The political power of mass media
Veni grant for research into the influence of the press on national parliaments
Dr Rens Vliegenthart who will be conducting research to assess whether the media's influence is really as pervasive as many believe, as well as determining the factors that play a key role in shaping this influence.
The mass media are largely responsible for setting the political agenda in western countries and are thus the most important weathervanes available to politicians. This widely held assumption is the focal point of a new study by communication scientist Dr Rens Vliegenthart who will be conducting research to assess whether the media's influence is really as pervasive as many believe, as well as determining the factors that play a key role in shaping this influence. The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research awarded him a € 250,000 Veni grant to conduct a three-year study in four different countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain.‘Are you familiar with the article in De Telegraaf (Dutch newspaper) in which...' Similar sentences have prefaced a great many parliamentary questions in the Netherlands parliament. Is there clear-cut evidence that the mass media are responsible for setting the political agenda? ‘The mass media certainly have an influence on parliamentary decision-making processes, but we need to examine just how far-reaching this influence really is, under which circumstances it has the greatest impact and which factors are responsible for shaping it', explains Vliegenthart. These factors include: the nature of the issue (what is the topic?), the type of parliamentary activity in question (parliamentary questions, legislative proposals) and the political system.
Sensationalist news reports
In order to gain a clearer picture of the media's actual influence, Vliegenthart screens media reports and parliamentary documents for three types of issues: immigration, European integration and inflation. ‘Obviously, I would have preferred to analyse all the news, but that would have been far too much work. That is why I opted for this selection of subjects, which themselves reflect distinctions made in the media itself. Immigration is a typically sensationalist news subject, the issue of inflation is always at the centre of media attention, while the debate on European integration is mainly excluded from the public arena. This selection provided me with a good variety of subjects.'The media reports and official parliamentary documents were analysed by means of a computer programme. The analysis method also took into account the consequential timeline. ‘This allows me to determine whether the media have influenced the political agenda or vice versa.'
Party discipline
The communication scientist made a conscious decision to compare the situation in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain. ‘The Netherlands and Belgium are the most similar in terms of the relationship between political parties and politicians and the way in which candidates are elected to parliament. The situation in Germany is different due to the federal structure, while Great Britain is another story altogether with its system of parliamentary constituencies. This will allow me to analyse whether a country's political structure also affects the impact of the media.'Vliegenthart expects this will prove to be the case: ‘In Great Britain, members of the House of Commons are directly elected. It seems likely that they would feel more at liberty to respond to reports in the media than members of parliament who are expected to toe the party line.'
Previously unanswered questions
Vliegenthart expects the study will yield answers to some questions that have never been posed before. 'There have definitely been studies on the media's power or influence in the past, but scientists haven't really focused on the factors that affect this influence. The outcomes could be relevant to both journalists and politicians: they will be better equipped to judge the scope of their influence and the factors they should take into account.'
Author: Esther van Bochove, FMG Communication Department