Television Reporting of Second-Order Elections

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Abstract
This study is a cross-national investigation of television reporting of the 1999 European elections in Britain, Denmark, and The Netherlands. Three aspects of the role of news organizations in shaping election news coverage are considered: the degree of organizational effort invested in the coverage, the editorial policies of the news organization and the application of news selection criteria. The study draws on interviews with (senior) political correspondents and editors-in-chief as well as content analytic indicators from the news in the three countries. A number of cross-national differences were identified. While the visibility of the campaign was low to modest in all countries the news organizations differed substantially in their contribution to the agenda formation process. British news reflected the politicians' agenda to a greater extent than Dutch news, in which the elections were largely neglected, while Danish news organizations played a proactive role in setting their own news agenda. The increased editorial autonomy and selectivity are discussed in the light of previous research on political communication in European elections.

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