Does Cross-Media Concentration Translate Into Cross-Promotion? Analysing Newspapers’ Coverage of Affiliated and Competitive Television Stations

• In Event: Media Systems and Media Markets: Effects on Journalism

Abstract

Recent waves of cross-media concentration, in Flanders as elsewhere, reinvigorate debates on the impact of ownership structures on diversity in media content. However, with a main focus on hard news, this debate pays little attention to corporate influence on media’s cross-promotion of affiliated media outlets, a shortcoming this study wishes to address by means of a diachronic quantitative content analysis of Flemish newspapers’ coverage of television programmes. The paper analyses if cross-media concentration results in cross-promotion of press outlets’ affiliated television stations. Results partly support the thesis that newspapers cover their affiliated television stations more frequently. However, the paper explores alternative explanations, such as characteristics of newspapers, target audiences and the television programmes obtaining coverage (including broadcast frequency and genre). Hence the paper points to the complexity of tackling cross-promotion and the importance of taking alternative elements into account.

Authors

• Koen Panis, U of Antwerp - Department of Communication Studies

• Hilde Dy Van den Bulck, U of Antwerp

• Miriam van der Burg, U of Antwerp

• Birte Verschraegen, U of Antwerp