The Role of Issue Ownership in Flemish Television News Coverage

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Political Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Studies about media bias and balance of political news sources inform us about which political actors are given more access to the news and which are portrayed more favorable. In this study, we depart from one specific sort of journalists’ opinions, their issue ownership perceptions, and scrutinize how these relate to both access and favorability of political actors in the news. To this end, a content analysis of 3846 news items from two Flemish television broadcasters, containing 8548 political actors, was performed. Results of the analyses are most clear for access and confirm that parties are more selected as news sources in items about an owned issue than in news items about a non-owned issue. For favorability, results are more mixed but nevertheless lead us to believe that political actors from the issue-owning party receive a more favorable coverage as compared to political actors from other parties.

Author

• Kirsten Van Camp, University of Antwerp