The Political Agenda-Setting Effect of Media Storms: A Story-Level Analysis

• In Event: The News Media and the Strategic Behaviour of Political Actors

Abstract

This paper studies the political agenda setting effects of media storms in Belgium (2001-2008). It hypothesizes that media storms—sudden explosions in media attention for an issue or event—evoke more and different kinds of political reaction than ‘general’ news coverage. Methodologically, the paper takes a story-level approach. Based on a content analysis of three Belgian news outlets (newspaper De Standaard and television news broadcasts on public broadcaster VRT and commercial broadcaster VTM) it identifies 72 news stories (36 storms and 36 non-storms) and investigates their effect on the plenary meetings of the Belgian federal Parliament. Quantitative analyses show that media storms systematically lead to more (re)action in Parliament; and that they particularly generate more substantial political (re)action than non-storms, such as mentions by the Prime Minister or bills. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the relationship between media and politics.

Authors

• Anne Hardy, Universiteit Antwerpen

• Julie Sevenans, University of Antwerp