The Dutch Policy Agendas Project

2019 ◽  
pp. 129-135
Author(s):  
Arco Timmermans ◽  
Gerard Breeman
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Media System ◽  
Dutch Policy ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Policy Agendas

The Dutch political system with its coalition governments, backed by a parliamentary majority and a strongly plural media system is mirrored in the datasets collected so far. The legislative process can be seen as the business of turning coalition intentions into bills, which become law in the majority of cases. Increasing sensitivity to issues attended to by the media and raised in parliamentary questions has influenced this policymaking machinery and led to sometimes drastic agenda changes during the term in office. This is visible in the annual speeches from the throne, in the way party think tanks address policy topics, and in the attention to problems given by advisory bodies of the government. An analysis of safety issues shows that attention cascades over different topics related to safety and impact on longer-term policy plans.

The State and Media Financing: Bulgaria and the Mediterranean Media Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo Indjov ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
The State ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Communist Country ◽  
Media System ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Public Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Government

The study examines the applicability of the comparative framework of Hallin and Mancini (2004) with their three models of media‒politics relations (Mediterranean or Polarized Pluralist Model, North/ Central European or Democratic Corporatist Model, and North Atlantic or Liberal Model) to a post-communist country like Bulgaria. The answer to this question is sought through a study of the role of the state in relation to the media system, particularly the state funding of media in its various forms. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the Bulgarian media system is most similar to the Mediterranean Model due to the power of еtatism (the state finances public media, and the government buys media love through state and municipal advertising). At the same time, ineffective media regulation favors media concentration and the instrumentalization of large government media groups. The processes of rapid liberalization, privatization and deregulation in the media sector after 1989 brought Bulgaria closer to the countries included in the Liberal Model. Therefore, its media system is hybrid to some extent, but the similarities with the Mediterranean Model remain in the lead. The clientelism through which they are tamed, resp. corrupt the media, brings Bulgaria closer to the Latin American countries where it is much stronger than in the Mediterranean region (Hallin, Papathanassopoulos 2002). The concluding part predicts that, in the future, the analysis of the Bulgarian media system can be enhanced with a study of the applicability of the concepts of the “captured liberal model” of the media (in Latin America) and the “captured media” in the post-communist world.

Law and Order Policies and Conservative Parties

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-168
Author(s):  
Georg Wenzelburger
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Political System ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
A Priority ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Government ◽  
Policy Shifts

Chapter 5 presents evidence on how two conservative governments, the Bildt government in Sweden in the early 1990s and the French UMP governments at the beginning of the 2000s, embarked on rather different policy paths although both governments had pledged to implement harsher law and order policies. The difference between the two countries is explained by the fact that the Swedish political system constrains radical policy shifts by a legislative process that is lengthy and aimed at consensus. Therefore, the government simply did not have enough time to implement what might have been a major policy change. Second, the importance of law and order policies was greatly reduced in Sweden due to a major financial and economic crisis that hit the country only months after the government took office—hence, crime and security were not a priority. In France, in contrast, institutional constraints were weak, which explains the shift toward a harsher stance.

Forging an ‘Asian’ media fusion: Singapore as a 21st century media hub

2016 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Lee
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Telecommunications Infrastructure ◽  
Media System ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
City State

The city-state of Singapore commemorated its 50th year of independence in 2015. In that 50-year period, Singapore defied the odds by forging itself into an important media and communication hub, one that services the Asian region by linking it to other global media centres. This article examines Singapore’s efforts to develop its media sector over the years from a historical (and) policy perspective. The article begins by explaining how early policy discourses were bifurcated along internal versus external lines, where the development of a national media system to mould a fledgling society was the internal mission, while externally, the vision was to promote Singapore to the rest of the world as a reliable port (where media and cultural goods can be safely and reliable transported to/through) and teleport (where messages and satellite signals can be exchanged via reliable telecommunications infrastructure and uplink–downlink facilities). It was not until the early 2000s, with the launch of Media 21 and the Creative Industries Development Strategy (both in 2002), that the external mission began to dominate. In 2009, the Singapore Media Fusion Plan (SMFP) declared that Singapore would become a ‘Trusted Global Capital for New Asia Media’. While articulating that a strong media sector engenders a better understanding of Singapore culture, the latest policy does little to promote local culture. Instead, the cultural footprint of Singapore has expanded to include not just Asia, but ‘new Asia’, defined very problematically in the report as ‘newly confident Asian countries’ (p. 26). This article unpacks the ‘Asian media fusion’ discourse and contends that the positioning of Singapore as a 21st century media hub is arguably the most overtly economic media and cultural policy that Singapore has yet produced. It is clear that the media sector is a little more than a cluster of economic activity, where the goal of the government and the agencies involved is to boost Singapore’s status as the best business city. The media hub policy rationales have thus been, for better or worse, coherent with the Singapore government’s broader economic ideologies over the past 50 years and look set to continue into the foreseeable future.

scholarly journals Political Agenda Setting in the Hybrid Media System: Why Legacy Media Still Matter a Great Deal

2020 ◽  
pp. 194016122092502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Ines Langer ◽  
Johannes B. Gruber
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Investigative Journalism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Media System ◽  
Hybrid Dynamics ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

This article examines the roles of the media in the process of political agenda setting. There is a long tradition of studies on this topic, but they have mostly focused on legacy news media, thus overlooking the role of other actors and the complex hybrid dynamics that characterize contemporary political communication. In contrast, through an in-depth case study using mixed-methods and multiplatform data, this article provides a detailed analysis of the roles and interactions between different types of media and how they were used by political and advocacy elites. It explores what happened in the different parts of the system, and thus the paths to attention that led to setting this issue in the political and media agendas. The analysis of the case, a partial policy reversal in the United Kingdom provoked by an immigration scandal known as the “Windrush scandal” reveals that the issue was pushed into the agenda by a campaign assemblage of investigative journalism, political and advocacy elites, and digitally enabled leaders. The legacy news media came late but were crucial. They greatly amplified the salience of the issue and, once in “storm mode,” they were key for sustaining attention and pressure, eventually compelling the government to respond. It shows that they often remain at the core of the “national conversation” and certainly in the eye of a media storm. In the contemporary context, characterized by fierce battles for attention, shortening attention spans and fractured audiences, this is key and has important implications for agenda setting and beyond.

From Parliament to Courtroom

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubomír Kopeček ◽  
Jan Petrov
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Political System ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
The Government

The Czech Constitutional Court has gained a strong position within the political system. This article examines the judicial review of legislation from the point of view of the relation between the court and the parliament. The authors analyze trends in the use of petitions proposing the annulment of statutes, who makes use of the petitions, how successful the petitioners are, and what issues the petitions concern. The article pairs a quantitative view with a qualitative analysis of key selected decisions by the court, especially in the sphere of mega-politics. The authors test whether judicial review of legislation serves as a tool for parliamentary opposition. The results show the decisive effects of a legislative majority in the lower house of the parliament. If the government lacks a majority, the use of judicial review of legislation as an oppositional tool fades. Also important is the weakness of the upper house, which makes senators more likely to resort to using judicial review of legislation. An especially crucial factor is the presence of independent and semi-independent senators who, without broader political backing, see judicial review of legislation as a welcome tool. The most frequent topics of the petitions were transitional justice, social policy, and the legislative process.

scholarly journals Agenda Setting in English Canada in the Age of Minority Government, 2004-2011

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Malachy Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Communication Policy ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Political Communications ◽  
Minority Government ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

Keywords: Agenda Setting, Informational Politics, Frames Analysis, Network Theory, Political Communication, Policy Formation This dissertation examines the contemporary relationship between agenda setting and frames analysis in Canadian federal politics from 2004-2011. The research project tests Savoie's thesis that the centralization of power has grown with the increasing size of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and that the leader of the office has most clearly exerted that power in controlling the government's agenda by applying it to the experience of minority government at the dawn of the 21st century. To test his thesis, textual analyses of the PMO's agenda-setting documents were conducted to identify the key language, frames, and controlled policy announcements that were reflected within the political discourse. How does the discourse represent and reflect the shift in power in a dramatically changed political environment when, at least in theory, a minority government would be at the mercy of opposition parties who hold the balance of power? From 2006 to 2011, the Harper Conservatives stayed in power by cleverly manipulating the agenda through framing and reframing issues to their advantage. The prime minister retained the final executive decision on party and government political communications and was, therefore, the leading arbiter of the messages delivered to represent key party agenda-setting strategies. Harper has often been identified as a shrewd strategist by academics and the media alike, but how different were his agenda-setting techniques compared to previous minority government strategies? This research identifies the communication tactics that the PMO used in 2006 to ensure its unique five key policy frames of “accountability”, “child care tax credits”, “cutting the GST”, “patient wait time guarantees”, and “tough on crime” were consistently delivered and coordinated across media in their platforms, websites, speeches, and outlays. The Harper Conservatives’ new strategies included narrowing agendas, promoting wedge issues, priming voters using distracter frames, and using strict media communication protocols to attract popular support from the key segment of middle class families. Using these tactics, the government set the agenda on the dismantling of the firearms registry, framed the skills and motivations of two opposition leaders as ineffective and weak with attack advertisements, and sold the illusion that coalition governments were undemocratic.

New Media in Kenya

2011 ◽  
pp. 40-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin C. Njoroge ◽  
Purity Kimani ◽  
Bernard J. Kikech
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Ethnic Differences ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Way

The way the media processes, frames, and passes on information either to the government or to the people affects the function of the political system. This chapter discusses the interaction between new media and ethnicity in Kenya, Africa. The chapter investigates ways in which the new media reinforced issues relating to ethnicity prior to Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. In demonstrating the nexus between new media and ethnicity, the chapter argues that the upsurge of ethnic animosity was chiefly instigated by new media’s influence. Prior to the election, politicians had mobilized their supporters along ethnic lines, and created a tinderbox situation. Thus, there is need for the new media in Kenya to help the citizens to redefine the status of ethnic relationships through the recognition of ethnic differences and the re-discovery of equitable ways to accommodate them; after all, there is more strength than weaknesses in these differences.

Deliberative Media

2018 ◽  
pp. 347-364
Author(s):  
Rousiley Maia
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Political System ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Media System ◽  
System P ◽  
Deliberative System ◽  
The Media

The media play an important role in deliberative systems. Although several scholars are skeptical about the potential for enhancing deliberation, this chapter argues that the media system does not necessarily hinder deliberative practices. A better understanding of today’s hybrid media environment—one that merges mass and interpersonal communication and produces mixed-media relationships—is necessary for a critical perspective of connections among parts of a deliberative system. This analysis contends that political communication across Internet-based forums hosted by government bodies, the mainstream media, and multi-platforms of citizens’ talk should be assessed by taking into consideration diversified, complex, and usually contradictory interactions amongst actors that have distinct functions and interests within the political system. Insofar as deliberative principles and expectations are counterfactual, empirical research is always needed to investigate whether or not deliberative virtues are present in different contexts of media-based communication in a continuum of practices that form the deliberative system.

scholarly journals Transparency Policies in European Public Broadcasters: Sustainability, Digitalisation and Fact-Checking

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
José Manuel Rivera Otero ◽  
Nieves Lagares Díez ◽  
María Pereira López ◽  
Paulo Carlos López-López
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Political System ◽  
Nominal Group ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media System ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Essential Service ◽  
The Ideal

Over the last few years, European public broadcasters have promoted the concept of public service media as one of their main values. To this end, transparency policies have been implemented as a mechanism of corporate projection by strengthening their role as an essential service. The objective of this article is to ascertain the existence of this type of policies among European public broadcasters. To this end, a nominal group was made with 24 experts who were surveyed, thus generating new indicators of transparency and accountability strategies around sustainability and digitalization. The contents of the websites of RTVE (Spain), RTP (Portugal), France TV (France), RAI (Italy), BBC (UK), RTÉ (Ireland), ZDF (Germany), VRT (Belgium), and SVT (Sweden) were also analyzed, paying attention to such indicators and strategies. The main results include the identification of differences on the basis of the ideal models described by Hallin and Mancini; a commitment to credibility (fact-checking) to the detriment of diversity of opinions; and a connection between the political system and the media system, which, preliminarily, determines the level of transparency of these public entities.

The Politics of Media in Turkey: Chronicle of a Stillborn Media System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarphan Uzunoğlu
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Media System ◽  
System P ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Critical Overview

This chapter analyzes the politics of media in Turkey and the formation of Turkey’s so-called new media order characterized by polarization, corporatization, widespread censorship, and lack of journalistic independence. It argues that Turkey’s ongoing media crisis arose due to structural transformations starting from the early 1980s and becoming more accelerated and visible under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The chapter discusses Turkey’s media crisis in three steps. Firstly, it contextualizes Turkey’s traditional media system within globally recognized media systems and provides a historical understanding of the impact of political elites and the government on the media industry. Secondly, it discusses shifts in media consumption habits and media ownership structure under AKP rule and shows how these shifts served the party’s political agenda. Finally, it offers a critical overview of several existing prescriptive approaches to Turkey’s media crisis and argues that techno-determinist and overgeneralizing approaches are incompatible with Turkey’s social reality.

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