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This article investigates the challenges that political parties face in referendums. While political parties are still key actors in a referendum campaign, a number of factors weaken their position. Ambiguous cueing, internal dissidence, electoral volatility and limited impact on citizens' prime information sources reduce the influence of political parties. Large, centrist political parties have the worst performance record in terms of getting their voters to follow the recommendation of the party, while smaller, ideologically strongly profiled parties are more successful in aligning their voters with party policy. At the individual level, we find that, in particular, efficacious voters are likely to disregard the recommendation of their preferred party, while politically disinterested voters are more likely to follow the party endorsement. The article concludes with a discussion of the contingent nature of party control over referendums.

Public debate about and scholarly enquiry into the relationship between news media and political attitudes tend to highlight negative aspects. Research has shown that strategic news coverage focusing on politicians' motives and style rather than content and policies fuels political cynicism. This has been dubbed the 'spiral of cynicism'. This study, drawing on two-wave panel surveys and content analyses of news media in two countries, challenges this perspective. The negative effects of news on cynicism are contingent upon the level of strategy reporting in the news. Moreover, political sophistication is positively related to cynicism, suggesting that cynicism is perhaps little more than an indication of an 'interested and critical citizenry'. Finally, when the assumption that cynicism is detrimental to political participation is evaluated, there is in fact little empirical evidence to support a link between cynicism and voter turnout.

This experiment investigated the effects of television news frames on (1) audience interpretations of a political issue, (2) the salience of news frames versus other information in the story, and (3) support for future policy. A sample of 145 adults watched an experimental television news bulletin produced in cooperation with reporters and editors at a national television news program about the enlargement of the European Union. A news story was manipulated to reflect a conflict frame or an economic consequences frame. The two frames provide direction to the audience's thoughts about the issue but do not yield different levels of policy support. Frames in the news are as important as core facts in a news story when citizens conceive of a political issue.

The premise of political priming is that public evaluations of political leaders are made on the basis of issues that are on the top of citizens' minds. This study investigated the impact of a national referendum campaign about a European integration issue on the evaluation of the incumbent government, the prime minister, and the opposition leaders. Drawing on a content analysis of news media and a two‐wave panel survey, the results showed that as the topic of the referendum (the introduction of the euro) became more visible in the media during the campaign the importance of the euro issue for formulating general evaluations of political leaders increased. The incumbent government that was seen to handle the referendum poorly was penalized by the referendum. Exposure to news media outlets that covered the referendum extensively and offered negative evaluations of political leaders boosted the decline in the overall performance rating of political leaders by politically less involved respondents. These results stress the necessity of considering the campaign and the specific content of the media to understand fluctuations in public opinion during a referendum campaign. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of a referendum campaign for political leaders.

This study is a cross-nationally comparative investigation of the news coverage in Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands of three major EU events: (1) the January 1999 first-step introduction of the euro, (2) the June 1999 European Parliamentary elections, and (3) the December 2000 summit in Nice. The visibility of the three events, the news agenda, and the role played by national news organizations in covering the EU events are examined. The study draws on content analyses of the most widely watched main evening television news programmes as well as interviews with news practitioners in the three countries. The results showed that news coverage of European affairs is cyclical, peaking during the events but hardly visible before and after. A number of cross-national differences were found: overall, Danish news devoted most attention to the EU events, followed by Britain and the Netherlands. News organizations differed in the editorial policy and the degree of effort invested in covering the events. Danish, and to some extent the British and Dutch, public broadcasters exerted more discretion in the choice of issues covered and assumed a proactive agenda-setting role compared with their private counterparts. The findings are discussed in the light of the role of news in public opinion formation processes about EU affairs.

Previous research has suggested that public broadcasters in Europe have traditionally approached and covered election campaigns in a cautious and reactive way, often adhering to the official party agendas. Based on interviews, newsroom observations and content-analytic indicators, the 1998 national and 1999 European election campaign coverage of the Dutch public broadcaster was investigated. Newsroom observations and interviews with reporters and news executives revealed an increasingly proactive and selective editorial approach to election campaigns. The analyses showed that the two elections were approached similarly, but given different priority in the news. The content analysis showed a decrease in the amount of election coverage and a more analytic and interpretative journalistic spin on election stories compared to earlier elections. The implications of the results are discussed in the light of changes in political communication and the increasingly competitive environments in which public broadcasters are challenged to operate.

This study is a cross-nationally comparative investigation of the news coverage in Britain, Denmark, & the Netherlands of three major EU events: (1) the January 1999 first-step introduction of the euro, (2) the June 1999 European Parliamentary elections, & (3) the December 2000 summit in Nice. The visibility of the three events, the news agenda, & the role played by national news organizations in covering the EU events are examined. The study draws on content analyses of the most widely watched main evening television news programs as well as interviews with news practitioners in the three countries. The results showed that news coverage of European affairs is cyclical, peaking during the events but hardly visible before & after. A number of cross-national differences were found: overall, Danish news devoted most attention to the EU events, followed by Britain & the Netherlands. News organizations differed in the editorial policy & the degree of effort invested in covering the events. Danish, & to some extent the British & Dutch, public broadcasters exerted more discretion in the choice of issues covered & assumed a proactive agenda-setting role compared with their private counterparts. The findings are discussed in the light of the role of news in public opinion formation processes about EU affairs. 4 Tables, 3 Figures, 1 Appendix, 38 References. [Copyright 2001 Sage Publications Ltd.]