The news media are frequently accused of portraying politics as a strategic game rather than focusing on political issues. However, the understanding of the prevalence of different news frames in the media coverage of politics is limited in several respects. This article seeks to contribute to remedying this by (1) conducting a longitudinal analysis of the use of different news frames during election periods as well as in everyday politics, (2) adopting an analytical framework including several different types of process focus, and (3) pointing to the importance of including political developments alongside changes in the media system when explaining developments in the news coverage of politics. The empirical analysis of twenty years of public radio news in Denmark confirms a long-term trend toward greater focus on electoral consequences in news stories in election periods; however, the trend is not mirrored in news stories when an election is not imminent. In explaining these findings, situational factors related to the political system and party politics must be included alongside explanations pointing toward an increasing professionalization of political parties as well as long-term changes in the media system and in party competition.
Benoit, William L., Kevin A. Stein, and Glenn J. Hansen .2005. "New York Times Coverage of Presidential Campaigns." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly82(2):356-76.
2.
Bille, Lars, and Karina Pedersen .2004. "Electoral Fortunes and Responses of the Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party in Denmark." In Political Parties and Electoral Change, ed. Peter Mair, Wolfgang C. Müller, and Fritz Plasser.London: SAGE Publications.
3.
Binderkrantz, Anne.2007. "Competing for Attention: Interest Groups in the News in a Danish Election." In Non-Party Actors in Elections, ed. David Farrel and Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck.Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos-Verlag.
4.
Bowler, Shaun, and David M. Farrell .1992. "The Study of Election Campaigns ." In Electoral Strategies and Political Marketing, ed. Shaun Bowler and David M. Farrell.London: Macmillan .
5.
Capella, Joseph N., and Kathleen Hall Jamieson .1996. "News Frames, Political Cynicism, and Media Cynicism" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science546:71-84.
6.
Cook, Timothy E.1998. Governing with the News. The News Media as a Political Institution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
7.
Damgaard, Erik.1994. "The Strong Parliaments of Scandinavia: Continuity and Change of Scandinavian Parliaments." In Parliaments in the Modern World. Changing Institutions, ed. G. W. Copeland and S. C. Patterson.Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
8.
de Vreese, Claes H.2001. "Election Coverage-New Directions for Public Broadcasting. The Netherlands and Beyond." European Journal of Communication16(2):155-80.
9.
de Vreese, Claes H., and Holli A. Semetko .2002. "Cynical and Engaged. Strategic Campaign Coverage, Public Opinion, and Mobilization in a Referendum" Communication Research29(6):615-41.
10.
Entman, Robert.1993. "Framing: Towards a Classification of a Fractured Paradigm ." Journal of Communication43(4):51-58.
11.
Entman, Robert M.2004. Projections of Power. Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
12.
Esser, Frank.1999. "Tabloidization of News. A Comparative Analysis of Anglo-American and German Press Journalism." European Journal of Communications14(3):291-324.
13.
Esser, Frank, Carsten Reinemann, and David Fan.2000. "Spin Doctoring in British and German Election Campaigns: How the Press Is Being Confronted with a New Quality of Political PR." European Journal of Communication15(2):209-39.
14.
Farrell, David.2006. "Political Parties in Changing Campaign Environment." In Handbook of Party Politics, ed. Richard M. Katz and William Crotty, 122-33. London : SAGE Publications.
15.
Gilens, Martin, Lynn Vavreck, and Martin Cohen.2007. "The Mass Media and the Public's Assessments of Presidential Candidates, 1952-2000" Journal of Politics69(4):1160-75.
16.
Green, Jane.2007. "When Parties and Voters Agree: Valence Issues and Party Competition." Political Studies55(3):629-55.
17.
Green-Pedersen, Christoffer.2006. "Long-Term Changes in Danish Party Politics" Scandinavian Political Studies29(3):221-37.
18.
Green-Pedersen, Christoffer.2007. "The Growing Importance of Issue Competition. The Changing Nature of Party Competition in Western Europe." Political Studies55(4):608-28.
19.
Green-Pedersen, Christoffer, and Rune Stubager.2007. Coding of Danish Radio News 1984-2003 . Aarhus, Denmark: Department of Political Science. www.agendasetting.dk.
20.
Green-Pedersen, Christoffer, and Rune Stubager. Forthcoming. "The Political Conditionality of Mass Media Influence. When Do Parties Follow Mass Media Attention?" British Journal of Political Science.
21.
Hallin, Daniel C., and Paolo Mancini.2004. "Americanization, Globalization, and Secularization" In Comparing Political Communication. Theories, Cases, and Challenges, ed. Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch.Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
22.
Hjarvard, Stig.2008. En verden af medier. Medialiseringen af politik, sprog, religion og leg. København, Denmark: Samfundslitteratur.
23.
Holtz-Bacha, Christina.2004. "Political Campaign Communication" In Comparing Political Communication. Theories, Cases, and Challenges, ed. Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24.
Jamieson, Kathleen Hall.1992. Dirty Politics. Deception, Distraction, and Democracy . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
25.
Kriesi, HansPeter, EdgarGrande, RomainLachat, MartinDolezal, Simon Bornschier, and Timotheos Frey.2006. "Globalization and the Transformation of the National Political Space: Six European Countries Compared." European Journal of Political Research45:921-56.
26.
Lombard, Matthew, Jennifer Snyder-Duch, and Cheryl Campanella Bracken.2005. Practical Resources for Assessing and Reporting Intercoder Reliability in Content Analysis Research Projects. http://www.temple.edu/sct/mmc/reliability/#Lombard,%202002 .
27.
Lund, Anker Brink, ed. 2000. Først med det sidste. En nyhedsuge i Danmark. Århus, Denmark: Ajour.
28.
Lund, Anker Brink.2004. Den redigerende magt. Nyhedsinstitutionens politiske indflydelse . Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Universitetsforlag .
29.
Mair, Peter.2008. "The Challenge to Party Government." West European Politics31(1-2):211-34.
30.
Mair, Peter, Wolfgang Müller, and Fritz Plasser.2004. "Conclusion: Political Parties in Changing Electoral Markets" In Political parties and Electoral Change , ed. Peter Mair, Wolfgang Müller, and Fritz Plasser.London: SAGE Publications.
31.
Norris, Pippa.2000. A Virtuous Circle. Political Communications in Postindustrial Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
32.
Patterson, Thomas E.1993. Out of Order. New York: Knopf.
33.
Schulz, Winfried, Reimar Zeh, and Oliver Quiring.2005. "Voters in a Changing Media Environment. A Data-Based Retrospective on Consequences of Media Change in Germany" European Journal of Communication20(1):55-88.
34.
Strömbäck, Jesper, and Toril Aalberg.2008. "Election News Coverage in Democratic Corporatist Countries: A Comparative Study of Sweden and Norway." Scandinavian Political Studies31(1):91-106.
35.
Strömbäck, Jesper, and Daniela V. Dimitrova .2006. "Political and Media Systems Matter. A Comparison of Election Coverage in Sweden and the United States ." Press/Politics11(4):131-47.
36.
Swanson, David L.2004. "Transnational Trends in Political Communication" In Comparing Political Communication. Theories, Cases, and Challenges , ed. Frank Esser and Barbara Pfetsch.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
Walgrave, Stefaan, and Peter Van Aelst .2006. "The Contingency of the Mass Media's Political Agenda Setting Power: Toward a Preliminary Theory." Journal of Communication56:88-109.
38.
Weaver, R. Kent, and Bert A. Rockman .1993. "When and How Do Institutions Matter?" In Do Institutions Matter? ed. R. Kent Weaver and Bert A. Rockman, 445-61. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
