The news coverage of the 2004 European Parliamentary Election Campaign in 25 countries

This article analyzes the news coverage of the 2004 European Parliamentary\ud (EP) elections in all 25 member states of the European Union (EU). It\ud provides a unique pan-European overview of the campaign coverage based\ud on an analysis of three national newspapers and two television newscasts in\ud the two weeks leading up to the elections. On average, the elections were\ud more visible in the new 10 member states than in the 15 old EU member\ud states. The political personalities and institutional actors featured in news\ud stories about the elections were generally national political actors and not EU\ud actors. When it was evaluative, the news in the old EU-15 was generally\ud negative towards the EU, while in the new countries a mixed pattern was\ud found. The findings of the study are discussed in the light of the literature on\ud the EU’s legitimacy and communication deficit

"Off-line": the 2004 European parliamentary elections on television news in the enlarged Europe

© 2005 – IOS Press and the authors.We outline the competitive television news market in the enlarged European Union (EU) and demonstrate the continued importance of traditional media, in particular television, in the context of proliferation in choice of news sources, including on-line news services. Drawing upon a content analysis of the most widely watched evening television news programs in each of the EU countries, we find that on average, EU news in 2004 was more visible in the new member states than in the old member states. The level of coverage in the old member states was slightly higher in 2004 compared to 1999. Looking at individual countries there was considerable variation with some countries (e.g., Greece, Denmark, Slovakia, and Austria) devoting about 20% of the news to the elections and others (e.g., Germany, Belgium, and the Czech Republic) devoting about 5% or less to the elections

Interpreting the Media Logic behind Editorial Decisions

This article enters into debates about media logic in political coverage by way of a case study of the 2015 U.K. General Election. We quantitatively and qualitatively examine two dominant themes of coverage—news about campaign rallies and horse-race reporting—as both are widely seen in political communication scholarship as symptomatic of a media logic. We draw on a content analysis of BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4, and Channel 5 U.K. national television newscasts and semi-structured interviews with their heads of news and/or senior editors to help interpret how far a media logic was the editorial driving force behind coverage. At face value, our content analysis appears to support the media logic thesis, with all broadcasters—in particular commercial television newscasts—covering more process than policy issues. But our case study questions the antecedents of media logic and shines a light on a political logic that may have remained in the dark in large-scale content analysis studies. In following a political logic, we argue that this promoted the horse-race narrative, and naturalized the parties’ highly stage-managed rallies and walkabout

Pak-US Strategic Partnership and Challenge of Internal Radical Symbiosis

Pakistan’s efforts against the terrorism has entirely changed the security landscape of Pakistan. Growing waves of extremism, militancy and sectarianism emerged as a fundamental threat to the security of the state as the aftermath of 9/11. Different terrorist groups gathered under the umbrella of al-Qaeda and posed grave security challenges to the state. Although, their doctrinal philosophy and aims were stridently at contrast, but security situation compelled them to jointly chalk out a common strategy. Moreover, militants’ splinter groups with new leadership find out new source of funding which denied the upper hand of the security vanguards on them. The current paper at the first stage supplies deep analysis of the birth of various militant groups and on the next stage discusses different Jihadi, sectarian, and criminal groups’ closed nexus and their modus operandi. The outcome of the discussion shows that the benefits of marriage of convenience between the security apparatus and radical militants were less, but the impact was generational

Online Political Communication Strategies: MEPs, E-Representation, and Self-Representation

Research into the communication strategies of legislators has a long history. The European Parliament offers an opportunity to add to understanding of how legislators prioritize styles of communication, with a comparative perspective across 27 nations. Through content analysis of online communication, we investigate how the Internet is used by members of the European Parliament. Our analysis assesses three communication strategies: homestyle, impression management, and participatory. We find that a homestyle strategy predominates, followed by impression management. Participatory communication is emergent, but may earn legislators political capital, as it appears that proactive communicators who offer participatory opportunities are more likely to build an online following

Hard and Soft: Public Support for Turkish Membership in the EU

Support for European integration is a function no longer only of `hard' economic and utilitarian predictors but also of `soft' predictors such as feelings of identity and attitudes towards immigrants. Focusing on the issue of the potential membership of Turkey in the European Union (EU), this study demonstrates that the importance of `soft' predictors outweighs the role of `hard' predictors in understanding public opinion about Turkish membership. The study draws on survey data (N = 1630) and applies a series of regression models and structural equation modelling to show in addition how the effects of utilitarian considerations are mediated through `soft' indicators, further accentuating the importance of identity considerations and anti-immigration sentiments. The findings are discussed in the light of public support for and the legitimacy of further European enlargement

The News Coverage of the 2004 European Parliamentary Election Campaign in 25 Countries

This article analyses the news coverage of the 2004 European parliamentary elections in all 25 member states of the European Union (EU). It provides a unique pan-European overview of the campaign coverage based on an analysis of three national newspapers and two television newscasts in the two weeks leading up to the elections. On average, the elections were more visible in the 10 new member states than in the 15 old EU member states. The political personalities and institutional actors featured in news stories about the elections were generally national political actors and not EU actors. When evaluative, the news in the old EU-15 was generally negative towards the EU, whereas in the new countries a mixed pattern was found. The findings of the study are discussed in the light of the literature on the EU’s legitimacy and communication deficit

A Comparative Cyberconflict Analysis of Digital Activism Across Post-Soviet Countries

This article analyses digital activism comparatively in relation to three Post-Soviet regions: Russian/anti-Russian in Crimea and online political deliberation in Belarus, in juxtaposition to Estonia’s digital governance approach. The authors show that in civil societies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, cultural forms of digital activism, such as internet memes, thrive and produce and reproduce effective forms of political deliberation. In contrast to Estonia, in authoritarian regimes actual massive mobilization and protest is forbidden, or is severely punished with activists imprisoned, persecuted or murdered by the state. This is consistent with use of cultural forms of digital activism in countries where protest is illegal and political deliberation is restricted in government-controlled or oligarchic media. Humorous political commentary might be tolerated online to avoid mobilization and decompress dissent and resistance, yet remaining strictly within censorship and surveillance apparatuses. The authors’ research affirms the potential of internet memes in addressing apolitical crowds, infiltrating casual conversations and providing symbolic manifestation to resistant debates. Yet, the virtuality of the protest undermines its consistency and impact on offline political deliberation. Without knowing each other beyond social media, the participants are unlikely to form robust organisational structures and mobilise for activism offline