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By providing diverse news content, news media are key for a well- functioning public sphere. However, agreement on how to measure news content diversity is lacking. Research often refers to democratic theory as normative reference point, but different models of democracy understand news content diversity differently. Our study makes a unique, innovative contribution to this field: (1) We develop a methodological framework for measuring news content diversity, that is a set of comprehensive measuring instruments that derive different operationalizations of topic and actor diversity each from liberal and deliberative democratic theories. (2) Considering that a good public discourse requires more than diversity, we analyze news content diversity in the context of four other journalistic standards: neutrality, rationality, discursivity, and civility. (3) We prove the applicability of our measuring instruments by means of a standardized content analysis of six German news media as a case study. The different quality profiles of these outlets our analysis reveals are explained by their different functions in the media system. Our study shows how important a multi-perspectival normative approach to news content diversity is, both empirically and theoretically. Future studies on news content diversity should make their normative foundations transparent and derive their indicators purposefully therefrom.
The issue of migration is highly salient in public debates in many countries. Given this salience and the risk of political instrumentalization, often by actors from the far right, it is important for citizens to receive high-quality, differentiated information on the migration issue. This touches upon the question of media performance. While there is abundant research on the media portrayal of the migration issue, this research strand is, surprisingly, hardly linked to research on media performance. We establish this link and present an innovative, sophisticated framework for standardized content analyses on migration. It combines three standards of media performance that are key to deliberative democratic theories—viewpoint diversity, balance, and deliberativeness—and utilizes value frames and the sociological concept of idea elements to measure viewpoint diversity and balance. A first empirical test of our newly developed approach, taking Germany as a case, shows noticeable differences in the media performance of 11 outlets analyzed. This test proves the applicability of our framework, which provides a valuable starting point for future comparative research on the media performance of migration coverage across countries and over time.
ZusammenfassungDie Studie untersucht, inwieweit Medien bei der Debatte um die Flucht- und Asylmigration die zentralen Deutungsmuster der Parteien wiedergeben und ob dabei Diskursallianzen zwischen einzelnen Medienangeboten und Parteien zum Vorschein kommen. Unser Beitrag widmet sich damit der öffentlichkeitstheoretisch relevanten Frage, ob bzw. welche Medien als Organe partikularer Standpunkte fungieren und welche durch eine breite und ausgewogene Abbildung konkurrierender Problemdeutungen die Grundlagen für eine unabhängige Meinungsbildung schaffen. Darüber hinaus prüfen wir, inwiefern Medien den Parteien eine faire Chance geben, dass ihre Positionen für das Staatsbürgerpublikum wahrnehmbar werden. Wir ermitteln das Ausmaß des politischen Parallelismus anhand einer Inhaltsanalyse von 18 Medienangeboten und von Dokumenten der sieben Bundestagsparteien. Auf der Ebene problembezogener Aussagen erfassen wir wertebezogene Deutungsmuster. So können wir die inhaltliche Substanz der vermittelten Positionen präzise nachzeichnen und Ähnlichkeiten von Medien und Parteien hinsichtlich ihrer Deutung des Streitthemas identifizieren. Ferner erlaubt unser Verfahren eine Verortung von Medien und Parteien im Raum politischer Positionen, der von Grundkonflikten (Cleavages) aufgespannt wird. Über diesen Rückgriff auf ein Konzept der politischen Soziologie können wir Nähe und Distanz von Medien und Parteien verdichtend beschreiben.
Aufklärung neben Barbarei
(2019)