Using supervised machine learning to code policy issues: Can classifiers generalize across contexts?

Content analysis of political communication usually covers large amounts of material and makes the study of dynamics in issue salience a costly enterprise. In this article, we present a supervised machine learning approach for the automatic coding of policy issues, which we apply to news articles and parliamentary questions. Comparing computer-based annotations with human annotations shows that our method approaches the performance of human coders. Furthermore, we investigate the capability of an automatic coding tool, which is based on supervised machine learning, to generalize across contexts. We conclude by highlighting implications for methodological advances and empirical theory testing

Mobilizing youth in the 21st century: How digital media use fosters civic duty, information efficacy, and political participation

Youth turnout at European Parliamentary elections has been dwindling. This study investigates the impact of news media exposure on electoral participation of first time voters. Relying on a data set that combines content analysis of news stories about the EU (N = 769) and a multiple wave panel survey (N = 994), we analyze the impact of exposure to online and offline coverage of relevant topics on turn out across a period of 6 months. We find that exposure to news in offline media had no significant effect on participation, whereas exposure to relevant news in online media positively affected turnout

Cross road elections: Change in EU performance evaluations during the European Parliament elections 2014

The 2014 European Parliament (EP) elections were held after a period where public opinion about the EU changed significantly. In this paper we investigate evaluations of the performance of the European Union, as this dimension of EU attitudes is particularly relevant ahead of elections. We look at public opinion developments since 2009 and then zoom in on the role played by the news media in shaping public opinion about EU performance by linking citizens’ evaluations across time to the news media content they were exposed to. The article relies on original multiple wave survey panel data and a systematic media content analysis in the Netherlands. It shows how public opinion has changed, how it changes around EP elections, and how exposure to media coverage can help improve citizens’ evaluations of EU performance

How International, National, and Local Research Strategies Shaped ASCoR’s History in Its First 25 Years

This chapter gives an overview of the institutional development of the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) in the 25 years since its foundation in 1997, paying attention to both objectives of ASCoR: organising and supporting research, and training of PhD students. The chapter also discusses various factors that shaped this trajectory, including ASCoR’s orientation on media technological and societal changes, its international, funding, output, and research methods’ orientation, and individual factors. The chapter concludes with ASCoR’s new policy being deployed to address some concerns about the current research climate at universities in the Netherlands