Political Communication Cultures in Western Europe

Role of the media in politics. Task of the media in democracy. Mutual relations of political actors and journalists. Professional self-image.

Topics: The role of the media in politics: assessment of the political influence of the media (national daily newspapers, tabloid press, public and private television stations as well as online media); media trust of citizens; individual media can be assigned to political tendencies; left-right classification of the media as a whole; assessment of citizen information by the media; assessment of the influence of media coverage on democracy in the country; media coverage leads to more or less political trust; journalist trust; journalists´ opinions are too often included in media coverage; strength of commercial and political influences on media coverage; positive influence of commercial TV offerings on media diversity; better political information before the introduction of commercial TV offerings; overestimated power of the media; media decides on relevance of political issues; success of politicians depends on media coverage; political opinion polls: general influence of political opinion polls on politics; attitude towards opinion polls (Scale: good for a democracy, reflection of population opinion, no enforceability of political projects after rejection in opinion polls bad results in opinion polls lead to a loss of reputation of politicians in their own party, journalists are more credible by referring to credibility through reference to opinion polls, great influence on electoral voting behaviour); assessing the media effectiveness of selected opportunities (speeches in parliament, appearances on talk shows, specific information to selected journalists, dramatic presentation of political issues).

Relationship between journalists and politicians: greater readiness politicians to pass on information to journalists with similar political similar political orientation; legitimate publication of of confidential political information by journalists without without permission; assessment of successful influence of influence of politicians on public debates.

Direction of development of political journalism: Journalists avoid comprehensive coverage of complex issues; negative media portrayal of politicians; increasingly less coverage of politics in the media; political reporting as entertainment programme; increasing focus on politicians´ private lives; greater journalists´ interest in tactical aspects than in political content; satisfaction with democracy; task of media in democracy (representing all social groups according to their groups according to their importance, transparency of political decisions, political participation of citizens); direct citizen influence on political decisions (e.g. referendums) is relevant to democracy.

Professional role: Importance of different aspects for the self-image as a politician when communicating via the media: Importance of media appearances: Informing about political projects, reaching a broad audience, influencing political decisions); (Journalists were asked about their self-image: balanced consideration of different points of view, making all information available for political judgement, interesting news for a broad audience, presenting own views on political on political issues, checking the statements of politicians and checking politicians, providing information quickly); personal contact with journalists or politicians: frequency of personal contacts and PR contacts; frequency of dinner dates with politicians or journalists; conversations with politicians or journalists at social events; number of politicians or journalists in the circle of friends; harmonious versus conflictual relationship with journalists; strength of the influence of their political stance on the professional relationship with journalists; frequency of reasons for conflict between politicians and journalists (incorrect reproduction of information by journalists, unfair treatment, lack of respect for the work of politicians, professional conflicts of interest).

Demography: Years of professional experience as a journalist or politician; Number of years in current position; professional experience in a political or journalistic organisation or in journalism; age; sex; Left-right self-assessment; party membership.

Additionally coded were: Country; occupational group; elite group; media type; public or private news agency; type of press; original or expanded sample; interview mode; European party codes; Government actor or opposition actor; weighting factor.