Still the Marketplace of Ideas? Studying Diversity of News Content in Comparative Perspective

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

There is broad consensus in the literature that democratic societies need a vibrant public sphere in which a plurality of social actors participate in the exchange of a wide range of viewpoints and discourses on different issues. The availability of such a diversity of voices and perspectives allows citizens to arrive at informed opinions and participate to democracy. In advanced liberal democracies, news media are considered as key actors in providing this backbone of democracy by reporting on important issues to citizens and by submitting authorities to public scrutiny. The recent and ongoing economic crisis has seriously affected the media market, resulting in a new wave of cut-downs and concentration movements. This raises the fundamental question if and to what extent the diversity of mediated issues, actors, viewpoints is still guaranteed. On the other hand news media technologies offer more opportunities for non-elite actors to participate in news making going against a trend of homogenization. Although media pluralism is a traditional topic in communication science, these new trends ask for a renewed interest in the topic of diversity of news content. In particular, as this topic is seldom supported by empirical studies that go across country borders. All papers in this panel opt for a comparative design that allows to distinguish between the influence of ownership structures, media market characteristics and political context on content diversity.

The panel brings together scholars from a wide variety of countries and universities. All country teams have extended experience with comparative content analyses, including some of the leading scholars worldwide. The panel will be chaired by Paolo Mancini, Dan Hallin will take up the role of discussant.

Paper presenters
Rodney Benson and Tim Wood (New York University, US)
Frank Esser and Edda Humprecht (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Carsten Reinemann and Thomas Zerback (University of Munich, Germany)
Paolo Mancini, Marco Mazzoni and Marco Damiani (university of Perugia, Italy)
Peter Van Aelst and Andrea Masini (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Sharon Coen (University of Salford, UK)

Sub Unit

• Political Communication

Chair

• Paolo Mancini, U di Perugia

Individual Presentations

• Who Says What or Nothing at All? Speakers and Frames in Unauthorized Immigration News in the United States, Norway, and France - Rodney Benson, New York U; Tim Wood, New York University

• Actor Diversity and Viewpoint Diversity: Two of a Kind? A Four Country Study on the Diversity of News on Immigration - Andrea Masini, University of Antwerp; Marco Mazzoni, U of Perugia; Sharon Coen, U of Salford; Paolo Mancini, U di Perugia; Peter Van Aelst, U of Antwerp

• Content Diversity in Online News: Comparing Different Types of Ownership - Frank Esser, U of Zurich; Edda Humprecht, U of Zurich - IPMZ

• Does the National Context Matter? Towards a Framework for Analyzing International Differences in Content Diversity - Carsten E. Reinemann, U of Munich; Thomas Zerback, LMU Munich; Peter Van Aelst, U of Antwerp

Respondent

• Daniel C. Hallin, U of California - San Diego