATHANASSOPOULOS, CARSTEN REINEMANN, SUSANA SALGADO, TAMIR SHEAFER, JAMES STANYER, AND JESPER STRÖMBÄCK 2 How we did it: approach and methods 10 DAVID NICOLAS HOPMANN, FRANK ESSER, AND CLAES DE VREESE WITH TORIL AALBERG, PETER VAN AELST, ROSA BERGANZA, NICOLAS HUBÉ, GUIDO LEGNANTE, JÖRG MATTHES, STYLIANOS PAPATHANASSOPOULOS, CARSTEN REINEMANN, SUSANA SALGADO, TAMIR SHEAFER, JAMES STANYER, AND JESPER STRÖMBÄCK 3 The explanatory logic: factors that shape political news 22 FRANK ESSER, CLAES DE VREESE, AND DAVID NICOLAS HOPMANN WITH TORIL AALBERG, PETER VAN AELST, ROSA BERGANZA, NICOLAS HUBÉ, GUIDO LEGNANTE, JÖRG MATTHES, STYLIANOS PAPATHANASSOPOULOS, CARSTEN REINEMANN, SUSANA SALGADO, TAMIR SHEAFER, JAMES STANYER, AND JESPER STRÖMBÄCK 4 Strategy and game framing 33 TORIL AALBERG, CLAES DE VREESE, AND JESPER STRÖMBÄCK Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 vi Contents 5 Interpretive journalism 50 SUSANA SALGADO, JESPER STRÖMBÄCK, TORIL AALBERG, AND FRANK ESSER 6 Negativity 71 FRANK ESSER, SVEN ENGESSER, JÖRG MATTHES, AND ROSA BERGANZA 7 Political balance 92 DAVID NICOLAS HOPMANN, PETER VAN AELST, SUSANA SALGADO, AND GUIDO LEGNANTE 8 Personalization 112 PETER VAN AELST, TAMIR SHEAFER, NICOLAS HUBÉ, AND STYLIANOS PAPATHANASSOPOULOS 9 Hard and soft news 131 CARSTEN REINEMANN, JAMES STANYER, AND SEBASTIAN SCHERR 10 Cross-conceptual architecture of news 150 CARSTEN REINEMANN, SEBASTIAN SCHERR, AND JAMES STANYER WITH TORIL AALBERG, PETER VAN AELST, ROSA BERGANZA, FRANK ESSER, DAVID NICOLAS HOPMANN, NICOLAS HUBÉ, GUIDO LEGNANTE, JÖRG MATTHES, STYLIANOS PAPATHANASSOPOULOS, SUSANA SALGADO, TAMIR SHEAFER, JESPER STRÖMBÄCK, AND CLAES DE VREESE 11 Conclusion: assessing news performance 168 CLAES DE VREESE, CARSTEN REINEMANN, FRANK ESSER, AND DAVID NICOLAS HOPMANN WITH TORIL AALBERG, PETER VAN AELST, ROSA BERGANZA, NICOLAS HUBÉ, GUIDO LEGNANTE, JÖRG MATTHES, STYLIANOS PAPATHANASSOPOULOS, SUSANA SALGADO, TAMIR SHEAFER, JAMES STANYER, AND JESPER STRÖMBÄCK References 184 Index 199 Review Copy – Not for Redistribution Susana Salgado - University of Lisbon - Institute of Social Sciences - 02/02/2017 Figures 1.1 News performance in context 5 4.1 The presence of strategic game frames across countries 41 4.2 The presence of strategic game frames according to dominant issues in news items 41 4.3 The presence of strategic game frames according to media outlet type 42 4.4 The relationship between country score on strategic game frame index and national market share of public service channels 44 4.5 The relationship between country score on strategic game frame index and the number of parties in parliament 45 5.1 The relationship between interpretive journalism and newspaper competition 66 5.2 The relationship between interpretive journalism and television market competition 66 6.1 Federalism/decentralization predicting Negativity Index 85 6.2 News production costs predicting Negativity Index 86 6.3 Adspend predicting Negativity Index 86 7.1 Visibility (index of similarity) and impartiality in 15 countries 98 7.2 Visibility (index of similarity) and impartiality across countries 100 7.3 Proportional reduction in error (PRE: R2 × 100) for 30 linear regressions predicting the relative visibility of political parties in European media outlets 105 7.4 Average favorability