Watchdog or Lapdog? Framing of the Flemish Government’s PSB Policies by Public and Commercial Broadcasters

• In Event: How Media Cover Media Policy: Understanding Media Policy Bias and Media Policy Silence

Abstract

Taking as a case a comparative analysis of the attention to and framing of audiovisual media policy in the main Flemish public service broadcasting and commercial news programs between 2004 and 2014, this contribution discusses media policy news bias and reflects on conceptual and empirical challenges of media policy bias. After consecutive waves of liberalization and deregulation, public service broadcasting (PSB) remains one of few residual areas of active policy making. PSB policies are often considered by commercial broadcasters to go against their own interests as PSB are considered to disturb a level playing field. This observation begs the question to what extent and how PSB and commercial news programs discuss PSB policies. The empirical analysis tests some commonly held conceptions about media agenda setting, media storms versus media silences, interpretations of “objectivity” with respect to PSB and commercial news provision, and points to methodological bottlenecks.

Author

• Hilde Dy Van den Bulck, U of Antwerp