The New Zealand Print Media and the 2004-2007 Local Elections: A Case Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-914
Author(s):  
Jacky Yaakov Zvulun
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
National Election ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Political Processes

Voters gain their information from news media, and in particular from print media, about politicians. More importantly, voters develop their understanding of political processes based on what they read. In this paper, I examine the print media coverage of the campaign introducing new electoral system Single Transferable Vote (STV) in the New Zealand Local Body Elections 2004 and 2007 compared with the campaign introducing Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system in the 1996 national election. I focus particularly on the coverage of the alternative electoral system, STV, by two newspapers – the Dominion Post and the Otago Daily Times from the perspective of type, nature, and number of the articles published and the attitudes toward encouraging participation and introducing new electoral system [STV]. The study shows that both newspapers offered a significantly poorer coverage of the 2004 and 2007 local elections compared to the campaign in 1996 national election. This also might lead to the prediction of one of the reason decreasing or increasing voter turnout.

Electoral System Changes and Voter Turnout: Reflections on New Zealand Local Elections

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-162
Author(s):  
Jacky Yaakov Zvulun
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Single Transferable Vote ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Impact

Voter turnout in local and general elections is a key element in measuring citizen participation. From 2004, New Zealand local elections were unique in that local councils had the choice of two different electoral systems: plurality majority and proportional representation. We have here the opportunity to study more about New Zealand local elections and changes in electoral systems. This article analyses the impact of the "Single Transferable Vote” electoral system in those councils that adopted it, comparing it to those councils which used "First Past the Post". This article explains how the STV electoral system has not increased voter turnout and was not the cause of low voter turnout in the 2004-2007 local elections. It might, however, offer voters a better way to choose their preferences.

Public Attitudes Toward New Prisons in New Zealand and Deficit Narratives: A Quantitative Survey

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele N. Norris ◽  
Kalym Lipsey
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quantitative Survey

The imprisonment rate in New Zealand ranks seventh among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Yet the imprisonment of Indigenous people is on par with the United States, which has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Almost 70% of the prison population in New Zealand is comprised of people racialized as non-White. In 2016, the National Government proposed to spend $2.5 billion over a 5-year period to build new prisons (1,500 prison beds) to accommodate a growing prison population. This study assessed public attitudes toward the need for more prisons and the equity of treatment of individuals within the criminal justice system. Findings from a 2016 and 2017 quantitative survey of 5,000 respondents each year revealed that roughly half of the respondents believed the proposed spending for new prisons to be extremely to somewhat necessary. A large proportion of respondents also believed Māori and Pākehā, if convicted of the same crime, are treated similarly within the criminal justice system. New Zealand scholars have critiqued news media coverage of contentious sociopolitical issues, such as crime and prisons, for employing tactics that have worked to construct a morally and culturally deficit “Other” while normalizing whiteness, rendering it invisible and raceless. This article concludes that this process masks racial disparities of individuals located within the criminal justice system and preserves the ideal that prisons are a normal function of the social landscape.

scholarly journals Negativity, emotionality and populist rhetoric in election campaigns worldwide, and their effects on media attention and electoral success

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Gerstlé ◽  
Alessandro Nai
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Fear Appeals ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Electoral Campaigns

Very little is known in broad comparative terms about the nature and content of election campaigns. In this article, we present the first systematic and comparative assessment of the electoral campaigns of candidates having competed in elections across the world along three dimensions: negative campaigning, emotional campaigning and populist rhetoric. We do so by introducing a new dataset, based on expert judgements, that allows us to retrace the content of campaigns of 97 candidates having competed in 43 elections worldwide between 2016 and 2018. To put the importance of these three dimensions of electoral campaigns into perspective, we comparatively assess the extent to which these three dimensions are more or less likely to capture the attention of news media and to determine the electoral fate of those who rely on them. Our analyses reveal that negativity and emotionality significantly and substantially drive media coverage and electoral results: more positive and enthusiasm-based campaigns increase media attention, but so do campaigns based on personal attacks and fear appeals, especially during presidential elections and when the number of competing candidates is lower. Looking at electoral success, negativity backlashes overall, and yet personal attacks can be used successfully to increase the chances of an electoral victory. Furthermore, both appeals to enthusiasm (but not when a lot of candidates compete) and fear (especially in presidential elections) work as intended to capture the attention of the public and transform it into better electoral fortunes. We also discuss the results of a case study of the 2017 French presidential election, where we compare the campaigns of four leading candidates (Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon); results of the case study offer interesting insights to understand the general trends, and beyond.

scholarly journals Investigative News of Online Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Septiawan Santana Kurnia ◽  
Dadi Ahmadi ◽  
Firmansyah Firmansyah
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Online News ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Online Journalism ◽  
Investigative Reporting ◽  
News Stories

An investigative reporting has changed quite rapidly in the last few periods after the development of information technology. The presence of online media encourages the emergence of online journalism. The existence of online journalism, within the framework of online media, gives a certain touch to investigative reporting activities. Investigative reporting developed in online media has managerial uniqueness and certain coverage patterns. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how the management of editorials and online media coverage patterns in Indonesia conducting investigative coverage.Data for this research is obtained through interviews with data analysis using a qualitative approach and a case study method of single case-multilevel analysis. Research subjects (journalism) and research objects (online investigative news) of this study are Detik.com and Tirto.id.The results of the study show that investigative data are at the core of investigative reporting in online media. It can be in the form of direct observation under investigation (disguising) or the disclosure of new facts that have not been revealed before. The online news media in Indonesia, although it relies on the speed, also still takes into account the accuracy and rules of journalism, especially in the coverage of investigations. The online media strategy in reporting investigations is to divide investigative data into several news stories with one theme, but each headline is different according to the investigative reporting to be reported in parts.

scholarly journals Voting in New Zealand local government elections: the need to encourage greater voter turnout

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Andy Asquith ◽  
Karen Webster ◽  
Andrew Cardow
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Local Democracy ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Financial Autonomy ◽  
General Competence

Within a global context, local government in New Zealand occupies an enviable position: it enjoys both a statutorily-defined ‘power of general competence’ and financial autonomy from central government. However, despite this, voter turnout rates in New Zealand local elections continue to fall as ever fewer New Zealanders engage in this fundamental act of civic engagement. This review article examines the decline in voting over the last four New Zealand local government elections (2010/13/16/19). It aims to do three things: plot the decline; identify and analyse the causes of this decline; and suggest ways in which the decline might be countered. The authors reach the conclusion that local government in New Zealand is at a crossroads – it will either be rejuvenated as a source of local democracy and prosper, or decline into an administrative arm of central government.

scholarly journals Constructing the Other: News media representations of a predominantly ‘brown’ community in New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean M Allen ◽  
Toni Bruce
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Pacific Community

Research worldwide finds that indigenous, non-white, immigrant and other marginalised communities are subjected to media coverage that negatively and narrowly stereotypes them in comparison to dominant racial groups. In this article, we explore media representations of a predominantly Pacific and lower socio-economic community in New Zealand. The results contribute to the literature regarding media coverage of minority communities through an analysis of 388 news articles, drawing on Freire’s (1996/1970) theory of antidialogical action to consider how power is used to marginalise the predominantly Pacific community of South Auckland. The results demonstrate that South Aucklanders are subjected to stereotypes and negative labelling that reinforce their marginalisation and exclusion from mainstream New Zealand culture. 

Mediated Public Diplomacy Redefined: Foreign Stakeholder Engagement via Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned Media

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 1665-1683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy J. Golan ◽  
Ilan Manor ◽  
Phillip Arceneaux
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
Definition Of

Mediated public diplomacy literature examines the engagement of foreign audiences by governments via mediated channels. To date, scholars have examined the competitive contest between global rivals in promoting and contesting one another’s frames as reflected in global news media coverage. Recognizing the meaningful impact of social media platforms, along with the global rise of government-sponsored media organizations, the current study builds on previous mediated public diplomacy scholarship by expanding the scope of the literature beyond the earned media perspective to also include paid, shared, and owned media. The article presents a revised definition of the term mediated public diplomacy along with a case study of government to foreign stakeholder engagement via the social media platform, Twitter.

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