A shrinking Brussels press corps could put investigative EU journalism at risk

Citizens rely on the news media for information about European politics. At the centre of the news media’s role in EU integration stands one group of journalists: Brussels correspondents. However, research shows that many correspondents experience both economic as well as professional obstacles when reporting on Europe – if they don’t get sent back home in the first place

Book review: agenda setting, policies, and political systems: a comparative approach, edited by Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Stefaan Walgrave

Before making significant policy decisions, political actors and parties must first craft an agenda designed to place certain issues at the center of political attention. This agenda-setting approach comes under the spotlight in this new collection, with case studies from across Europe and the rest of the world. Sophie Lecheler finds that readers are offered a number of well-executed country case studies, paired with insights into the methodological framework used by all authors of this book

Short but Critical?: How “Fake News” and “Anti-Elitist” Media Attacks Undermine Perceived Message Credibility on Social Media

Citizens increasingly turn to social media for information, where they often rely on cues to judge the credibility of news messages. In these environments, populist politicians use “fake news” and “anti-elitist” attacks to undermine the credibility of news messages. This article argues that to truly understand the impact of these criticism cues, one must simultaneously consider additional contextual cues as well as individual-level moderators. In a factorial survey, we exposed 715 respondents to tweets by a politician retweeting and discrediting a news message of which topic and source varied. We find that both the fake news cue and the anti-elitist cue have limited across-the-board effects but decrease credibility if the message is incongruent with voters’ issue positions. Our results thus offer a more optimistic view on the power of populist media criticism cues and suggest that source and confirmation heuristics are (still) stronger influences on citizens’ credibility evaluations

News Framing Effects

"News Framing Effects is a guide to framing effects theory, one of the most prominent theories in media and communication science. Rooted in both psychology and sociology, framing effects theory describes the ability of news media to influence people’s attitudes and behaviors by subtle changes to how they report on an issue. The book gives expert commentary on this complex theoretical notion alongside practical instruction on how to apply it to research. The book’s structure mirrors the steps a scholar might take to design a framing study. The first chapter establishes a working definition of news framing effects theory. The following chapters focus on how to identify the independent variable (i.e., the ""news frame"") and the dependent variable (i.e., the ""framing effect""). The book then considers the potential limits or enhancements of the proposed effects (i.e., the ""moderators"") and how framing effects might emerge (i.e., the ""mediators""). Finally, it asks how strong these effects are likely to be. The final chapter considers news framing research in the light of a rapidly and fundamentally changing news and information market, in which technologies, platforms, and changing consumption patterns are forcing assumptions at the core of framing effects theory to be re-evaluated.

Does News Platform Matter? Comparing Online Journalistic Role Performance to Newspaper, Radio, and Television

The shifting role of journalism in a digital age has affected long-standing journalistic norms across media platforms. This has reinvigorated discussion on how work in online newsrooms compares to other platforms that differ in media affordances and forms. Still, more studies are needed on whether those differences translate into distinct practices, especially when examining cross-national studies. Based on a content analysis of 148,474 stories produced by 365 media organizations from 37 countries, this article compares the performance of journalistic roles in online newsrooms to three other types of media—TV, radio, and print. The paper analyzes if journalistic roles present themselves differently across platforms, and if these differences are constant or they vary across countries. Results show that there are measurable differences in role performance in online journalism compared to other platforms. Platform had a significant impact, particularly in terms of service and infotainment orientation, while the implementation of roles oriented toward public service was more similar. Additionally, country differences in the relationship between role performance and platforms mainly emerged for roles that enable political influence on news coverage, with differences in the relationship between online vs. traditional platforms appearing to be distinct features of the specific political system. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Book review: introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches, third edition, by Keith F Punch

In Introduction to Social Research, Keith F. Punch wants to ‘demystify’ and ‘simplify’ the research process, in an attempt to show that quality research can always be achieved. With its straightforward language, an intuitive structure, and well-defined learning objectives, this book does just that, finds Sophie Lecheler. This third edition features a number of interesting updates, such as chapters on research ethics and conducting research online

Book review: Memes in digital culture by Limor Shifman

"Memes in Digital Culture." Limor Shifman. MIT Press. November 2013. --- Internet memes, such as ‘LOLcats’, ‘Planking’, or ‘Gangnam Style’, have become prominent aspects of digital culture. But they are more than just funny photos or videos shared with friends; in Memes in Digital Culture, Limor Shifman suggests that they represent a new form of digital participation. An in-depth analysis of the origin and nature of Internet memes makes this book a great read for any researcher interested in digital culture and new media, writes Sophie Lecheler

Book review: Doing a systematic review: a student’s guide, edited by Angela Boland, M. Gemma Cherry & Rumona Dickson

"Doing a Systematic Review: A Student’s Guide." Angela Boland, M. Gemma Cherry & Rumona Dickson (eds.). SAGE. November 2013. --- Writing a systematic review is one of the most challenging aspects of the academic process. With Doing a Systematic Review: A Student’s Guide, Angela Boland, M. Gemma Cherry and Rumona Dickson aim to offer a detailed and effective guide to writing a successful systematic review. This takes the book beyond the usual “How to…” literature, and makes it a valuable resource for both students as well as more experienced researchers, writes Sophie Lecheler

Latvian journalism and the European Union: a Brussels and Riga perspective

Journalists play a central, yet not fully studied, role in the accession of the Baltic States to the European Union. Consequently, this study presents an analysis of EU journalism in Latvia as one of the Baltic Member States. Findings are based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with journalists in Riga and correspondents in Brussels, who all are directly responsible for EU news coverage. The study shows that EU journalism in Latvia takes surprisingly similar shapes to that of the Western EU Member States