Affiliations: [a] University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the
Netherlands | [b] Universiteit Enschede, Enschede, the Netherlands | [c] TexasTech, Lubbock, Texas, USA | [d] Emory University, Atlanta, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Claes H. de Vreese, Professor and Chair of
Political Communication, Department of Communication Science, The Amsterdam
School of Communications Research ASCoR, University of Amsterdam,
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 20 525
2426; Fax: +31 20 525 3681; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: We outline the competitive television news market in the enlarged
European Union (EU) and demonstrate the continued importance of traditional
media, in particular television, in the context of proliferation in choice of
news sources, including on-line news services. Drawing upon a content analysis
of the most widely watched evening television news programs in each of the EU
countries, we find that on average, EU news in 2004 was more visible in the new
member states than in the old member states. The level of coverage in the old
member states was slightly higher in 2004 compared to 1999. Looking at
individual countries there was considerable variation with some countries
(e.g., Greece, Denmark, Slovakia, and Austria) devoting about 20% of the news
to the elections and others (e.g., Germany, Belgium, and the Czech Republic)
devoting about 5% or less to the elections.
