The quality of political media coverage

In: Political communication, S. 351-373

Abstract

"Research on media quality is mostly based on a liberal understanding of the public sphere. However, this normative standard is seldom made explicit and barely questioned. In addition, the focus on the liberal model as all-encompassing normative benchmark for media quality becomes questionable in the light of content diversification and audience fragmentation. Against this backdrop, this chapter discusses three models of the public sphere and the criteria by which the quality of political media coverage can be empirically investigated on their basis. The analysis shows that the indicators commonly used in media performance research provide a good foundation for evaluating the quality of political media content. The authors argue, however, that the indicators have to be interpreted differently in the light of the diverging normative models, and that they should be complemented by model-specific indicators. In addition, the models should not be understood as alternatives but rather as complementing each other." (publisher's description)