ANALYSIS: Irish media's election coverage shows policy issues predominate over treating it as a game between winners and losers
RARELY HAS the media itself been the subject of so many news stories and public controversies. In the local arena in the past 12 months these have included the libelling of Fr Kevin Reynolds by RTÉ’s Prime Time and the fallout from the presidential election debate on the station’s Frontline programme.
More recently, there have been discussions regarding ownership and control at Independent News and Media, while in Britain the Leveson inquiry into press standards has generated debate that may yet have implications for how the media operates here.
Absent from much of the discussion of all these issues has been hard fact. We have been told media standards have declined, that bias prevails in coverage and that running with the pack is a prevalent feature of journalistic work. But, as the lessons from the financial crisis show, conclusions without supporting evidence can be widely inaccurate.
In an initial attempt to shine some light on one area of media activity in Ireland, a major research project at Dublin City University has focused on newspaper and broadcast coverage during the 2011 general election campaign.
In this study we were interested in examining how the media framed its election coverage. Specifically, we wanted to know more about selection, organisation and emphasis in terms of election reportage.
The research focused on the extent to which newspapers framed the election as a game between winners and losers, as distinct from a debate over issues and policies.
We make no judgment on the relative merits or otherwise of coverage as game versus coverage as issue. But there is a considerable body of research which argues that an excessive focus on politics as a game increases public distrust and enhances cynicism towards the political system.
Two noted international scholars, Jay Blumler and Stephen Coleman, have argued strongly that “if the public perceives politics as a game played by insiders based on self-interest, the result will be mass disengagement from political participation”.
Why framing elections or politics as a game is so dominant may well be a function of modern political engagement – and possibly a blurring of policy difference between parties – and also changes in the media market. The increased importance of television, the demand for speed and multiple deadlines faced by journalists, along with greater commercial pressures, undoubtedly play a role.
With less time to file stories – and demands to file more stories across different platforms – there is far less time to analyse complex and complicated policy issues. A focus on the sport of politics is easier, and proliferation of discussion about opinion poll findings fills airtime and newspapers – and does so relatively cheaply.
The Irish newspaper market offers an interesting case, as all the newspapers depend upon circulation sales and advertising to remain viable.
Not unsurprisingly, our study showed a significant increase in the proportion of newspaper coverage devoted to the economy during this election campaign, compared to the contests in 2002 and 2007. Where just 32 per cent of election coverage was devoted to policy or issues in the three main daily broadsheets in 2007, this rose to almost 60 per cent in last year’s election.
What our research shows is there were significant differences between how the 12 newspapers we analysed covered the 2011 election. The initial figures presented a very surprising result – namely that the Irish Sun had the highest proportion of issue-oriented articles during the campaign, followed closely by the Sunday Independent, which has frequently been criticised for its opinion-oriented editorial approach to news coverage.
The Irish Times was placed third in this initial analysis of game content versus issue content. There was less surprise in the newspapers that contained very little policy coverage – Sunday tabloids the Sunday World and the now defunct News of the World.
We then advanced this analysis by examining the amount of coverage each newspaper gave to the election as a proportion of their overall news coverage. This provided a more meaningful assessment of newspaper coverage and led to a reversal of the initial findings.
In particular, the interpretation of the Irish Sun’s treatment of the election was now considered in a very different light. This tabloid may have had the highest proportion of policy-oriented articles, but it had very little election coverage. In fact, after the News of the World the lowest level of election coverage was found in the Sun.
What our study clearly demonstrates is there was considerable variation in newspaper coverage during the 2011 general election. The analysis shows a preponderance towards game content in the Sunday tabloids followed by the Sunday broadsheets (though the Sunday Business Post was the most issue-oriented in its coverage). The daily tabloids in turn trail the daily broadsheets.
This Irish study builds on comparable research in a number of other countries including Sweden, Belgium, Spain and the United States. Most of these other studies concluded the media has a preference for the game-frame content in election coverage.
The differences between these countries are wide – although not as wide as the variation between the Irish newspapers – and Ireland emerges as the only country where the issue frame predominates over the game frame.
Overall in Ireland there was 8 per cent more policy than game coverage, compared to 1 per cent more game than policy in Sweden, 6 per cent in Spain, 34 per cent in Belgium and 34 per cent in the United States.
In this instance, the initial findings from our content analysis study of coverage in the 2011 general election campaign suggests Irish newspaper output has much to commend it – despite recent criticism.
The authors work at Dublin City University. A full version of this study, including broadcast findings, will be published later in 2012