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Look Who’s Talking. An Analysis of Actors in Television News (2003-2016)

Mon, May 28, 9:30 to 10:45, Hilton Prague, Floor: M, Karlin I

Abstract

Who gets to speak in the news plays a crucial role in the shaping of the news. The study of actors in the news is consequently an enduring topic in news media research. However, little systematic knowledge exists about differences between news issues in the occurrence of speaking actors. Based on a new fourfold classification of actors in the news, we study differences in actor prevalence over time, between broadcasters and issues. To do so, we analyze the entire population of Dutch speaking television news items in Belgium from the two main broadcasters from the period 2003-2016. While we do not find large changes over time, significant differences exist between issues in the actors that get to speak in the news. Moreover, the prevalence of speaking actors differs between the public service and commercial broadcaster, even when controlling for news issues.

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